I walked into my kitchen to see my mom cleaning up after dinner. After playing this conversation in my head for a while I asked her, “Did you register us for school? It was yesterday.” She walks over and sits down next to me. “Listen.. Well, I… I didn’t register you guys at St. Eugene this year. Were going to see Pennoyer tomorrow. They’re gonna give us a private tour it should be really nice. I promise if you hate it you can go back. Try it out for a week see what you think. You might like it and,” I cut her off, “I WON’T!” I shouted and ran off to my room crying. For about a year my parents were juggling the idea of switching schools for me and my siblings. We begged and pleaded to stay at our small school, which felt like a second home to us, but my parents had enough. I went to St. Eugene, a catholic school, since I was in preschool. I was with the same thirty kids for nine years. I literally knew nothing else. My twelve year old self was not open minded to the idea of leaving my best friends and the only school I knew. Throughout the summer I had to wrap my mind around the idea of starting out brand new in seventh …show more content…
My mind was racing. Will they like me? Will anyone even talk to me? What’s it like to be the new kid? How will I find my class? I had a million and one questions. I was so nervous. I couldn’t even sleep. I woke up to sharp aches in my stomach at seven in the morning. Anxiety had taken over my body. I pretended like I was okay and got ready and all dressed up for my first day of public school. My mom took pictures of us in the front yard by the tall, green bushes like she does every year. I didn’t smile. I just wanted to get the day over with. The car ride from my house, which is a five-minute drive, seemed like hours. When we finally got there my mom had to walk us in. How embarrassing, I thought, I’m the new kid getting escorted by mom. As I’m walking into the door I hear my name being
I felt as though I was watching a train barrelling towards me, an inevitable bullet that had come tumbling out of the opposing pitcher’s arm. But instead I stood immobilized, watching my team's only chance of winning whiz by me. Strike three. I heard my team from behind me shouting “SWING!” with my mind screaming the same. But my bat remained unmoving, the pop of the catcher's glove like the nail into the coffin that was our defeat. All I had to do to keep our hopes of winning hope alive was swing, and yet I couldn't. I stayed on the field afterwards, tossing the ball up in the air and swinging away, landing it on the thick maple barrel of the bat.
When I (Tony Johnson) was younger, I found myself going in the wrong direction. My parents constantly warn me to get all the education that I could especially my high school diploma. I started hanging out and making some bad decision. For this reason, I drop out of high school in 1983, not long after I was being arrested for Robbery. The thing that bothered me the most was letting my parents down. I always knew that they (parents) raised me to have integrity. I will never forget the day I received my sentence (jail) because of the disappointment in their eyes. I knew then that I did not like seeing my parents hurting because of my doing. When I was released in 1984, I wanted to do the right thing by showing my parents that all their hard work raising me will
through the seventh grade is more of a challenge than any of them had expected. It starts
My mom is an adult she knew what she was doing and she had her reasons. At the time, I did not see it, that way. I was just angry. I did not understand why? My mind just kept repeating, "She hates me, I’m going to be mean now, and I'm never speaking to her again. One day as we were heading back home, I was just pouting the whole way back and being a little brat. At nine years of age, I wasn't ready for a change. In the article "SeaStar" Hurd says "A need to confirm what we feel, but can't see," I can relate to this, I was not thinking clearly what I was doing or saying. At the time, while moving, I didn’t want to see that the change was better for my family, and me. I saw things differently as I got older. Some changes are not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Accepting my new school was hard, because it was difficult for me to let go my old friends. In "Sea Stars" by Hurd, she speaks about "fierce truths, that survives between the layers of the seed and the fallen, and makes itself known to us only by the ghostly presence of its wanting." This compares to my story, because I will miss all my friends and still wanting to go to my old
Every school I attended was ephemeral to me since I was changing so often. When I was younger and living in Monterrey I went to a private school during kindergarten, suddenly we moved houses (still in Monterrey) and we had to change to another private school closer to our new house. Later on, during my 4th grade year in school, I was getting many questions from my peers asking me if I was gay or not and even though I wasn’t being bullied it bothered me because I wasn’t ready to answer that question so I asked my mother to change me to another school. After I begged, she moved me to another school for my 5th grade year, but I was only there for that year because the following year I would be moving to Laredo, TX. At the age of 10 I had already been through 4 schools which I believe taught me how to be social and how to make friends quickly. Changing schools also made me realize that friends aren’t always forever and sometimes you need to let them
Graduating high school was really exciting for me, but at the same time I was apprehensive because I knew it was a significant milestone in my life and I didn't know what to expect with college. However, the freedoms provided by college ending up being wonderful. I love being able to completely manage my time on my own and make my own decisions. I graduate college next May. If I were not going to grad school I would probably be dreading it because I don't think I'm ready for the "real world" and having a 9-5 job yet. So, since I am continuing my education it's going to be exciting since I will be moving to a new state and meeting new people.
As discussed in class, discourse is our communication. Furthermore, author James Paul Gee of “What is Literacy” defines discourse as an “identity kit” (Gee, “What is Literacy?”). Gee includes discourse as a combination of one’s thinking, acting, and language that is associated to a group of others. There are different kinds of discourses; two discourses that will be discussed in this paper are primary and secondary. Primary discourse is the “oral mode developed in the primary process of enculturation” (Gee, “What is Literacy?”). The primary discourse in this paper is the first-person experience I had in high school. Secondary discourse is “developed in association with and by having access to and practice with these secondary institutions” (Gee, “What is Literacy?”). School, work, and church are examples of secondary institutions. The secondary discourse in the paper is attending the University of Arkansas and writing this paper. According to Gee, “secondary discourse can serve as a meta-discourse to critique the primary discourse…” (“What is Literacy?”). Throughout this process I wanted to know if high school is destined. Was my high school experience awful or is there a sociological reasoning behind the events? With that, I have researched the social construct and applied it to my previous experiences enabling me to truly discover if high school is destined.
Everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives, the feeling of being free from high school finally sinking into their minds. Forgetting about all of their problems for the night, and letting loose. My mom always says that I’ll regret this when I grow up; not living the full high school experience. But what is really considered the “high school experience”? It is just going to parties, homecoming dances, prom, and being in relationships? How cliché.
Throughout my high school experience, I've been able to obtain knowledge that I can use to better my life. Some of the classes I've taken have been a blessing in disguise. For example, I never expected to learn as much as I did about writing and literature by just simply reading. Many of my teachers have pushed me to my limits and inspired me to think differently from my peers. In general my best English experience was reading "MacBeth" by William Shakespeare in Mr. Elwell's class, where I also realized I had many English skills to improve on.
“Are you sure I can’t just transfer schools?”. A question I had asked a billion times over. “100%. I promise you, you will be okay”. My mom rubbed my back as my head dropped onto the cold kitchen counter. I didn’t want to hear that I would be okay. I wanted them to let me have my way. “You’re in your last year what difference would it make”. My brother joined the conversation as if someone had asked. I rolled my eyes, letting him know his opinion was being recognized and very neatly filed in the trash bin in my brain. I made my way to my bedroom and collapsed onto the bed, burying my face into the pillow. My parents were right, I could handle it. I just didn’t want to.
Let’s flash back in time to before our college days. Back to then we had lunch trays filled with rubbery chicken nuggets, stale pizza, and bags of chocolate milk. A backpack stacked with Lisa Frank note books, flexi rulers, and color changing pencils. The times where we thought we wouldn’t make it out alive, but we did. Through all the trials and tribulations school helped build who I am today and shaped my future. From basic functions all the way to life-long lessons that helped shape my character.
We both stood quiet for a few minutes. My mom had no way to answer my question. I got up and walked to my room because I was tired of thinking about it. My mom walked into my room asking if I was okay. “Yea, I’m fine.” I said, smiling.
On May 8, 2015, I gave the worst speech I have ever given. It was some pointless speech about the design of candy dispensers. I truly thought it was the worst moment of my entire life. However, I had no clue what followed afterward would top that chart one hundred times over. Moments later, I entered my dean’s office.
During that summer, I began to realize that I need to change. Life is going too fast to sit around and let everything that matters drift away. September 3, 2014, first day of school, arrives and I was terrified. So I attempted to try hard and make a difference. I disregarded the video games and picked up a textbook and studied for the first time in a while.
At last I got up and looked for an outfit and did my hair. I didn’t even eat breakfast because I was so nervous. I got into the car and all I can think about is “What are they going to think about me, are they going to bully me?” I managed to calm down and not to think about too much. I arrived at the school and my uncle gave me some good advice before going in.