I can remember when I was a little girl sitting in my father’s truck while trying to stretch my short legs to reach the car’s floor. I looked forlornly out of the window as the ugly yellow image of my elementary school came into view. I eyed it with disgust and I said in my whiniest voice, “I’m gonna be in school forever…”
At the time, my father only looked down at me and said, “You should cherish this time forever, because you don’t realize how fast this time goes.” He continued to say this, and other such nonsense to me every single year that school started, and every single year, all I could think of was that my father was obviously crazy.
Today, I can see myself walking across the stage in my silver gown with the biggest smile on my face, when what seemed like yesterday, I was so sure that school would never end.
So many things have changed for me during my span as a K-12th grader. I can remember when I was in elementary school; my grades weren’t that great, especially in the column for homework. I could never understand why I always received a “1” when I got a “5” for behavior. When I was in elementary school, I thought homework was optional so I never did it.
I was painfully shy in elementary school and it didn’t help that the other kids used to push me around and make fun of me for being different. I hated every day that I was in elementary school until I met my friends, Nickole and Kelsey. By the 6th grade, Kelsey was not longer with Nickole and me, but together she and I somehow managed to survive elementary school and move on to middle school.
6th grade was probably the start of the best year ever. I’d had my sister’s favorite teacher, Mrs. S. Since our young minds couldn’t pronounce her last name, she just wanted us to call her Mrs. S. She was very nice, kind, caring, and very funny. All the students who had her instantly fell in love with her because she was just that wonderful. But halfway through the year, she sat us all down in a circle outside and told us that she would no longer be teaching us.
She’d been offered a job with the Administration and had decided to stop teaching us for this new experience. The students sat around her in the circle hearing the news that our beloved teacher would be leaving us with some stranger. I felt saddened with our loss and as I looked around the circle, I noticed that my peers were rubbing their red eyes and trying not to look at her. Although Mrs. S left us, she told us that she was sorry, and her parting words to our class were, “You never know until you try.”
When I was in middle school, I was even less sure of myself then before. I had gone to school with my friends for seven years, and suddenly I was in a foreign place. To say the least, I was scared out of my mind, but through it all, I met some wonderful people like my friend Jessie. We met in 7th grade when an acquaintance of mine introduced us, and now 5 years later, we’re still good friends.
Middle school was hard for me, as I’m sure it was hard for everyone else. Suddenly, I was supposed to be this whole new person that everyone kept talking about, about how I “changed”, when I never really felt any different then before. The friends with whom I had gone to elementary school had suddenly gone their own separate ways, and people I had considered strangers were now my friends.
There was a teacher in 8th grade that motivated me like no other. She was probably one of the best teachers I had ever had up until then. Ms. Motes asked me to reach inside of myself to find the fragile remains of my imagination to help keep it alive. Since she was a Language Arts teacher, she let me write with my imagination, transforming essays into stories where I was praised for my creativity. I role-played as characters from the book and my peers confided to me that I was the reason that they felt they understood the book. I still remember on the very last day of junior high school when my English teacher had to turn her face away from me because she didn’t want me to see her tears (but there was a water droplet inside of my yearbook).
When I started my first year of high school, I was immediately scared. I’d seen movies and television shows about the horrible seniors that torment the lower classmen and I didn’t want any of that to happen to me. It was even worse for me because my sister was moving away; the year I was promoted from 8th grade, my sister graduated high school, so she was going to college… five hours away from home.
I was grateful that I’d been able to travel with my long time friend Nickole though. Through her, I’d been able to make many new friends that have helped me along the way. During my high school year, with my friends, I’d been able to come out of my shell. I was no longer the shy girl that didn’t stand up for herself… if I had a problem I’m no longer afraid to tell anyone.
Although I’m still sensitive, I’m not as sensitive as I once was, and when I transferred to Tech it was the hardest choice I ever had to make. I didn’t really want to leave my entire group of friends behind at Vintage. I had just made a major breakthrough, standing up for myself, and I had friendly teachers there, I had a family back there. How could I have been crazy enough to run away from my family to some strange place where I would probably be alone until I withered away and died?
…Okay, so it wasn’t that horrible when I got here, but I certainly had some thoughts of concern regarding Tech High, but when I got here, I was immediately glad I had made the transition. I’ve been able to make more friends then I would have, if I stayed at Vintage. I’ve had better grades here then I did at Vintage and I feel more comfortable to be myself.
I never really believed my father when he told me that my school years would go by so quickly, and I’m sorry I didn’t. If I could, I wouldn’t necessarily go and do it over again, but I’d make sure to make each moment last as long as it could.
It really does go so fast, and I wish it hadn’t passed me all by.