On Graduation

A friend and classmate of mine recently brought up the question ‘What was the most important moment of your life?’ The first idea that came to me was when I got into my school - the school I am at now - in the fifth grade. Before coming here, I had gone to a public school near my home that went from excellent to terrible as I moved through Kindergarten to the fourth grade. Since leaving, my friends who continued to sixth grade told me about the terrible teachers and delinquent students. I was lucky to get into this school when I did—really, I was lucky to get in at all.

However, I didn’t realize this at the time. I was still fiercely loyal to my old school—despite a terrible and depressing fourth grade year—and I was determined to hate my new school. But over that first year, I made friends, joined clubs, and began to come out of my shell. I had always been a very shy person, but I began to open up. And slowly, this school became my favorite place in the world. This school has shaped and changed me, and is an enormous part of who I am. I am no longer the shy little girl who would sneak her book to the playground with her so that she could hide and read. I’ve become much more outgoing and open, and much happier with who I am. Five years ago, I cried countless times ever week. Now I laugh every day. And as I have come into my own, I have come to love my school. I love it for its great academics, beautiful campus, enormous variety of extra-curricular opportunities, caring teachers, and for my wonderful friends who are students here. I love it for its stupid school cheer, for its Hala tree napkins, for its biodegradable forks that people eat on dares every now and then. I love getting to school early and walking up to the Science Center, hearing my friends laughing and talking upstairs and knowing that soon I'll be joining them. I love the beautiful old buildings, the lily pond, the aunties at the snack bar, the marching band and football games... I love everything about this school, from Rocky Hill to the baseball field.

Many people have said that they never appreciated their youth until it was over—but for me, I know that this is the best time of my life. I’m fully aware that I am incredibly lucky to have the experiences that I am having—but I am also fully aware that it is going by fast. And I feel that after this, nothing could possibly measure up.

I dread going to college. I’m not afraid of the academics, and I’m not worried about not being able to find friends—I’m worried that I can’t possibly love college as much as I love high school. Already, I have a bias against my future college. Already I’m convinced that my school cannot be surpassed, that nothing can or will be as good as this. And though I’m just a Sophomore, I’m already terrified of the idea of graduation. This year, some of my friends will graduate, and next year, almost half of them will. And then the year after that—2010— my friends and I will be scattered across the nation, and we may—we probably will—lose touch. I am afraid that I will be alone in a place where the teachers don’t care, where I’ll freeze to death in the winter, and where for four years all I will be able to do is look back wistfully at my high school days and wish I were 14 again.

I’m not convinced that this will happen—it is, after all, possible for college to be as wonderful as high school—but that does not stop me from being afraid of it. For me, college could mean the end of the best time of my life, and the beginning of my introduction to the real world—which, so far, does not seem like a very friendly place.

…Maybe I’ll just come back and teach here.

Essential Question Response: School and Goals

Essential Question: What will make me happy? / What is in my future?

As you have probably figured out by now, I am a geek. And as such, I enjoy school-- probably a lot more than I should (note: please know that 'school' does not entail the daily torture session known as 'math'). There are many, many reasons why I love my school as much as I do.

One of the first reasons is, of course, friends. When I'm hanging out at the Alley, it isn't hard to be happy-- my friends can always make me laugh, even if I've had a bad day, done not-so-great on a test, or just read Pirates of the Caribbean spoilers saying that my favorite character is going to die in the third movie. People at the Alley are generally random, insane, and very illogical ("I am from Canada, and my eyes are brown. Therefore, cheese."), so it's difficult to be bored. Over the year, people at the Alley have decorated for Halloween and Christmas, played foursquare, played Tackle Frisbee, played Trombone, participated in 'How to be a Ninja' Tutorials, been fire hazards, glomped and been glomped, had dance- and sing-alongs to inane songs on iPods, gotten sugar high, organized and participated in Easter egg hunts... the list goes on and on. And though, of course, friends have been depressed and bad things have happened, we pull through and keep laughing.

Another thing I love about my school (which name shall not be mentioned in the unlikely event that someone reading this is a stalker) is the opportunities it offers. There are clubs, teams, organizations, brilliant teachers, a huge array of really interesting classes (which I unfortunately do not have enough time to take), plays, performances, community service opportunities, and so on. I love the feeling of knowing that though I may not be able to take advantage of it all, there will always be new people to meet and something new and enjoyable for me to do.

But of course, much as I enjoy my friends and classes (not math), school does have its downs. Stress is rampant, and though I rarely break down, I definitely get upset what with homework, tests, and the pressure about grades. When I first came to my school in fifth grade, I viewed a C as OK. My perspective-- influenced by friends and teachers-- has changed drastically. Here is a grading rubric that shows the mindset of the average overachiever in my school:

A = Acceptable
B = Bad
C = Crap
D = Doomed
F = Find a new school

I have not gotten to this point yet, but I'm getting close. Sometimes this mindset seems very appropriate and reasonable, and sometimes it freaks me out. Yes, part of me misses the days when a C truly was average. But while I do think that laughter is essential to everyday life, so is perseverance, responsibility, and intelligence. All of that is reflected in grades-- which in turn play a huge role in the future. Grades now will determined what classes I take later, what my grades will be in the future, what college I get into, and what job I end up with. Everything starts here, and I'm sure I speak for my fellow geeks when I say that I don't want anything lower than an 'Acceptable' future.

Essential Question Response: After College

Because Essential Questions are made for the purpose of figuring out who we are, they-- like us-- can change at any time. So I decided to temporarily change my second essential question to 'What is in my future?' That is the question I am responding to now.


Although I'm a Freshman, I often think about college, and what comes after. I don't know what college I want to go to (although I do want to go out-of-state), but I think I know what I want to do afterwards. I really love my school, and I want to come back and teach here after college. I'd love to teach a history or English course, and I'd love to be involved in the school's band even if my marching days are over. This school is one of my favorite places in the world, and coming back here would be like coming home. I'm someone who places great value in opportunity. I love going to a big school because of the countless things you can do, classes you can take, and people you can meet. Teaching here could open up even more oppurtunity than being a student.

Of course I will probably change my mind-- it's too long a time with too much happening for me to think that I'll be the same after I graduate as I am now. And even if I don't change my mind about teaching, I may want to work at a college (as my friend Herena said, "No! Don't be a teacher! Be a professor! Teachers are mortals.").

But I do know that after graduating I would like to come back to my home state and live there-- where the weather is nice like the people-- and I'll be home: close to family, and if I still want to, able to teach at my high school.