From Pre-K to Now
I hope that, in the future, once I look back on this article when I'm grown, I'll be able to see the change and growth I've made years from now.
I had the opportunity to experience school life from pre-k all the way to 12th grade, and I want this article to be a sort of reflection of my experiences with school.
School is one of the largest (if not the largest) factors that truly allow people to learn and blossom into their personalities, because it is many people's first experience with differing personality types and people.
If I were to describe my elementary school experience, it would be eye-opening, which is because it was not only mine but many kids’ first time being allowed to roam and experience the real world, which also means it was the first time I’ve ever been able to make a proper mistake and have to deal with the consequences. Pre-k to 5th grade were my first times where I had to learn how to socialize, make friends, and have conversations with people outside my family, which helped me grow as a person because without these formative experiences that came from starting and finishing elementary school, I wouldn’t have had the tools to shape my personality entering middle school. Elementary school is where I made my first mistakes, whether it was arguing over something petty like which TV character we thought was cooler or over who could do a better move in the play section we had in my school, or even the little things like brining a toy from my house to show my friends so that we could play together even though we weren’t supposed to.
Middle school was truly the first time I'd say I'd seen and was able to distinguish right from wrong, and I also started building up certain academic habits. My friends would help me by showing me their homework before we had to hand it in, so I'd start copying their work instead of doing mine, but other than that, I wasn't doing much else. We were allowed to have our phones, so many of us took pictures and videos of each other having fun during lunch, which is where many of the pictures and videos took place. I still remember the sound of the laughter we'd share all the time because of the friend group I'd decided to join, which was hilarious. Middle school was also a time in which I also saw kids wanting to grow up faster, whether it was wanting to drink or smoke or being outside all night. I didn't partake in the drinking or smoking, but I'd be outside almost every day doing a whole bunch of nothing because it was better than staying indoors. Which is why, when quarantine hit in 8th grade and I had to completely switch from being outdoors all the time to indoors, I started to use social media heavily. Due to the lack of real life connections that being quarantined caused, I would watch a bunch of videos and see what others were doing during quarantine.
Getting to the start of high school, I didn't get to experience a normal 9th grade year due to quarantine regulations still being in place, so I started online. I went in person for a bit but saw it as unnecessary because of the lack of people, and so I went back to learning online. My first friends were made in my advisory, which came from us being bored and lonely due to quarantine, so we'd plan to meet up at each other's houses just to meet in person and do anything else but stay inside. Academically, I didn't struggle, but I wasn't as focused on school due to not being there, so it felt different compared to 8th grade because, although quarantine started, it was at the end of the year. 9th grade, however, was an entire year of online learning.
In 10th grade, we all finally came into the building as one in the school. I've always been extroverted, but now I truly tried to talk to any and everyone because I needed that human interaction I missed out on for two years. Sadly, my extroverted behavior caused some people to build a negative perception of me, small things like being “fake nice” or a "flirt," but once everyone who got to know me recognized the kind of person I was, most, if not everyone, stopped viewing me in a negative light, and so there were no hard feelings.
I was a part of a trio that was built from my advisory. We'd go out to Target to just walk around banter, eat, and go home. Looking back at 10th grade, it was definitely my favorite year of high school as I was very happy and optimistic to view all these people I'd known from online school. In 11th grade, everything calmed down. No longer feeling the need to make up for the lost human interaction time from quarantine, I slowly got more into myself, and I believe it calmed down my extroverted behavior. I was mainly worried about regents and tests, as I thought 12th grade would be the easiest because we'd do all required tests in 11th grade. Nothing of note changed for me as of 11th grade.
12th grade, though: the grand finale. This year has taught me not only that I've grown as a person but also that I need to know what I need in order to succeed. In the second trimester of 12th grade, I got a heavy case of senioritis, which led to all of my grades in every class dropping, which led to me messaging all my teachers in order to know what I could do in order to pass. I was successful in this endeavor, thanks to myself for reaching out but also to the teachers for understanding and allowing me to be better. I have and will be missing out on prom and trips this year due to not feeling a strong connection with school and genuinely not wanting to go, which I might or might not regret in the future, but it's still my decision. And I hope that in the future, once I look back on this article when I'm grown, I'll be able to see the change and growth I've made years from now.