Personal Narrative: Rounding Out My High School Career

Going through high school the days were all the same, except for game days. There was just something different about the culture of the school. You could almost feel the excitement in the air. Every “Good luck tonight,” that was received made it feel like the whole school was rooting for me. This was my senior year and tonight was an especially big game. The game that night would decide if we made playoffs and if I could step on the court as a Hawk again.

It was May 25, 2018 at 7:47 in a steaming hot gymnasium when the name Anthony Joseph Sansalone was getting called from the loud speaker, the sixth to last person to receive their diploma I begun shaking the hands of all the board members and everything that I had known from the last 13 years at the same school was over and a new chapter of my life was stating to begin. A few seconds after receiving my diploma the Class President guided us to changing of our tassels from right to left then commencement was over and I was walking out with my future roommate at BGSU, Vincent Zhang, we looked at each other knowing that our high school career was descending and our college careers were lifting off together. High school was tuff for me due to the fact that I have know what I wanted to do since I was a freshman, I want to become an animator and work for an Academy Award winning company such as

According to Floyd Norris “the proportion of new american high school graduates who go to college, appears to be declining. Last october, just 65.9% of people who graduated had enrolled in college.” Would you want to be apart of that 65.9%? As a junior in highschool, on my way to graduating, 3 main pieces of advice that i would provide to my younger self would to be actively involved with school activities, clubs, and school spirit.In addition to that is to have better time management skills, also to start gathering ideas of what I wanted to do after high school, for example, college, jobs, or the military.

I have always been a studious school-minded person. I went to school at Miles Exploratory Learning Center aka Miles ELC from preschool to 8th grade. I was very hard working receiving all A's and B's throughout my schooling. I then moved to Tucson Magnet High School. I was top 25 out of 600+ kids in my class and got to wear an honors cord and be called up in front of everyone. I graduated high school with a 3.8 GPA something I am very proud of. I worked very hard in high school to make sure I graduated with good grades because I needed all the scholarships I could get to be able to afford college since I am white and middle class and not very many scholarships are offered to middle class families.

Pretty fucking stupid: Was with a few of my friends and we had went to my grade school (this was just before I started high school) to play basket ball and throw a baseball around. I happened to bring along my baseball bat if we wanted to do some pitching practice (as my friend and I were pitchers on rival teams). We hung out for a bit and played around. My one friend was hitting the basketball off of one of the walls with the bat like a tennis racket and it was fine. This was when the idea happened... I picked up the bat after my friend found something else to do and told my other friend (the pitcher) to toss the basket ball at me so I could see how far I could knock it. Turns out I couldn't knock it far as the rebound off the basketball/bat

I attended three different high schools as a teenager. I was a member of the JROTC program for four years. As devoted as I was I was on the unarmed drill team for two years at Roosevelt high school called the “ Riderettes “. My junior year of high school we actually made first place out of seventy schools in Kentucky, Louisville. Which means we qualified for Championship Daytona, Fl Nationals. It was a lifetime experience for me as a teenager. Who knew I would be going to Kentucky or Daytona for free with a team I can actually call my sisters. One of the most things I loved about my trip was the beach early in the morning with the sunrise out and all you could see was the beautiful blue waves washing over the shore.

Throughout my whole high school career what has happened to me in my life has reflected on how I perform. The first two years of high school was smooth sailing for me. I had a little bump in the beginning of the semester. However, that was only for I was not use to the high school setting, so I was only trying to get comfortable with my teachers and their working style. I had the mindset at the time to only focus on school, for I did not have anything else to worry about. The classes I had were fairly simple to keep up with. I believe this was because I only had honors classes during this time, and only one AP class. The teachers I had did not have that many high expectations, as an AP teacher would.

"Things end, but memories last forever." My weekend was sure to prove that. Even though the seniors of 2016 are in readiness to graduate we will most definitely miss these times consumed together. On top of my roof, we sat chattering about what we are going to do after senior year. We discussed about how May 21, 2016, would arrive way before we wanted it to come upon us; once that day comes, we will realize only then that we might never see everyone out of our class again. As we all were articulating about how college will be contrary, how we will study so much more, and how tough it really might be; we promised to never drift apart from the best friends that we are. Finally, two a.m. crept up on us, and we knew it was time to get some

Ever since I can remember I have been fortunate enough to have my parents and

When I was in middle school, all I could think about was college. I fantasized about going to my dream school, going away really far and being all on my own. At first I thought it would be terrifying, but after a while I soon began to think that it would be extraordinary, living a new life in a new city. My expectations about college would increase every time I thought about it. At the time, I recall that I wanted to attend New York University, to study child development so I can become a pre-school teacher. I enjoyed children very much and thought that, that would be my life after high school. But after a few years, my mindset about college altered. I no longer thought about going to NYU because I expected it to be a very challenging life

My high school years went by fast, at first I was a freshman and now I am graduating. I have always been quiet in my classes and I would sit at the very back. I was taught to get my work done before having fun and I never paid attention to making any friends. When I was a freshman I saw myself as a mature and intelligent person because I did not act like the others in my class and I hung out with the seniors. I dropped out once and I’m glad that I got chased back or I would be staying home. High school was not as challenging as I thought it was because it is boring and it is easy all you have to do is pay attention and get your work done. I have been waiting for the day I will be on my own. I would not compare my life to the books we read in class because they do not relate to me in any way.

Sometimes finding time to do everything you need to do is nearly impossible. Some people push somethings to the side for later, or they just completely forget about them. That is why my ability to balance all aspects of my life throughout my high school career has made me very proud. I have always loved playing sports, so when I got to high school, I was so ready to be one of those kids on the varsity team. I played basketball for two years and softball for two years, earning All Districts and All Regions honors for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. I also knew I wanted to be involved in the school, so I joined some clubs, Art Club, Spirit Club, Volunteer Club, National Honors Society, and Student Council. I have been on the board for volunteer club

As I walked across the graduation stage to receive my high school diploma, I did not have the slightest indication of what I wanted to do with my life. While all my friends had finalized their plans for college and were ready to start new chapters in their lives, I had not even made a definite decision on what school to attend. Classmates of mine were getting ready to move halfway across the country to pursue their dreams, yet I did not even know what to major in. To say I was confused during this time in my life would have been an absolute understatement. A few days after I graduated, I decided to enroll at my local community college to explore my options and figure out my future.

It is the first day of the last semester of my senior year of High school. I am going to miss this; having my close friends by me every single day. I never really was popular in high school and I usually tried to hide in the shadows, but my best friend Sophie would never let that happen. She really pulled me out from my bubble. Sophie loves everyone, but she is picky with whom she likes. I know it doesn't make sense, but it is the best description.

Throughout the past four years of my high school career, I have been rowing crew. I fell in love with the sport the moment I walked onto the team during the fall season of my freshman year. I was young and didn’t know how to react to such a demanding sport. The captain of the team “took me under his wing” and helped guide me to success. I told him on his graduation day that I want to be just like him when I become a senior. With focus and determination, I put my head down, and strived to be as good of a rower and captain as he once was. Every single day I brought my A-game to practice and left my blood, sweat, and tears in the boat and out on the water. In short order, I accomplished goals I didn’t think were physically or mentally possible.