Personal Narrative: My Work Experience At Grandville High School

Growing up on the west side of Chicago, it was always about finessing to get where you wanted to go in life. You either play basketball, rap, or scam, and I don’t fit any of the mentioned criteria. I have only one way that will allow me to live the successful life I dream of, and that’s my education. I worked my hardest during elementary school just so I could be able to attend one of the top high schools in Chicago and only then was I accepted into Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, one of the top three high schools in the state.

I am currently interning at West Millbrook Middle School, at 8155 Strickland Road, Raleigh NC, 27615. West Millbrook Middle School is a traditional school calendar that holds a capacity of 1120 students. Although for the 2015-2016 school year only 929 students are in attendance. (296 6th graders, 313 7th graders and 320 8th graders)

My experience working at Cutler Bay Middle School through a nonprofit AmeriCorps program called City Year, makes me a good fit for this position. During my year of service, I help run tutoring in the morning, I did behavioral mentoring to a set of 8 students during lunch and ran an after school club. In the classroom, I did specialized interventions for sixth, seventh and eighth grade students in ESOL classes. I also helped run two successful events at Cutler Bay Middle school one was a literacy and math event and the other was a talent show. Please see the attached document for a copy of my resume and I look forward to speaking with you regarding my

“Fight, fight, fight,” was the chant that so often filled the halls of West Monroe High School. The teachers heard it every time but always hid in the teacher's lounge for fear of being attacked. This was the legacy of WMH, fights, student riots, and terrified teachers.

As I started running out the car I noticed I had forgotten my posters I had for my classroom. It was so much going on in my life, that I didn’t believe I could make it this far. "Mrs. Stacy, do you need help carrying your stuff to your classroom?" Said Mr. Jacob who had settled his classroom right across from mine. "Oh your help would be soo useful at this moment Mr. Jacob!" As I gave him the two big boxes of books that were filled with rain and mud from the thundery rain I ran back to my car to get my posters. Mrs. Stacy was just starting her career at Tennessee in Hicks Elementary School. An art teacher who had just graduated and moved away from the big city lights and into an old small town. She was just getting used to Mercy Town, a few miles away from an old cemetery.

Vividly, I can remember walking through the high school doors for the first time as a freshman with shaky legs and a nervous heartbeat. The school was a jungle of wide, shiny hallways filled with lumbering seniors who I thought were going to knock my books down on Freshman Friday. However, time has passed, and now I find myself to be the tall and “scary” senior. As I ponder about the last four years I have spent at Little Falls Community High School, I can not help but realize how much I have changed for the better. As I have matured, I have gleaned that beauty does not come through makeup and clothing brands, but rather through processing a good heart. Also, I have changed my career and college plans after high school, and I know that I will

HIgh school has always been easy for me, and probably for the majority of people that have been through the school system in America. 20 years ago there wasn’t a such thing as a program like northland CAPS for high schoolers. Also 20 years ago you didn’t need a college degree to pursue most careers. For me I’ve always been a procrastinator, even the application I submitted to northland caps was late. I’ve always been comfortable talking in front of large crowds and I’ve always been comfortable with myself. However, I was tired of the traditional classroom as well. The repetivness of being in highschool learning the same material has the juniors did before you. I wanted to try something different my junior year, and I knew that there wouldn’t be very many juniors in this program making it a bigger challenge for me.

When I entered Glenbrook South High School for my first day of freshman year, I was not excited to be back in school and I was definitely not ready to learn again. I remember the first class I had was English. As I sat in English, I recognized some people from middle school, but most of the faces were new to me. The teacher, I forgot her name, was very nice and welcoming. She asked us to pull out our “Of Mice And Men” books and asked someone to read the first page out loud. One of the students began to read out loud, and I followed along. After the first page was completed, she asked for a volunteer to summarize the page. No one volunteered so she picked from the attendance sheet. She picked me. I got nervous because I had no clue what was

My job at the Wheeler County Elementary School has been an adventure so far. All the way from crazy phone calls, to just being there to help as needed. Even though I have just started this job, I have really enjoyed this experience this far.

I woke up that morning feeling lost and without guidance. It was the last day of winter break and hell was right around the corner. Horizon High School was the place I attended and everything about it was hurting me. The teachers never seemed to truly care about you, or the success you had at any point in the year. It was hard to communicate with them or convince them to be attentive towards your problem. Friends were the only thing that helped during the day, but they were so despondent it didn’t do much.

Decisions that do not seem so transformative in hindsight turn out to be life changing. As I near graduation, I realized how instrumental Windham High School has been in my evolution from a timid freshman who was anxious of unfamiliar people and situations to a more courageous person excited to meet new people and challenges.

Ten years ago, I took my first job at Hamburg Area High School. This high school math position also included coaching middle school soccer in both the fall and spring. At the time, I really felt this was perfect. I would teach mathematics and coach soccer. Five years ago, I had the opportunity to work for the Wilson School District. Once again, I would be teaching math. Coaching fell by the wayside as I got married and had children. After working a short while at Wilson, I came to realize how quickly things can change and how I should always be looking to open new doors to create new opportunities.

After a half an hour I arrived, glass windows shimmered in the sunlight with the building glowing as a whole. A wave of excitement congregated with every step that I took towards the enormous piece of architecture. Acknowledging that it was a privilege to be there, I had no intentions to take it for granted. Over 200 people in Virginia Beach Public schools applied. Myself being one of the twenty who was admitted in the Software Game Development program offered at the Advanced Technology Center (ATC). I felt a sense of accomplishment as I had overcome one of the immense obstacles I would face during my high school career.

I fulfill my hours for my internship by working at a community middle school in the Bronx while attending classes at Adelphi University. “I didn’t plan to work with this population however; I have learned so much at this placement”. My professional perspective about children living in transitional housing has been totally reshaped by this experience. The internship is all-consuming and I’m moderately burned out, but I would not have gotten this type of training otherwise because I was not seeking out this population.

Forty three hours and seven minutes is a lot of hours to work in just three short days. Did you know that about 20 percent of young teens go through the struggle of working while in high school including myself? Friday morning when I left school, I headed straight to Mugshots in Tupelo, MS to work a double. Even though the morning shift and the night shift were crazy, it passed by super fast. After having someone dump their sweet tea on me and slipping in the kitchen I was passed ready to go home. Finally, at one in the morning, I got to clock out and go home. The next morning at nine, I was headed back to work again. As I drove down the long highway, I thought to myself, wow, this will be a very long thirteen hours. Walking in the door, I