My Sophomore Year

When I was 16 years old my life changed completely. I was diagnosed with Endometriosis a     Since I was 11 years I have been suffering from a disease I didn't even know it existed. chronic disease. This impact my life in a drastic way. Due to this diagnosed I fell in depression. But overall I learned a lesson from this big change in my life. I learned that sometimes it takes bad things that happens to you to become a better person. I learned to value my family because now     I know they are indispensable. I learned how to valued my family because now I know they are indispensable.

Waiting in the the waiting room of the doctors office felt like an eternity after they ran tests on my brother. While waiting there my brothers and I were just playing games on my mom’s phone while she sat nervously. She had a look on her face that I have not seen many times before. At the time, I had a general idea of what diabetes was but never thought about how serious, time-consuming, and life changing it is. The only thing that was on my mind at the time was how much homework I had that night.

Junior year was full of many new experiences. We were now classified as upper classmen! Just like any of the other years in high school this year had just as many ups and downs. One of the main stresses in eleventh grade was the SAT. For sure one of the scariest things that I have ever had to do. All of the preparation going into it and the amount of studying made me feel as if I wasn’t going to have a brain by the time the testing was over. I took college and career readiness, which really helped prepare me for what was to come. By this time in high school I had already had my job for a little over a month, so I already knew what to expect once school started. I am thankful enough that at my job you get to leave at seven because I hear many

One night after writing a history paper, I was so tired I went to bed without eating. Around two in the morning I woke up scared for my life. My clothes were soaked with sweat, my head was spinning, my whole body was shaking, and I knew my blood sugar was horribly low. Getting out of bed, I went to my fridge to get something to eat. The next thing I know, I wake up in a hospital bed with both of my parents looking at me. I had been informed that I slipped into a coma for a day and I was lucky to be alive. My heart had also stopped beating when they found me. My only thoughts were that I had missed a day of classes.

Sophomore year in high school had greater demand on my time and made me realize about my future more than my freshman year. Time management has been a theme I was constantly reminded with academic and extracurricular activities. Furthermore, the realization of entering college and pursuing a career is closer than before. These two factors have transformed my outlook of my junior year.

Whenever I would be diagnosed with something, I had to know what it was. I would ask my mom what it was and what it did to the body and she would look it up. As I got older, I would research it myself. I was hospitalized at the age of seven and thirteen. At age seven, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. It has had its literal ups and downs, but I manage to the best of my abilities. I say this because doctors without diabetes do not understand the feeling; they just know it by the book and expect you to have perfect numbers. I have had a couple

The people, our surroundings, and our memories are what make the years of high school go by at the blink of an eye. Freshmen year, scared of all teachers, classes, and new people. Sophomore year is a breeze because you finally understand the bell schedules, and you’re aware of the teacher’s expectations. Junior year, the stress hits you all at once. You’ve got the ACT, EOCs, and many other tests that are a major part of your future education.

I am not sure what about my senior year of high school led to so many times of reevaluation as opposed to other years. Maybe it was because of the overshadowing of closing one door while knowing I would have to open another one very soon that led me to think through who I was and how I was taking in information. But, nonetheless, that year brought forth many opportunities for me to learn about myself.

This year, is my last year of highschool. For a very long time I have dreamed of being a senior and finally graduating from high school. I remember when I was a child, I wanted nothing more than to be a big, scary Senior. Now that I am this Senior and the end of the line has come, I am not sure how to feel. I expected to feel ecstatic and amazed as to how far I’ve come. I expected to feel empowered and more of an adult with a plan. Truth is, I don’t feel that way. I have, thankfully, a plan for my future, but I don’t feel like being a senior is as big as a deal as I had made it out to be when I was young. As I grew older, I realized that while getting older is fun, the responsibilities that come with it, are not all fun and games. As a senior, I realized that the real journey will begin once I step onto the college campus. Elementary, middle, and high school, are more like stepping stones for what you will become once the parental controls are turned off. That is why it is important, and what I realized a bit too late, to utilize the time you have now.

During my senior year at Southern Illinois University (SIU) I was selected for an extraordinary opportunity as an undergraduate teaching assistant for Introduction to Psychology. Within this position I ascertained a passion for teaching as well as a strong desire to work closely with college students. While instructing one section of this course I developed personal connections and grew quite fond of my students. One student in particular, Tamaira, was a bright, upbeat, and successful young woman doing very well in my course and a delight to have in class. However, halfway into the semester her behavior drastically changed as she was often absent, no longer participated in class, and her grades were notably lower. Upon noticing the sharp turn of events I sent her an email with my concerns along with an invitation to have a discussion. My email went unanswered. Nonetheless, Tamaira showed up to my next class. While passing out exams, she locked eyes with me and held a handwritten note on her desk that read, “when I was 15 years old I was diagnosed with bipolar and borderline personality disorder. Sometimes I get depressed, but I want to do well in your class. Please don’t give up on me.” Feeling genuinely empathetic, I said to her, “I won’t.” After class a long positive conversation ensued that served as a catalyst toward her regained emotional strength and performance. This singular event in my teaching experience has had a profound effect on propelling me toward

My Freshman year of high school is nearing an end and I mostly stayed out of trouble, which was a great feat at the time. Until My buddy Sam and I decided to make some money off of our “hobby”. Since we were tired of running out of weed to smoke, we decided to have a bake sale. We googled how to do it and fired up the oven and ground up the weed. After about 30 minutes of baking and assembling crackers we had made three firecrackers, or peanut butter crackers with specially prepared weed in them. We both decided to do some quality control on the product and split one of the crackers and ate it. We smoked like normal and were satisfied with what we made. We discussed the plans and decided our goal was to sell both of the firecrackers tomorrow to make 20$ and get 2 grams to continue the cycle and once we are making a good amount investing in a toaster oven to be more discreet. The next day, being the smart human beings we were we smoked a bowl out of an apple at the bus stop before getting on the bus. When school started we went to gym changed, and started to sell the firecrackers. We told everyone we knew that smokes they were for sale and that they’re 10$ apiece. No buyers. 2nd and 3rd hour roll by then Sam and I went to lunch. I walked over to a table of people I knew and asked, “Does anybody want to buy some firecrackers?” One of them asked, “How much do they cost?” and I responded with “They are 10$” Joe and his friend Carl split the cost and bought one, “One down and one

My mother perpetually advises me through statements such as “সর্বদা আপনার সেরা করা,” which translates from Bengali to English as “always do your best.” Taking heed of my mother’s advice has led me to always try to be the best possible version of myself, in school and outside of it. Adhering to my mom’s words was difficult to practice my junior year of high school. I knew that my junior year was going to be arduous; my schedule was inundated with SAT preparation, ACT preparation, AP classes, and extra-curricular activities. None of this was going to be facilitated by the added stress of finding out my father had just been diagnosed with having an “enlarged prostate,” meaning less and less time would be available for me to focus on school and my personal life. Equally terrifying was knowing that my grandfather had actually passed away from the exact ailment as my father was diagnosed with. As the only child, dismissing my obligations to help my mother and father out during my father’s crisis was not an option. My father was admitted at Baylor hospital for more than two months. My entire focus for the first half of my junior year was not on obtaining good grades or stellar SAT scores; my main priority shifted to helping my father return to a stable healthy condition and to enable him to experience a speedy recovery. Miraculously, during the second half of the school year, I was able to concentrate on my studies resulting in achieving excellent grades…grades that I was

During my senior year of high school, all that I could think about was starting college and getting away from my small hometown and all of the drama that is stuck in it. I chose to go to the University of Miami in Coral Gables Florida. It wasn’t my dream school but it had a beautiful campus and a great academic program and the biggest factor was that it was far from home. I left for Miami in August to move in to the dorms and go to orientation. My mom came with me to help me get settled into my dorm room with my roommate that I had never met but had spoken to many times. I would soon learn once my mom left that Miami was going to be nothing like I imagined and it would be a hardship that taught me my greatest life lesson to date.

Going into high school this year, I was afraid. There was no doubt in my mind that I would find myself lost on my way to classes. I was certain that I would not be able to navigate the halls. And I was pretty sure that I would be run over in the hallway by all of the upperclassmen and even some freshmen, as I am one of the shortest people that I know. But after the first week, I knew I would be alright.

The beginning of my Senior year of high school has been an interesting ride, to say the least. Completely new classes and concepts have been thrown my way and I’ve been trying my hardest to catch them. I thought I would be better prepared for some of my classes I’m taking this semester, but it seems like I must start at square one on the majority of my courses. The only way I’ve been able to keep on top of the new information is extreme time management, new study habits, discovering and utilizing efficient study strategies, and asking for help well I needed it.