4 Years At High School

High school has been a very interesting experience for me. It has definitely had its highs and lows and many confusing experiences in between. Overall, I feel like I have been equipped for not only college, but also life as a whole. High school has taught me many things, both academically and emotionally. It has revealed and exposed my true colors, both good and bad, and as a result, has built many aspects of my character. My experiences at Trenton High School have shaped me into the person that I am today. I am who I am today because of my experiences. Great or bad, they shaped me. Having two most amazing parents who always encouraged me and reminded me daily that I am defined to do great things made me believe that all great things are possible. Having a mom who taught me the importance of being kind and holding doors for any and all the young ladies whether I was dating them or not is the reason I will teach the young kids in the future under my leadership to do the same. I find myself relaying messages of kindness and encouraging others to be kind to one another daily as a result of this experience.

One of my greatest experiences in life is having the opportunity to engage in Random Acts of Kindness with my family, faculty, students, and witness the smiles of the beneficiaries of our kindness. My mother, who is the queen of paying it forward, was so correct when she said, “People remember you when you are kind!” Having a dad who gave all of his time outside of work to develop, coach, and inspire my teammates and me is what I’m going to do with my children in the future and the students. My dad would take my teammates and I to the basketball courts and pass us the ball jump shot after jump shot until our arms grew tired. He coached us not because he had to, but because he knew by doing so he would impact all of our lives in a major way. As a result of this experience there are men sprinkled around the planet doing the same for others because my dad did it for us. At Trenton High School, I have learned a lot about my personal qualities, such as my strengths and weaknesses, my work habits, and attitudes. One of the first things that I had to learn at Trenton High School was responsibility.

I realized that after middle school, my teachers only had so much responsibility for my grades and even actions. Whether or not I turned in my homework or received a good grade in the overall class all depended upon me. My teachers were no longer held responsible for whether or not I understood the lessons or even showed up for their class. I learned to take initiative if I did not understand something, and I consistently talked with my teachers about a plan that would help me to succeed in their class. Fortunately, my working habits were never a problem for me. I was always very disciplined and completed all of my homework, class work, and projects on time. Yet, when it came to working with others, problems arose. I had to learn how to be humble myself and become receptive to the ideas and opinions of those around me. I could no longer continue to talk over others and disregard their thoughts. In order to work in a group successfully, I realized that I had to be patient, flexible, and respectful. Finding a positive self-esteem and self-worth was always a challenge for me. When I grabbed the meaning of trust and being certain of what I could not see or understand, I had so much more confidence and security in myself and in my future. Throughout all of my years in high school, I learned many things.

I learned about communication, not only in English, but Spanish as well. I learned how to hold a conversation with a Spanish-speaking person and I also learned how to write and read in the language. In both English and Spanish, I learned how to communicate my thoughts, ideas and information in a formal and expressive form. I learned much of my writing skills from the novels, books, and short stories that I read. My level of reading comprehension improved as I learned how to understand read and appreciate the written information in literature, prose, and various other documents. Overall, I learned how to construct meaning from a variety of different materials. Listening and speaking were also very important things that I had to learn. Through listening, I learned how to receive, interpret, and process verbal messages and other forms of communication. In terms of speaking, I learned how to organize my thoughts and communicate my ideas, knowledge and information through confident speech. Almost all of these skills, I was able to learn within my classrooms and other academic settings.

As far as the other subjects in school such as: history, social sciences, physical health, the arts, and science, I learned from the various courses that I took at Trenton High School. Thinking and reasoning skills were also something that had to be developed over the course of my years within high school. Even though this is circular language, I had to learn how to learn. I had to learn how to use efficient learning techniques that worked best for me. I realized that the way that I learned was not always the way that my teachers expected or even wanted me to learn. I had to find new ways of applying my knowledge and skills. Although I have always been a fairly creative person, I definitely learned how to think outside the box. Instead of the formal writing, projects, and methods of teaching and learning, I was granted the freedom to express my ideas and myself in an entirely new way. My creative thinking has expanded in its origins and is no longer enslaved by the conventional barriers. Decision-making, problem solving, systems thinking, and reasoning all run hand in hand. I have learned these through both inner and outer classroom experiences throughout high school.

I have learned how to recognize problems, understand the variation in environment/society, use logic, and ultimately drawing conclusions that lead to effective and responsible decisions. When I was at Trenton High School, I had learned a lot about technology and had gained a much greater awareness of it. I now apply technology to many different aspects of my life including academics, personal, and recreational. I am now able to choose wisely between different types of technology and am able to distinguish between the different options that I have. I also have a much better understanding of the wide variety of programs that are accessible to me, and I am able to use them with a basic understanding of how they work. My high school experience has been a very challenging and exciting 4 years. I have learned many things that will help me in life and I feel confident that I am ready for whatever problem I may face. High school has defined, shaped my character, and helped me to mature into the young man that I am today. I live my life by the credo “live life with no regrets”. My theory is that there is nothing I can do to change the decisions I have made or the things that have happened around me, so the only thing I can control is how I will respond to it.