Reflecting

This was my first complete year at Austin High, and I’m really happy I decided to come here. It’s the school I’m zoned for, but for some reason in 8th grade I had this great idea to go to McCallum. I thought things would be better there, I live right down the street from it, like a 5 minute walk. It was gonna be great. It was gonna be a lot less stressful there, I knew people there, everyone always talked how laid back it was, and how everyone fits in. Well see, that was a big lie. I almost failed English because I kid you not, the teacher told us on the first day to go out and purchase The Odyssey, because that would be our first reading assignment. The first quiz over it I got a 2/25. I’m a reader, and that was the worst experience of my life trying to read that book on my own. She never went over it in class, ever. We’d do like in class writing assignments where we reflect on what we had read, but it’s hard when you don’t understand what the heck you are reading. It was just a nightmare. Oh but not as bad as The Iliad which is what we got to jump into next. Aside from the teachers, the classes there were so crowded. The amount of people they stuffed into that school was ridiculous. It was impossible to get to class on time because the hallway traffic was a living hell. Like, actually. I don’t really like to think about this, but I’m 900% sure everyone there hated me. Like I had a group of friends who liked me, but everyone there obviously has extremely liberal parents, who raised REALLY liberal kids. And because I was in journalism, some of the things I’d write would be political stories, and would be typically conservative pieces. That being said, my extremely liberal journalism teacher told me, that “You know this entire I’m going to give you a hard time for being the only republican in the class,” she also told me she hated my editorials, and that I didn’t look at all angles. Which I totally did, and I totally do. Anyway, the first party I went to all these guys tried to pull this elaborate prank on me, which I’d go into detail but it was just so stupid. Like, they were trying to embarrass me, which It totally didn’t work but just the thought of them trying to do that really got to me. The thing about McCallum, everyone knew each other and if one person hated you, they kinda all did. And, they kinda all did. Not just because of this, but there were just a lot of stupid rumors flying around, and just stupid drama. So, by the end of the semester I had my one best friend (who doesn’t even talk to me any more) and like a few people who still actually liked me. I knew there was no way I could finish the rest of my high school career in this hell. So after winter break, on what would have been my first day back, I dropped my transfer, had an awkward meeting with the McCallum principal who I had never even seen in my life, enrolled into Austin High, and started over. I knew this was where I belonged. I grew up with all these people. I have so many friends here, and things just seemed different here. A good different.


Now, this is my first complete year at Austin High (well almost, 3 weeks left!) And I am actually really pleased. Still a lot of drama, like a lot. However, I have and made so many new friends. All the stupid stuff seems to just fly out the window. There are just such an array of people here at Austin High. McCallum was so stressful, it was such a competition in the Fine Arts. But now, I look forward to my choir class and see it more as fun, and no longer have to try and out sing the girl next to me. I no longer have a terrible journalism teacher, all my teachers actually care about how I’m doing, in and outside of class. I love all my teachers, they are all so helpful and flexible. The only stressful part is not living close to the school, but I’ve gotten used to the commute. I’m 100% looking forward to spending the next 2 years here at Austin High.