Personal Narrative: Spirit Night In Hillsborough High School

It was the biggest day of the school year. It was near the end of my Freshman year in high school, and I was satisfied with my grades, proud of my diligent work throughout the school year, and adjusted to the high school. Students of all grades at that point were counting down the days until Spirit Night. Spirit Night—a big tradition in Hillsborough High School—excited me. In the event, each grade faces off with one another in multiple competitions in order to acquire spirit points. By the end of the night, the grade with the most spirit points wins. There were activities during the school day, and we would all be packed into the gym and participate in even more activities after school. During the amazing school day, all the students were jubilant
and dressed in their grade’s shirt. We all looked at the murals, watched each grade’s video, and partook in other activities. Once school ended, the students went home, got final preparations done, and came back to school and crowded the gym, which was separated into four sections: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior. I sat among the other Freshmen, and enjoyed all of the events and the atmosphere. Chants and smiling faces from each of the different sections lit up the gym. We watched each grade’s dance and how they faced off in activities like tug-of-war and tic-tac-toe as well. When the event was over, I was content with spending time with my friends and cheering on my grade. Suddenly, as I stepped outside the gym, I felt this deep, insatiable lust for water. The heat from the crowds bared down on the back of my skin, and it did not help that I wore pants while a majority of my peers wore shorts. Nevertheless, I ignored my thirst for the time being and began talking to my friend. In the middle of our conversation I felt a dizzying sensation. Suddenly, everything went dark.
I remember waking up in an ambulance faltering between different levels of unconsciousness. I was clueless as to what had happened and why I was in the ambulance. My confusion over the situation mirrored that of a Freshman on their first day of high school. There was a blistering pain in my forehead and the left side of my face was scratched up and badly bruised. After investigation, it was determined that I was severely dehydrated and had a seizure. I had passed out, fell and hit my head on the marble hallway floor, and suffered a concussion. I remember how delicate the whole situation was. My family was crying around me, my relatives called from all over to ask if I was alright, and my phone blew up from the amount of get well texts. I had reached an epiphany from this ordeal. My perception of life changed from that moment onwards. There I was, enjoying Spirit Night and having the time of my life to all of a sudden collapsing, violently shaking, and according to my friends, appearing to be dead. It was from that day forward that I realized that death could strike at any time, so it is important to live life to the highest degree. Due to this incident, I decided to live a more excited life. I broke out of my shell and joined more clubs, played more sports, and socialized more with my fellow classmates, because I finally understood the fragility of life. Eventually, issues with the seizure began to persist, and I had another one about a half a year later, but I began to take medication and continued to live life by my new credo. I even took the risk and attended Spirit Night the following year and all went swimmingly. It is important to enjoy the small moments in life, take risks, and step outside one’s comfort zone, because one’s life can end in an instance, just as it had almost for me.