Now that it's over, high school seems surreal. As if it was a four year dream that I didn't wake up from until last Friday night. When I awoke from this prolonged, and strange dream I was standing on a stage in front of hundreds of proud parents, encouraging family, and enthusiastic friends. Looking out over this sea of people, I realized that everything I had spent my last four years of high school building was done with. No more daily classes, no more friendly faces in the hallways. I knew all too well that I was on my own for the first time.
Leaving high school, I left behind all my teachers who pushed e to live up to my potential, all my acquaintances who I had befriended with ease, and even the strangers who I've never really exchanged more than a few passing words. They're still there of course. Never too far away, never quite out of reach. But also, never the same. I can go back and talk to everyone who I would normally on a everyday basis only a week ago, but I'll be wearing a little green visitors pass. And the longer I've been away the less reaction those visits will provoke. Perhaps the curiosity will remain. Where have I been? What have I been doing? Are things going well for me? But I will no longer be a part of a community that I spent the last
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four years swaddled in. And standing on that stage with my peers surrounding me, I noticed I wasn't the only one who had really come to terms with where we were. We were all leaving.
Leaving each other, and the life we had known for so long now. Ready to part our separate ways, wishing people only the best of luck. I looked at the faces of these people who I had known for what seemed like forever. And it almost seemed as if I was seeing them in a new light. I looked at the girl with tears streaming down her face, clutching the hand of a close friend. I looked again and saw a boy who I had been close to for a period of time throughout my high school career, and smiled as I saw the look of victory firmly panted on his face. Looking at them as a whole, we looked as though we belonged together. All the shared memories, fights, and similar hardships we had
endured. When you're part of a small community you lean on others whether intentionally or not. there were people in my graduating class of 34 that I would even willingly ask for help. But int the back of my mind I know that if I really needed it they would provide me with that help. Some of these people, I had never spoken more than a word to, other I had spoken more words than I able to count.There are few that I have said awful things t, and others who have said just as horrific things to me. But as I stood there we were all in it together. Standing there helplessly in the same ways, waiting for someone to push us along to our next conquest. As a teacher I had always looked up to rambled on, I knew I was done. That all of us were. That this helpful, caring, and somewhat dysfunctional community we had formed together was about to disband into the harsh grip of the world. And though this was scary, I smiled knowing that at least I had those people through, some of what I have only been told, the hardest years of my life. And all those encouraging family members, proud parents, and enthusiastic friends, cheered along with up as they announced the graduating class of 2013.
Making the transition from middle school to high school is a huge stepping stone in a teenager’s life. High school represents both the ending of a childhood and the beginning of adulthood. It’s a rite of passage and often many teens have the wrong impression when beginning this passage. Most began high school with learning the last thing on their mind. They come in looking for a story like adventure and have a false sense of reality created through fabricated movie plots acted out by fictional characters. In all actuality high school is nothing like you see in movies, television shows, or what you read about in magazines.
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.
People say high school is supposed to be the golden years of your life. I don’t know what else in life is to come; however, my philosophy is to live in the moment and make the life you’re living in the present worthwhile into the future, not only for you but for those who surround you. I live my life participating in our community and getting involved in our school. The activities, and the people I’ve formed relationships with, are what have formed me into the person I am today. The person I am today is not perfect, but I have learned from the mistakes I’ve made.
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
8th grade, 8th grade from the opening day to the signing of the yearbooks. This is the year of memories, goodbyes, and regrets. 8th grade and I’m still realizing that there are people in the world that would die to go to a school like this. A school where every body knows everyone’s name, respects everyone, and where violence and fighting are about as common as the Yankees missing the playoffs. When I’m done with my homework and go to bed, as the days of 8th grade wind down, summer will come and go, and I will find myself in one of those giant, scary places called high school.
Freshman year of high school careened past my very eyes before I had the maturity to fully comprehend the knowledge and life experience that was being imparted to my young impressionable intellect. The somewhat nebulous idea of high school loomed before me, acting as both a mirage and a reality. The atmosphere itself was cramped. Every detail about the school was small, building size, classrooms, the student population. Yet in a broader sense I was overwhelmed by the enormousness of the task that lay before me. I was more concerned with surviving the first year than with anything else.
I didn’t know what to expect of high school as I sauntered in the doors as an incoming high school freshman. In my first couple of weeks of school, I learned that it was basically like middle school, just a little stricter with different teachers and a different locker. I asked myself “how bad could it be?” Turns out,
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.
When I was entering into High School, I tried to join as many clubs as I can, since I wanted not only to be superior in grades, but also extracurricular activities. So as usual, I joined Key Club. At first volunteering at the events was fun, but as I went to more events, it felt as if it was a chore. I did not feel any passion; it was rather tiresome.
High school is meant to be the time of your life, but for most seniors just like me it can be some of the most emotional and crazy time. The things in my past make me who I am today, and the things I do now are the first footsteps into the future. I’ve learned a lot about myself in these past four years, and I still have so much learning to do. This is my high school story; the good, bad, and the ugly.
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.
You know, it is really strange how quickly time passes, after spending my whole childhood wishing I was an adult, now here we are and it's a little hard to grasp. It feels like just yesterday I was standing here in the same position at eighth grade graduation. Ahh, middle school, such a joyous time for all of us, free of maturity and not a care in the world. The biggest decisions I ever had to make then was deciding which group to stand with at passing time and choosing which shirt from my extensive collection of Stussy and No Feat apparel to wear. We were all naive to the danger that lurked just around the corner. We were unaware that the carefree world we lived in was about to come crashing to the ground in a blazing inferno of real school work and responsibility ... otherwise known as high school.
Having spent twelve years of my school life in just one small red brick building, the years tend to fade into each other. But the year I remember most clearly and significantly is my senior year of high school, where I finally began to appreciate what this institution offered to any student who stopped to look. Before, school had been a chore, many times I simply did not feel motivated toward a subject enough to do the homework well, and seeing the same familiar faces around ever since I was 5 years old grew very tiring soon enough. But I began to see things from a different angle once I became a senior.
It is always difficult as things come to an end, and even more difficult to say goodbye, but we cannot look at this as goodbye. This is simply a farewell until we meet again. We wish you all the best in your futures and hope that everything you achieve is what you expected and more – as we know you are all going to do great things. Wherever you may go, never be afraid to accept challenges and take on all challenges you may face head on. And remember, life 's a dance, you learn as you go!
Graduation: the last day that I would unwillingly set foot on the fields of Horizon High School. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest, and tried so hard to keep my feet moving one after the other in order to maintain my perfect stature. After the two hour wait of opening speeches, class songs, and the calling off of the five hundred plus names that were in front of me, it was finally my turn. As my row stood up and we walked towards the stage it had set in at last, this is it, I am done. My high school career ended on that night, but it didn’t close the book that is my life, it only started a new chapter, and with it came a whole slue of uncertainties.