My life has been filled with many memorable experiences ever since I was born; from being able to traveling to the United States or going on a Disney Cruise to Alaska. But one experience that was extra memorable would be when I first started high school. Although this experience isn’t as big as getting to go on a Disney Cruise, high school will be where I spend the next 4 years of my life.

I would say that high school is the climax of my life because this is the point where I start to get out of my shell and start exploring the world some more. Ever since I was little in elementary and middle school, I was always a shy kid. I never really talked to people much, as I always kept thoughts to myself. I would never raise my hand and answer the teacher’s question, unless I was called upon. At recess I would just be sitting alone at the playground just watching the other kids play and have the best time of their lives. I would be contemplating to myself, wishing I had friends and could be like the cool kids. Other than that, it was just me, myself and I.

When high school came I decided to change that. I decided that it was time to start a new beginning and make some new friends; do something new and get out of my comfort zone. I didn’t want to be lonely anymore. As grade 9 flew by, I did just that. I joined Student Union and the yearbook committee and did tech for the musical as well as One Act. These experiences were the best things of my life thus far. Being able to step out of my comfort zone and be a part of these communities has really changed who I am today. I made new friends and learned experiences where I could never learn anywhere else. I loved how I got to make new friends from different grades and I am able to interact with people and discover things about myself that I have never known before.

I think that one thing that really changed my perspective on high school would be LINK Crew. Link Crew is an organization at our school filled with dedicated people who makes the grade 9’s transition from middle to high school much easier. I would say that this really helped out a lot. At the beginning of the year there is an orientation where all the grades 9’s meet up with their Link Leaders and get to know each other a little better and learn some survival tips of the high school. They also told us that we should be ourselves and not to be afraid of trying new things. I will always remember that day as I got to learn some very important life lessons. Throughout the year, as well, we got to meet up with our LINK Leaders again and had follow up discussions. Being able to go through this really helped build the community within our school. We were able to learn things not just from our teachers but our peers.  Now, here I am in grade 10 as an honorary LINK Leader in Training due to my great enthusiasm for wanting to be a LINK Leader and pass on what I learned in grade 9 to the future grade 9’s of this school.

Photo Credits:

https://iampierremenard.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/child-alone-in-playground-006.jpg

http://mhs.molineschools.org/vhays/files/2013/03/Link-Crew-logo.JPG