My High School Journey

Education goes beyond what you learn when sitting in a classroom, all aspects of high school are a learning experience. Education is a process of receiving instruction and knowledge to gradually prepare you for your future career and life but it can also mean an enlightening experience. It is an aspect of life that most teenagers take for granted but education is the key to being successful. In order to become educated you must want to become educated, you must learn self discipline, and self determination. The most important aspects of education has taught me is confidence, exposure to diversity, independence, problem-solving abilities, patience, concentration, socialization, and responsibility. My high school education not only came from academic learning but also the experiences I encountered outside the classroom which taught me the most. “Success in life” is more than a large house, expensive cars, and all the money in the world; success in life is happiness, not only for myself but for the people closest to me as well and accomplishing the goals that I set for myself. Success is more than a 4.0 cumulative GPA in high school or passing all your college courses and getting your degree; success is using that knowledge and impacting the world in a positive way.

My High School experience began at Blair High School when I was a freshman. My first year of High School had its ups and downs as every new experience in life does. High School was new to me, it was no longer just a simple worksheet everyday but now it was essays, projects, and arduous amounts of work. Teachers were no longer giving you a grade on whether or not you did the assignment but now grades were based on the effort and correctness of assignments. I was excited to start this new chapter in my life because every since I was little I wanted to grow up quickly, I finally felt like a “big kid”. The beginning of my Sophomore year was my most challenging year of high school and I had to practice diligence through my hardships. The girls that I had called my best friends had turned on me. This was my first experience with verbal bullying which later became physical. It was so difficult coming to school everyday; I no longer cared about my school work and I questioned my worth daily. It went from being called names, to them getting in my face pressing me to fight them, to getting bumped into constantly and finally I spoke up after 2 months of this occurring. My dad had a meeting with the principal where we had talked about the entire situation and the principal explained the consequences of both bullying and fighting. At lunch that same day, those same girls came up to me but one of them got in my face; I realized that I had to stand up for myself; I threw the first punch and I had gotten into my first fight. The principal had all of us and our parents speak to a police officer the next day about fighting and I explained the situation that led up to the fight. My dad decided that it was best to get an emergency transfer and that’s when I began attending Pasadena High School. PHS gave me that new beginning that I desperately needed; I found myself and I found a group of friends that lifted me up instead of putting me down. My High School experience became an enjoyable one. I finally learned self determination and ended my 11th grade year with a 4.17; I was proud of how much I grew as a person. My personal philosophy that I have created for myself during high school is that anything that isn’t helping me progress as a person isn’t important; I come to school to get an education and to get the preparation I need for a prosperous and happy future.

Every summer since 5th grade I’ve attended a special summer program called Partnership For Success in which we wrote a speech last summer about anything we were extremely passionate about. My creative piece is a speech in which I presented to an audience which I titled “I Believe in Self Determination.” I consider this speech a creative piece because self determination is an aspect you must create in your mind from your original thinking, not everybody has the same beliefs which makes your beliefs unique therefore creative. I learned that creativity isn’t just art or dance, creativity is anything you put together that expresses yourself and perceives the world in new ways. In my speech I spoke about how self determination brings about success. There is nobody that can push you harder and take you further than yourself; the only limits we have are the ones we create in our mind. This speech was difficult because there’s so many things you want to communicate but it’s difficult to find the right words because you want it to be effective to your audience. I learned that writing is something that I really love doing and it’s easier to express my thoughts on paper than it is to express them out loud. My research paper centered around the Harlem Renaissance in which I talked about African American culture during this time. I discovered why and how African Americans migrated to Harlem, New York and how they impacted Harlem. I discussed African American poetry, art, music, clothing, and civil rights. It is astonishing how African Americans were treated so poorly in the south yet made peace and happiness for themselves in a small city called Harlem in the north. This research paper taught me about myself and humans in general, everybody has their own unique style and talents but most of the time we hold back due to the fact we all search for acceptance but as a human race we fail at being happy with who we really are. During the Harlem Renaissance, people expressed their true self through their creativity which turned into some of the most remarkable pieces of work.

I have positive characteristics as a learner, planner, employee, and a citizen. I am a visual learner in the classroom; I learn faster by visually seeing and hearing the concept that the teacher is teaching. I tend to lose focus when the teacher is speaking about a topic for too long without visually showing the class especially in english and math. I tend to listen in class more than I do speak and answer questions even when I do know the answer. All four years of high school I have been a really good student but I am most proud of my 11th grade report card. 10th grade was a really difficult year for me, it was a huge transition and once I started my 11th grade year, I was more self determined to get good grades then I have ever been. I ended my 11th grade year with a 4.17 which showed me that I was capable of getting straight A’s. I have been planning for college by attending College Access Plan college application sessions a few times after school and I have completed my SAT. I attended PHS FAFSA night and my summer school Partnership For Success assisted in helping me with my college essays. I am currently employed at JC Penney and applying for this job taught me how to create a resume. I view myself as a productive citizen because I am a leader in my church’s pathfinder club and we aim to be productive and bring positivity to the community; for example, we pick up trash, feed the homeless, assist in health fairs and visit convalescent homes. I plan on getting my driver’s license very soon.

High School revealed to me a lot about myself and who I want to be in life. I have grown as a student, each year I learned more and more about how important my grades are. I learned that I am a leader, I am gonna get my schoolwork done regardless of what the people around me are doing. I am also not very talkative when it comes to answering questions in class but I am very social outside the classroom. I am very intelligent on paper but I’ve always been the type of student that doesn’t say much out loud because I don’t want to say the wrong thing which is something I need to work on. I am a good listener, observant and a fast learner. During my high school years I realized how much I wanted to be a pediatrician because I love being around kids and helping whoever I can. I am a very positive and hardworking student; I am very determined when it comes to getting the grade that I want and that I know I deserve in a class. I am happy with the young adult that I have become due to all the things I learned throughout high school. If I could do high school all over again, I would stay out of any drama and focus on my school work; I would set a goal for myself of having straight A’s throughout all of highschool and I wouldn’t procrastinate as much. I wouldn’t change my results because every obstacle I encountered during high school helped me grow as a person. High school has taught me to believe in myself and to work hard regardless of the distractions that life throws at me because one day it will pay off.

High school has caused me to mature more than I ever thought I would. My mindset is different than it was when I started high school. High school in 9th grade was all about having fun for me, schoolwork came second but now I put my school work and personal goals first. I don’t entertain drama and negativity like I used to because it isn’t benefiting me or help me to build as a person. My goals for the next few years of my life are to begin college at PCC to finish my general education and then transfer to CSUN. I want to major in nursing, child development, or physiology to move towards my goal of becoming a pediatrician. My short term goal is to graduate high school and get a bachelor’s degree in pediatric nursing. My long term goal in life is to be successful, to be happy, and to use my career to make other people happy.