Personal Narrative: Transition Into A Public Middle School

I attended Heritage Middle School in East Cleveland. There were kids coming from everywhere: Superior Elementary, Caledonia Elementary, Chambers Elementary and Mayfair Elementary. I had came from Mayfair Elementary school. Middle school was definitely different from elementary school, there was a lot to get used to. The first day of school is always nervous to me, before I get to my class I’m wondering will I have the some of the people I had in elementary school. I was a little relieved to see some other the people I knew in my class. But the other faces I wasn’t familiar with . Switching class was hard to do at first do as time went on it got easy. Having more than one teacher was a huge adjustment for me because just two months before

Middle school was a lot of fun for me, I met a lot of new people and lots of new girls. It was also kinda tough in the beginning with switching classes and things and having so many different teachers and lots of homework from different classes and having to remember the room numbers of each class but eventually I got used to everything.

In the past year, a lot has changed for me. I lost a grandfather to cancer, then a month later an uncle to a gruesome semi accident. My grandmother on the other side of the family barely remembers me due to alzheimer's, and my mom lost her job but is now working over 1300 miles away in Florida. If someone would have asked me at the start of my Junior year what I expected to happen, I wouldn’t have listed any of those. As anticipated, it was not easy dealing with a downfall of events like that, but the way I was raised helped me cope with it all. I started out at a small private school, where Religion was just as important as Math and English. How we were to act was drilled into us, and after I switched to public school, there was a noticeable

As I went through 1-9 grade school I finally found grit. Going to St. Mary’s during 1-6 grade school getting up at 6:30 every morning just wanting to hit the snooze button so I could get that extra hour of sleep in. After getting ready for school, I would get on the bus, three stops later we would pick up these annoying foster kids that gave me a headache every day because they would shut their mouths that I would have to push through school with. Then building up all the energy sitting in 1-2 classrooms the whole day waiting for recess so I could let it all out. Since I pushed through those challenges, I was able to move on to middle school. During my two years of middle school three out of the five days of school, I would get up at 5:30 and

Middle school was undoubtedly the worst three years of my life. I was this awkward adolescent who just really did not want to be considered as one of the “weird” kids. I am aware that middle school is not fun for most people; it is the years dedicated to kids going through puberty, which is arguably the biggest nightmare of their lives. Although those school years between the ages of eleven and thirteen are pretty much terrible for everyone, each person handles it in a different way.

When I hear the word “survival”, I think of someone who has made it through the impossible or conquered a near death experience; but that isn't all that it means. According to the the Merriam Webster dictionary, “A survivor is a person who copes well with difficulties in their life.” Moving from elementary school to middle school taught me many new characteristics such as how to be more independent, responsible, and more open to changes.

In my whole life there was only two time that I didn’t belong. The first time I felt that way was when I switch middle school. The second time was when start a summer program in CSULA called STEP.

I’ve grown and changed through the past few years. Sadly I did not grow height wise. I’m still the same short girl who everyone knows around here. I’ve grown to be mature and independent at a young age.

For most elementary students, the thought of moving onto middle school is very intimidating. Parents and teachers love tell the students that middle school will not be as easy as elementary school. The teachers at Sts. Peter and Paul told us that the kids from the public school were horrible people and we had to be careful around them. They also told the kids about the horrors of bullies, huge papers, and a new confusing building; however, I was still ready to leave elementary schools because I hated going to a private school. I saw middle school as an opportunity to meet new friends and experience a less restricted school day.

As I started middle school three years ago here at Rocky Top, I don't even remember what I was thinking. Probably nervous, worried, stressed out. As I went through these three years at Rocky Top, I've grown up many different ways. Not just me every one of you have, you can't tell me that you’re the same person you were when you walked through the doors 3 years ago. We’ve all evolved as people every year we were here. More independent, mature, and as we leave middle school we see the world much differently than we did as little 6th graders.

I always struggled with school as a kid, I never wanted to go and I felt as if I was completely clueless because I didn't understand what was being taught. My mom soon realized I wasn't getting the help I needed with my education and pulled me out of public school to be homeschooled when I was ten. I then found out that I loved learning and wasn't as capable at school as I thought I was. I stayed home schooled until I was a junior in highschool. Because of how long I was homeschooled my parents thought it would be difficult for me to transition into public school again, but after moving to lyman Maine they agreed to let me give it a try since the school in the district was on the smaller side, so I started at Massabesic High School in September

My day started with picking out an outfit which I’m not used to, a polo and black pants are my usual attire. As I enter Valley it is such an unfamiliar place, I don’t know anyone or know where everything is. Students stand around with their usual friends and laugh while I worry about where to go and who I need to talk to, to get my day started. Valley is a foreign place to me, the hallways are maze, backpacks everywhere, and orange on the lockers instead of maroon. There isn’t morning greeting only a bell, I was ready to pray but quickly remembered I was at Valley.

Starting Freshman year, I arrived to high school not knowing what was expected. I did not know what to do and I had no interest in school at all. Middle school years were rough and freshman year was too, gladly I had for giving teachers that allowed me to pass for the year. I was lost and confused, but I was fortunate to have people who cared and supported me in my times of difficulty. My parents most of all, kept insisting that I should try, that it is not hard to accomplish what many had. They kept advising me to stop living in the present and to start thinking of my future. Those words actually made me think, I noticed most of the people I surrounded with, were trapped into the impression that everything mattered at this exact moment, not

At almost the end of my 3rd grade school year, my parents told me that I would be going to a new school for 4th grade. I was very upset because I didn't want to leave all of my friends that I made behind. The next day after my parents told me the news, I was bawling my eyes out and so were my friends. I thought my parents were doing this to me as a punishment but later I realized that the school was too expensive for my parents income. What I was most scared about was going to a public school. I have never had any experience outside of my catholic school. The only real thought in my head was the bullies and weirdos I have seen on television. I have been going to the catholic school since Pre-K and this was going to be the first time exposed to new faces. I have been going to that school my whole life and I have never met anybody outside this area. At that moment, I knew that everything was going to be different. I then realized that change isn't always a bad thing.

Honestly, I loved middle school. I never had any problems to all the school I went to during that time, I had a lot of f friends that to this day I still talk to and ended with having honor roll. My first middle school was here in Arizona at Estrella Mountain that I went to for the first third of sixth grade so I do not have many memories from that year there. Then I moved to Saint Johnsbury, Vermont to attend the rest of my sixth grade at Saint Johnsbury middle school. All of my memories at that school were of my class and I always being outside. We had endless field trips of going snowboarding, snowshoeing, sledding, camping and then do some of the most erratic things such as studying the population of the trees in our forest,