Personal Narrative: Alyssa Stongle

Out of all the things I would do in high school, nothing would impact me more than joining the North Rangers Marching Band. It would give me more skills than any other aspect of my life that would prepare me for a future and allow me to evolve from a shy child to an adult with skills that prepared me for my future. I went into high school as a shy kid, with no true direction, at least until I discovered my schools marching band. Although coming in two years behind most of me peers, I knew that this was where I was meant to be, and with that, my mind was set and I was determined. Throughout the next two years, I would face countless difficulties with this that felt at times like tests of my willpower and what this band meant to me, but luckily I would push through, and in the end, would be left with a stronger person.

Have you ever realized that as you get older you slowly have less and less time to do anything fun or spontaneous? For me, I may not be considered old, but lately it seems to be getting harder to do anything such as hanging out with friends, hanging out with my girlfriend, and even just watching television. As I get older it is becoming increasingly difficult to stay young. All of my time has been taken with the pressures of school, so that I can build a career, and working 2 jobs. I’ve been working at McDonalds for about 3 years and The Home Depot for almost a year now.

Over summer, I was struggling to decide what I should do for my Capstone Project. There were numerous things I could do, some of the things I was familiar with, and some of them I wasn’t. I had been looking to get a camera for a while, just because I wanted better quality pictures for when we go animal scouting, or even when I came across something I wanted to capture. When I bought my camera, I did not know anything about it.

My grandmother, Sarah Adams Abernethy, has been traveling since her aunt took her and her sister to London when they were young. Ever since she has loved to travel. Two of her favorite trips she took were to Israel and Ireland. She loved Israel because she felt very touched that she was in the same place Jesus was once at. Her favorite part was either the Tomb in the Gardens or the Jordan river.

Sarah Johnson's life is a fulfilled, roller coaster of success. The things she accomplishes every day are hard to imagine for most people. Question is, what does she do? Is she an athlete? A caterer of some sort?

Slowly advancing towards my desk, I begin to study the faces of my colleagues; scowling in distaste with the world we live in. The long aisles of desks stretch forever, as i continue along the path towards my desk, the bleak walls slowly in case me in all its melancholic glory. The clock taunts me with its speed, forever at the same pace never changing unlike life. Report after report i file for the police, the stack never ends as the world fell into chaos long ago. Timidly reaching into my desk draw, shuffling my hand around as i search for the last thing i remember before the world i knew crumbled away.

It is a beautiful moment when you have complete clarity of what you want to be when you grow up. I have always had an interest in pregnancy and infants. I was always watching birthing shows on tv when I was a young but I never really thought anything of it. Until I was about 16 I had no idea what I was going to be and then it hit me.

This girl and I had a friendship so deep. If I thought something she said before I got a chance to. We went everywhere together. It was like we were joined at the hip in a weird way. I was always there when she needed me whether the issue was important or not so serious.

The World got a little bit stranger and maybe a little bit brighter, at least it did in Frye Regional Hospital on July 9th, 1999. My mom was about as big around as a very large watermelon, with three bundles of joy bouncing around in her stomach as she was rolled into the delivery room where she would be cut into and come out again with a much greater responsibility. Outside in the hallway sat 4 anxious grandparents, soon to be uncles and aunts, and a handful of family-friends all awaiting these tiny newborns. At home, with its white picket fence and candy apple-red shutters, were two neatly arranged sets of pink, frilly clothes, a set of sky-blue baby boy clothes, mountains of diapers, and all the works and necessities of having babies. The doctors began to pull babies out of the womb,

Growing up I never had any dreams; dreams were impossible to come true. My mother raised me by herself and the only thing she ever taught me was to keep a job. I wasn 't introduce to college until I was in high school; never even thought about going, it was pretty much unheard of in my family. After graduating high school I enrolled at a local community college. I thought it was the right thing to do since I would have been the 2nd person in my family to continue my education.

Stereotypes of English Learners A numerous population in public schools in America are English Language Learners, and the number of these students is increasing rapidly. In the article ELL Face Unique Challenges, states that “ Over the past 15 years, the number of ELL students has nearly doubled—to about 5 million. By 2015, ELL enrollment in U.S. schools will reach 10 million and, by 2025, nearly one out of every four public school students will be an English Language Learner.”