Personal Narrative: When Coming To Arcadia High School

“Are you sure you have everything?” my mom asked one last time. I smiled and nodded yes for the fifth time. My mom, dad, and half-asleep little sister walked with me out of the small conference room along with other sad, but proud families. This was the last time I would see my family this summer for I was participating in the UCLA High School Summer Research Program (HSSRP). My dad looked at me and grinned. He held his hand out and we fist bumped. “Good Luck,” he said in a calm tone. After saying bye to my mom once more, we went our separate ways and my new challenge had begun.

They say that high school is not necessarily the best four years of your life, and I agree. However, I believe that it is a place for unique growth and development–both of which are factors in finding the best in ourselves. With all of this said, I can say that entering Miriam College High School has definitely and ultimately transformed me to become the intellectually and spiritually focused woman I am today.

Entering high school my freshman year, many things were new to me, and I wasn’t sure what I was going to get involved in as a student. The only thing I was sure of was that I was going to play high school soccer. I’d been playing soccer since I was about 8 years old, and finally having the ability to play for the high school I grew up watching was exhilarating. My main goal going into the soccer program was that I wanted to make the varsity soccer team by my senior year in high school- my brother had been a former varsity player, and I greatly wanted to fill his shoes and leave my mark at the school. Throughout my four years in the program, that was my main focus, but I was happy to discover that I was also making friends along the way. Although

I completed my placement hours at Northside High School. The population of the school is four hundred and seventy students. Of those four hundred and seventy students enrolled at Northside, 95% are White, 2% are Black, 2% are Hispanic, and 1% is Other. The percentage of students identified as living below the poverty index is 33%. Northside had eight class periods a day, which meant each class period was around forty minutes. Northside allowed their students to bring backpacks, have a ten-minute break after second period, and eat lunch in the cafeteria without their fifth period teacher present in the cafeteria. I noticed most of the students brought their lunches and were very well dressed. Most of the students from Northside seem to come

During my freshman year of high school I struggled in many areas of my life including personal, social, and academic. I was in an emotionally abusive relationship, struggling with my self-esteem, and fighting to keep my grades above c 's. Since then I have grown, learned from my experiences and it can all be seen through my transcripts and the friend group I now surround myself with.

When it comes to sports my family has many ties to Middletown High School South. In the Going as far back as the 1980’s when my Dad attended the same high school. He was a standout wrestler for the team and was given multiple scholarships to wrestle in college. My family name is everywhere within the trophy rooms and walls of Middletown South. I am the youngest of three children with two older sisters coming through high school before me. Both of my sisters were outstanding runners for Middletown South and are now running on collegiate levels. Then there is me following in my dad 's footsteps, trying to leave my mark in Middletown South 's wrestling history.

When I started Unity High School I thought that it was going to be boring school because my first choice was Skyline but my mom made me come to this school so I had to obey what my mom wants because she takes care of me and helps me with whatever I need help with so going to the school that she wanted me to go to was the least I could have done. I thought that high school was going to be difficult because the work that my brother would bring home when he was in high school looked really hard and I did not understand most of the work he needed to complete. But I realized that I need to be taught the material before I go on and do the work and I learned that as soon as I started high school because I started getting the same work that my brother

Freshman year came along and I wanted to attend Sullivan High School. I wanted to come back to my hometown, I was just missing the people I started it all out with in the beginning. My dad and I had all of the paperwork finished already to go for me to attend Sullivan High School in August, but my mom refused and wouldn’t budge to let me go. She didn’t want me going to Sullivan, she wanted me to stay with all of my new friends I had made at Owensville. She thought my best bet would be to stay and proceed to go to OHS. So, I went through volleyball season as a freshman at Owensville High School, and it was a good couple of months while it lasted. Come basketball season, I didn’t want to play at Owensville, I wanted to come to Sullivan, and

I moved to Kansas City, Kansas seven years ago. It all started when I was in 6th grade with these girls. I was a different race then them. They thought it would be cool to mess and try to get rid of the white girl. One day, they decided to try everything they possibly can to get me kicked out. It was the day of gym. There was basketballs and volleyballs. As far as in the corner it could be, there was tetherball. I thought it would be fun to go and join them. Try and make friends, but it was not like that for them. The ball came around to the girls’ side and Boom. My face was bloody as it ever could be. My glasses were thrown off my face, my eyes were starting to bruise and finally, I could barely see out of my eyes. It went on for weeks after weeks.

Laconia Middle School was the local school for those that lived in Laconia. Knowing most of my classmates and having many friends I felt as though I was at a very good place in life. Attending school everyday was fun for me. I got to be in classes with my best friends, had some of my favorite teachers, worked out a wonderful schedule and played the sports I loved, but if anything middle school was especially important to me was when I began to pick up a fascination for history and also began to realize how the Bosnian War had affected me as a person. Seventh grade was the year I was asked to write an essay about my biggest fear. I took the time and really thought about what would scare me the most and after hours of thinking, I came up with

Friday night, around 12:00 am, Mason Stokes and Brian Kasaba were around a wooded, shallow grave area off Clemson road, when they saw the skeletal remains of a body, that was revealed by heavy rain, and eroded soil.

As a junior I moved from Ryan HIgh School to Braswell High School due to my zoning with the new school. Braswell High School was a brand new high school. I attended the first year it was open in which the highest grade level they offered was juniors. Most of the students moved from their old high schools to Braswell were devastated due to the strong school spirit at their previous schools. The administration at Braswell attempted to inspire new school spirit in all the students especially the junior class. Most of the junior class were very against this idea at first including myself.

The past four years I’ve spent at Pascack hills High School has matured me in many ways. However sports is the one thing that helped me grow the most as a person

Beep, beep, beep, beep, bee- “Ugh,” I groaned. It was Wednesday morning and I had a big math final today. I got up out of bed and went to go open my white curtains, that hung low to my floor. The sun welcomed my face with a warm, bright embrace. Trying to avoid stepping over my school books and clothes, which are currently sunbathing on my dark hardwood floor, I went to go check my phone in bed. I saw nothing unusual, a bunch of Snapchat notifications, couple texts from my boyfriend, messages from my friends, some pictures that I was tagged in; the usual. After looking through and answering them I checked the time, 6:04 am, then went to go get ready for school, of course, with some music. After getting dressed, doing my makeup, and freshening up, I grabbed my keys and my ID then headed to the bus stop.

During my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I was a dancer at a local studio and at Arts and Communications Magnet Academy (ACMA). Dancing was fun for me, I met a lot of great friends and was able to express myself through art. I genuinely loved going to ACMA. But, dancing and attending ACMA led me to meet someone who forced me into situations I never expected to be in. Although I wish I had not ever been forced into those circumstances, there is a silver lining to it. Before this story begins, I need to clarify; there is no immediate concern that is needed to be felt. Everything stated has been told to either my parents, my therapist, or a police officer.