Capstone Narrative Research Paper

Capstone Narrative

You’re sitting in a open field, the gentle breeze is blowing swiftly, the yellow sun beams are embracing the earth, the flowers are blooming in all varying hues of the beautiful rainbow; the eternal feeling of bliss is overwhelming and it feels like time has stopped. Who wouldn’t want to be here? But what if that breeze was suddenly replaced by strong, loud winds, clouds started to cover the once-sunny sky, the flowers around you started to shrivel and die: everything changed. A sense of vulnerability would wash over, leaving you feeling isolated, or even dreadful. You would want to leave, wouldn’t you? This is how I felt in the beginning of my eighth grade year, but ultimately, I found my way back to that open field.

I entered my eighth grade year with the same mindset I possessed the year before: doubtful. I knew this year would be different, but I also knew it wouldn’t be any better than the year before due to various reasons. It was the last year of middle school, academies were seeking applications, important decisions were expected to be made, and before we knew it, high school would arrive. There was nothing I dreaded more to think about. There were many things I apprehended: losing touch with friends, leaving my comfort zone of a school I had attended for three years, getting new teachers, and the overall impending and severe change. I also expected the homework load to stay the the same and that I would once again be thrown into a cycle of never-ending projects and assignments. However, no matter what, this was the year I would finally be successful in managing how I spent my time. This was the one goal I had set for myself, and little did I know how much it would affect everything around me.

Ever since I was thrown into this school’s whirlwind of homework in sixth grade, I’ve had to cope with it by myself.

Eighth grade was the year where I wanted to finally create a better work-ethic for myself. Even though I had the purest of intents, everything did not go as planned. Of course, a drastic change such as the one I wished to achieve wouldn’t happen overnight, but I had to start somewhere. In the beginning of the year, I would try my best to get a head start on projects whilst putting forth my best effort. I had already started to have a more positive outlook on the year than I ever have before. New opportunities would arise and, for once, I would be able to take them. Along with this, I started to stay true to myself and delve more into my newly formed interests. In the beginning of seventh grade, I had discovered a new passion and eighth grade was the year I finally decided to take some action. Sixth grade me would have never stepped anywhere near a stage, but eighth grade me jumped at every opportunity to help out our theatre department. Having signed up for theatre classes, I was very anxious, but that didn’t stop me from establishing my own confidence to put myself out there. I am most grateful for this change because I have made so many new friends and have shared wonderful experiences with all of them that I will cherish forever. Of course, some friends came and went, but those few who have stuck with me through everything mean the world to me. I still have friends from sixth grade, and I have friends that I made just this year, but they all deeply care for me. I wouldn’t be who I am today without them, as cliche as it sounds. Even though my friend groups may change, all of them have changed me for the

better.

Not only has my outlook on my friends and eighth grade year changed, but my outlook on school as a whole has changed. In the beginning of the year I was worried about academies, but halfway through the year I decided to attend my zoned high school. I thought that grades would control my life and that is was better to have academic classes. While I understand that grades are important, I learned that is also important to focus on extracurriculars in order to have a grip on society before leaving high school. If there was one lesson I could take away from my middle school journey, it would be to never wait until the last minute. Even the smallest step of focusing more on extracurriculars will help to make a difference in my life in the long run. Everything you do has an effect on something or someone, no matter how little your effort is. This was the case for our year-long project called capstone.

When I first heard that my school was assigning a year-long group project, I was a bit uncertain of how I would do. However, I had confidence that no matter what, it would be successful in the end. I had no idea of how well I would do, but I was surrounded by diligent people who I have grown closer to within the past year. Together, we instilled motivation into both ourselves and each other. We found our topic quickly, executed it quickly, and we were on top of any responsibilities along the way. We even made an email in order to get in touch with organizations that may have helped us play out the final parts of our project: presenting and selling our products. Capstone was an essential part of my year, and it was also very susceptible to change. Not everything that we planned occurred, but we took every challenge we faced and evaluated our methods in order to fix the situation. As a group, we were constantly working hard and we were always looking for opportunities to showcase what we had done. My group kept a constant effort to stay ahead and to make sure we would meet our goals. After everything my group went through, all the hurdles we had to face and overcome, we all stayed strong. This is what I believe ultimately led to our success. Throughout the capstone project, I realized that it was a lot of work and responsibility to take on. We accomplished what we had to do for this project with caution as to grow our progress rather than hurt it. I learned what worked and what didn’t, and now reflecting back on the project, I realize that capstone was a learning experience that I can take with me into high school and the rest of my life.

Not many people can say that their middle school years were significant to them, but I am lucky enough to say that these past three years in middle school have changed me for the better. Although I may not have fulfilled all my goals to their fullest potentials, I will leave this year knowing more, and taking lessons I can use in high school. I know I came to a huge challenge; stepping out of my comfort zone to come into this gifted school, but I was able to overtake it, and face what I once never would. I leave with newly found confidence and life experiences that I do not take for granted. I know my optimism will lead me to do great things, and I’m now excited to see what the future has in store. This is something I would not be able to say when I was in that dark, scary field that changed from the happy one.
It’s quite amazing how one ambition can lead to a whole year of change.