So I have done  a lot of things in my life, but some events stick out to me way more than others do.  As we grow, we go through tons of emotions and situations that can either help us as a person or temporarily hurt us.  This situation in particular, hurt me a little bit and helped me while I was there.  School. I’m not talking just about high school.  I’m talking about from preschool all the way up until today. 

Ch 1:Pre School
This is the first year of school that mostly everyone goes through.  You are taken care of while you learn your ABC’s and have books read to you.  I didn’t respond well to the whole thing.  I faintly remember getting into my car seat while my Mom listened to the talkshow ‘Matty in the Morning’.  I knew as soon as the little jingle was sung, that is when we would be pulling into the parking lot.  I couldn’t stand being dropped off and seeing my mother leave because I was only three or four years old.  I was sad almost everyday and the teachers would pick me up and jokingly call me “phony bologna” thinking that would cheer me up and I would stop crying.  Wrong.  That made me even more sad.  Do they not remember the feeling of being confused and anxious if your Mom would ever return from that mysterious place called “ work “?.  When it was nap time I would always stay awake on my cot and stare at the door in the dimly lit room hoping that my Mom would come in and rescue me.  One day, I was staring again and I couldn’t believe my eyes.  There she was.  I thought I was out of that place for good.  Turns out she was just dropping of my stuffed animal and my blanket.  Although I was sad that she had to leave again, I had the comfort of my animal to get me through the rest of the day.

Ch 2: Kindergarten
Kindergarten is supposed to be the best year of school in my opinion.  It is when you graduate from preschool and you finally become a big kid and there is no more nap time… but there is still snack time which I greatly appreciated.  I had the most wonderful teacher and her name was Ms. Field.  She was a large and lovely lady who welcomed you so sweetly into the classroom and greeted you with an abundance of crayons and painting sets on the table for you.  She always had this old record player going while we sat on the rug for class downtime.  It would softly play the song Over The Rainbow and all the kids would sway their hands in the air, or talk about how they lost their third tooth in a month.  I was a very shy kid but I did have my best friend Taylor who I looked forward seeing at recess.  Time went on and Ms. Field actually ended up passing from cancer.  Our parents told us the news and some of us cried and some of us just didn’t understand why she would not be our teacher anymore.  We had a lovely substitute who came in and took over the class.  She was very helpful and had the same personality as Ms. Field did.  That was a good year.

Ch 3: Elementary School
In First Grade, I had the best teacher Mrs. Jervis, and she had a thick Boston accent and would call us her little “bambinos” which means “little kids” in Italian.  She had a pointer stick with a big glove on the other end and she stuffed it, so it would look like the finger was pointing to something on the board whenever she held it up.  We all got a kick out of that.  Second Grade was the year that I my teachers and parents started noticing that I had a hard time understanding things and I would not pay attention in class.  My teacher (whom I will not name) was rather sarcastic when she spoke to us.  So she liked to joke around but we all took it personally and were all scared of her.  If we didn’t get a gluestick out fast enough she would say “Come on hurry! The pages won’t glue themselves!”. That is a true story that actually happened to me.  I’m a sensitive person, and I was also seven years old at the time so it came off way more harsh to me than it should have.  Third grade with Ms. Murphy was a very nice year.  She was a small lady with black bobbed hair.  She always had us do group work and that had us open up more to our classmates.  During work time, she noticed that I spent more time than other kids on tests, and I would take a longer time to answer questions that were too elaborate for me.  Fourth and Fifth Grade were mostly the same thing with not focusing and school work being tough.  I would get a little upset at times so I would go downstairs to see the school Psychologist to work with some skills with her on how to focus more and get my nerves under control.  I was still pretty quiet, except for that one time in Fifth Grade when I was asking the boy next to me for clarification over and over, and he got in trouble for talking.  I felt pretty bad.

Ch 3: Middle School
It is the worst phase in everyone’s life.  Possibly so bad that I am laughing to myself while typing this.  Sixth Grade was not too bad for me.  It was different because there was no food break at 9:00 anymore.  We didn’t have one teacher for every subject, but instead we had seven teachers and rotated between classes.  My grade was scared to wander the building and find where our classes were.  There were rumors of upperclassmen shoving you in lockers, or knocking your books out of your hands on the stairs.  Seventh grade was when I started to find my style.  I would wear skinny jeans and high tops with a bright blue shirt and blue eyeliner.  Not the best, but not the worst.  My best friend and I thought it would be a good idea to wear our hair natural except for our bangs which we flat ironed, and it looked so bad.  Comments like “ Why would you do that ”?, or “ That looks stupid “.  Eighth Grade was not so hot either.  I had one teacher in particular who I did not favor and who everyone feared.  She was tough but she knew how to teach.  My friends changed, and I started becoming more interested with punk rock and pop punk music.  My first concert was Tonight Alive at the House of Blues in Boston.  I went with a friend who I no longer talk to but it was so awesome for me because we were front row and the lead singer Jenna was so sweet and bent down to wave to all of us.  I felt very happy in that time of my life but something inside of me made me feel a little uneasy.  I became worried about nothing and was alert for bad news all the time.  This gradually went on into High School.

Ch 4: High School
Holy freaking crap.  Was this really happening??!  That’s right.  We are all too cool for Middle School.  We may be older but we are still babies to the Seniors.  Freshman year.  It was anxiety provoking nonetheless.  Things were going good the first couple months but then something happened.  In October of 2013, I fell down the stairs, got a concussion, and had stitches in my eyebrow.  Eyebrows not on fleek anymore, amiright.  I missed a week of school.  Most kids would kill for that, but it was honestly the most boring week ever.  My school work was hindered and I had a lot of headaches that would not go away.  I still do today because of it.  Aside from that, I was diagnosed with ADHD and an Anxiety Disorder.  I was tested through the school and they put me in a Learning Center class where I met Mrs. Wickwire, Mrs. Blake, Ms. Tobin, and Ms. Athens.  I love them all and they helped me so much to understand my work and how to better myself.  They knew how to goof around too, and were so fun to be around.  This was back at the old school but I still had a lot of fun in that room. 

Sophomore year was pretty much the same thing, but I had a lot of help from aides in the classroom to help me get through things.  Junior year I was put into the Evolution Class with Mr. Anderson and Mrs. Nazzaro.  They both were so low key and I felt at ease when I walked into the room because they understood that people have different ways of learning, and they worked with us to make sure we understood.  I had a good friend in that class who moved to Colorado, but we were grateful for the times we had together.  Senior year.  I am writing this in Ms. Desburg’s room in 244.  I switched from Expository Writing because it wasn’t my thing.  I love the Creative Writing more because the atmosphere is very comforting to me and I have good friends in this class.  School work is still a little bit hard for me because I understand things differently, and my emotions have changed.  So far, I am just trying to work in the present and take things day by day.  Rushing into things is never good because it causes more stress than is needed.

So I told you pretty much about every grade I have been through and the changes that have been made to my life.  All that really matters to me in life right now is that I am happy with the changes that have come my way.  Accepting them is the best thing you can really do.  I am doing much better in school now, and I have a great group of best friends who understand me for who I am.  I don’t know what will happen an hour from now, (except for leaving school), or what will happen the next week but I know I will be okay.