Personal Narrative: Nolensville, Tennessee

Growing up in Chicago, I attended a neighborhood school from preschool through first grade. Although it was an exceptional school for elementary kids, the education for middle school and high school students was not as adequate. Seeking a better place to raise their children, my parents were faced with a tough choice. When I was in 2nd grade, our family made the decision to move to the suburbs. On July 3rd, we all packed into our Honda minivan and drove 45 minutes to a new home in the town of Winnetka. Within my first year at Crow Island, my new school, I learned so many new things. I started playing the violin and speaking Spanish, neither of which were offered at my old school. I met my best friends that I'm still close with now. Over the

Have you ever expected an unfavorable outcome from an experience, yet were shocked with the best? Nashville, Tennessee is the city where I was able to realize that I have the potential to do great things with my life. It was the middle of June at the 2016 HOSA International Leadership Conference, and I was sixteen years old. At this time, I had been dealing with anxiety and depression for so long that I never thought I would be able to make an accomplishment that meant something to others and myself. This trip helped me realize that I am capable of more than I think.

Well the week of our trip to Memphis Tennessee had finally arrived ! My colleagues Beverly,

My hometown is Atlanta Georgia. I was born in Atlanta Georgia and I am grateful to have been able to have grown up in here. Atlanta is a very important city in Georgia because it is the capital city of the State and it is the most populated. The city was first named after Governor Lumpkins young daughter in 1837 named "Marthasville", but was changed by the chief engineer of the Georgia Railroad to "Atlanta". Right now I am living in my hometown and I wish to live here for the rest of my life.

The greasy scent of cheap burgers and fries wafted into the car as we pulled into the parking lot of a Wendy’s, right in the heart of who-knows-where, East Tennessee. I couldn’t contain my excitement as I rushed my 12-year-old self out of the minivan and into the palace of grease. Clad in ratty sweatpants and a t-shirt with my hair pressed down from my prolonged use of headphones, it was evident that I spent long hours sitting in a car, asking “if we’re there yet” too many times to count. In this moment, however, carving up Snowshoe Mountain on my snowboard didn’t seem as exciting as the machine that stood across the room. Standing tall, shiny, and red, the Coca-Cola Freestyle soda fountains were in the early stages of being released, and

The only state I have ever known as home is North Carolina. I was born and raised in Charlotte and the only time I have ever moved away was last year to start a new chapter of my life as a college student. Growing up in Charlotte has had such an impact on what I plan to do with my future. As a young child I always thought of Charlotte as the next best thing to New York City. I shortly realized after visiting that was not quite the case. New York City introduced me to a new world of opportunity.

I have spent copious amounts of time in communities stricken with low socioeconomic statuses, less fortunate than the usual neighborhoods I see in Pikesville. The experiences has engrained a strong moral compass into me, leading me to have a solid goal; of beautifying and bettering areas of destitute.

I left many amazing teachers, friends and my sister. Shreya had gotten the choice between Gayton and Short Pump since she was in fifth grade, she choose Short Pump since she had move schools in Kindergarten when we moved. Bravery was one thing I learned I need to have. I was in a new school but, I always remembered that I wasn’t the only one, other people from Short Pump had gone there too. Being without my sister was hard, but I learned to be independent. I had so many opportunities that I was the first one in my family to be able to do and I felt independent. Being bias to Gayton was one thing I struggled with because even though I have spent more years at Gayton, Short Pump was very close to me. I did get Gator Spirit up quickly and made new friends. Now, I think of redistricting as a

When I was in eighth grade, I did not know it, but my mom was about to change my life forever. I still remember the day she showed me the website for the Vet Science program at the Morris County School of Technology. I was in my grandmother’s house, and my mother pulled me over to the counter where she was sitting with her computer. When she showed me the program, I dismissed the idea of changing schools immediately. I did not want to think about going anywhere for high school but my small, Christian private school because I was content and did not feel the need to step out of my comfort zone.

Location I was in Holmen for 2 years and liked were I live, but I love were I live now even more then ever. My house now I live in a small 900 sq foot shack on the Mississippi .and it is paradise I love how I can go hunting in the backyard whenever I feel like it and the simplicity of it .

I am just a poor farmer in Hillsboro, Tennessee. I spend my days working on the farm with my wife, Mary, and my kid, Daniel, trying to make ends meet. Mary harvests the gardens while I cultivate the fields and cultivate the livestock. We are so poor, I got my son helping me on the farm. Daniel can’t spend all his time with me because he has got homework to do. After he comes home from school, he works on his homework, and then helps me on the farm until the sun sets. We can barely afford the clothes on our bodies. We’re lucky if we have any electricity for that matter. That mixed with the dust storms that come by here, makes farming impossible and the land infertile. Now we are all forced to work harder to make enough money to just survive.

It was a cold Saturday morning in Tennessee. My brother and my parents and I are on a camping trip. My mom and dad, Marie Johnson and Phil Johnson, offered to take me on a camping trip for the weekend to celebrate my birthday. I could only bring one person along with me. So I decided to take my brother, Luke Johnson. Since me and my family live in Indiana, the drive to Tennessee was very long and felt like forever. The car ride there was very uncomfortable. Me and Luke had little room in the back because of all the luggage.

I at my cousins house one day and they said they were going on a trip to Tennessee and I was like wish I could go. My cousin was like me to but she would not ask. So, me being a savage in all I had to ask.I walked up to my uncle and got a unexpected and answer can I go on the trip with ya’ll he said if it’s ok with your parents.I was like I will be back in a little bit.I ran straight and just ignored my bicycle I was in like a minute we don’t live but 13 acres apart. I asked and they said if it’s alright with them sure. I was like yeah!I was so happy sure enough the next week they got me from school and I had a very long ride ahead of me. I fell asleep for about an hour of the trip.When I woke up we were in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. That’s where

Nashville, Tennessee has a certain charm to it. The rush hours and constant movement can be a bit hectic, but to someone from a small town, it is appealing in an odd way. There are so many things to do and to see in the city. During my visit to Nashville, I became very certain that it was something that everyone needed to experience in their life. The atmosphere, the people, and all of the things to experience in Music City are fantastic. I recommend that people from small towns experience the atmosphere of a big city, such as Nashville because it is a wonderful experience that is so much different from a small town.

The end of seventh grade year is something I’ll never forget. The February of my seventh grade year, (2013) my mom told my sister and I that we were moving back to Illinois. I thought that it was going to be a good thing and a bad thing, because I had grown up there, but I could get a fresh start here. I was bullied really badly and I didn’t really have any friends at either school I had gone to while we lived in Arizona, so I was kind of ready to just get out of that area. We found out in February, and my dad drove my sister and I back on May 28th 2013, two days after school ended. I was unsure leading up to it, because I’d never moved anywhere or anything, so I didn’t understand how it worked really, or how weird or different it would be. We started packing about half way through March, putting the things that we wouldn’t need for a while in boxes and bubble wrapping breakables. It was kind of fun and cool, but at the same time it was weird to think that I would be leaving my childhood home, I had been born in the next town and had grown up in Sanders. I mean, we’d been back here to see my grandma and my mom’s family because they all live close to this area, but I never thought that we’d live back here. I started telling people as soon as I knew, because some of the kids that went to my youth group actually talked to me sometimes, and the leader liked me, so I told them so that they would know once the time came. I told some of my teachers as it got closer as well,