Society & Self Portrait

Sixth grade had to be the best year of my life. Well at least it was the best in regards to the years prior. It was the year I officially left elementary school, saw new teachers and made new friends. I was also able to create a new identity. People always knew me as a tomboy, but when sixth grade came along, I changed my dress and attitude. The school required uniform so instead of wearing pants, I would wear skirts. I have no idea today what was going on in my head during this time. I know it wasn’t a boy that I was trying to impress. Maybe, I was just trying to fit in with the rest of the girls. I never had a problem with having friends from both sexes but that could have been a possibility. Even though most of the school was made up of people from my elementary school, there were still some people I hadn’t seen before. As the year progressed, I came to know everyone in my grade. How could I hate an environment like that? The students there became family. Even times when there was some animosity between someone and I, there could be no physical altercation because they knew the whole school would be involved. You could say they had my back. Everything was great. I had a great homeroom teacher, whom I am still a friend with today, and I had great friends to which I can say the same. As the year concluded, I looked forward to seeing everyone again for 7th grade. That was until I found out that my mom wanted to transfer me to a closer school. I was devastated! Even though the schools weren’t far from each other, it still had horrible emotional consequences for me. My mother felt as though I would be safer being closer to home and get a better education. I feel it also had to do with both of my older sisters attending the school closest to my home. I tried to argue with her and of course my argument seemed most valid to me. If anything was to happen to me at school, my grandmother, my cousin and my best friend lived in walking distance from the school. At the other school, even though it was near my house, that’s the only place of safety it was near, and even then, no one was home during the day. So in times of trouble, I would be running home to an empty house. I still feel regret to this change of environment, but my optimism allowed me to move on and try to make the best of the situation. At times, I feel bad because I feel that my mother also feels slight regret for transferring my schools. The first year I attended that school, I got into a fight. I had never gotten into a physical fight before, so my mom should have saw something was wrong. Even though I lived 2 blocks from the school, I still managed to be late, which was another issue of mine. I lost all type of motivation to go to school. When I did manage to make it there, I was still motivated to do well in school; in fact I received the Principal’s Award for academic excellence. I would have been salutatorian but I was one tenth of a point too short. This did not deter me because the people who were valedictorian and salutatorian were my close friends. This experience taught me to embrace change no matter how drastic I think it may be. I was able to get out of that school with a good head on my shoulders, allowing me to go to one of the top high schools in the country and now a distinguished Pharmacy program. I hope that I will actually be able to finish this pharmacy program and become a licensed pharmacist. I have confidence that I have the ability to finish, but in life, anything can happen. Yes it is cliché but I know each and every human walking this earth could not have planned out every second of his or her life. Despite my obsession with planning out the week, I know it is just a general guide to get me through it. I still let the wind blow me to my dreams.