How I Changed in High School

Everyone has heard or been told, “high school is what you make of it.” High school is in fact what you make of it, but it is also the time of great change in everybody. Entering grade nine you still feel like a kid, your post-secondary and career choices are far from top priority. However, by grade twelve we become more mature and grow into young adults. Personally looking back to my grade nine self and comparing her to my college self of today, I am able to see changes in my character, my athletics and my goals.
There are many aspects within my personal character in which have changed since entering grade nine. One of these aspects is my time management skills. When I first started out in grade nine, I used to rush home and rush through all my homework. Although this would seem like a good habit, the “rushing through my work” part was not working. The homework would be done but sloppy and just finished to say it was done so I could go out. After four years though, I have learned my lesson and do my homework efficiently. It is important to read over your notes and study hard in order to get good grades. As well, I needed to learn which assignments where most demanding and important that night. In grade nine, I used to leave the hard stuff for last and crash half way through. Now I know that I have to write my essays first instead of finishing the art collage. After the four years, I had finally figured out how to balance school, work, friends and family, which is one of the most important things to learn.
Another aspect that has changed is my friends. By grade twelve I had established my main group of friends. My group consisted of elementary friends I had known for quite some time and others are new friends I have grown close to over the past few years. However, in grade nine we are all scared and making friends left right and centre as so not to be left out, or at least I was. Over four years, I had made, as well as, lost friends. We all need to grow and mature and sometimes others just do not want to follow that path with you and you end up growing apart.
Further changes can be seen in my athletics. Although this may seem a mute point to mention, my sports are part of my life and today are part of my career choice. Therefore, my sports have obviously impacted me. In grade nine, I was running like a freight train seven days a week either cross country or track. I joined the school team and ended the season winning Female MVP. In grade nine I was aiming towards going to the Olympics for track, and becoming the next Flo Jo, while in college I now aim towards running for breast cancer awareness. I do not have much time for school sports now with being a parent, working, and attending college. My running outside of school for my own health is my main focus in sports right now.
Along with my goals in sports changing, my goals in post-secondary matters as well as career choices have changed. Today I am currently attending Kalamazoo Valley Community College with the possibility of transferring to Western Michigan University, where eighteen years ago all I knew was that I wanted to graduate high school and move out. Now I realize staying home would have saved me a lot of money. As well, I am more open to looking at both community and university college courses, like Western, as their program I wish to take is said to be excellent. In grade nine I was jobless and did not truly know the meaning of money in today’s society. Now as an adult in college, I realize this and I have a job, trying to save up for my post-secondary in order to obtain a good education for a good career to support my family and myself.
My career choices have greatly changed since grade nine as well. In grade nine I really wanted to become a hair dresser. I was almost a hundred percent sure I would go through for beauty school. I even went up to Bookers Institute of Cosmetology to view the salons and meet with the program director. Needless to say, I have changed my mind somewhere along my four years of high school and I now wish to go into the medical healthcare field for a career. Where I will go after post-secondary is not for sure set in stone as there are many branches in which to go from with healthcare, but I want to try to work in a specialty clinic dealing with cancer patients.
The four years I had been attending high school is four years of constant change in my personality, my athletics and my ambitions for the future. High school has made me more mature as well as helped me find my ways. High school I believe is the time in which defines and moulds the lives of teenagers. It is the time when we experiment and get to explore so many paths of life. By grade twelve however, we should have gotten it together and found a path to follow to our future.