Personal Narrative: Where I Gained My Driver's License

It was the first month of my high school years, I was as nervous as an incoming freshman could be. I had no idea how long and strenuous my years at Bensalem High School would feel. As many others, I had a hard time adjusting to the transition from middle school to high school. Unlike others, though, I struggled about twenty

As a volunteer I've learned the value of service to others and to the community, and I've seen the impact it has on those involved. I’ve seen so many people, especially through church outreach, positively affected by those who use their time and talents to serve others. Although volunteering has benefited me externally in many ways, such as my Eagle Scout Project and NHS hours, I’ve also gained a greater understanding of who I am as a person. I’ve learned how important service is and how it can benefit myself and others around

As a sophomore now I often look back on how I got here. Aside from the apparent support of loving family and friends, other factors aided in the progression of me becoming a growing leader and overall an adult. In middle school and high school my roles in student council, girl scouts, captain on several sports teams and even management holding a job too have shaped me. My more recent influences are linked directly to my decision to join a sorority last year at West Chester University, that sorority being Zeta Tau Alpha.

During my volunteer hours I learned a lot about my own community I that I have not been able to experience. For example I have never been able to participate in so many writing programs and workshops in my local high school, this is because I also did not attend my own local high school because my mother did not allow me to instead, she asked me to attend a charter school. By partnering with LA826, I was able to attend different writing workshops where I would help different high school student write essay, cover letters, and personal statements. Furthermore I believed that most of my activities consisted of just being able to listen to some of the students.

Winston Churchill’s quote "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give" embodies what community service is really about. Over the years I have had the pleasure of working for several organization and volunteering in a variety of different areas. There has been a community service experience that changed my life tremendously though. From 2009 until 2014 I had the amazing opportunity to work for the Nash-Edgecombe County Teen Court Program and doing so profoundly shaped my future.

However, my junior year also held some troubles for me. In October, my cousin had a stroke and passed away. Visiting her in the hospital and attending her funeral brought back unresolved issues I had from my brother’s death in 2010. I didn't know how to cope, so I fell into a deep depression. I had no energy; it was like my brain wouldn’t let me do anything I used to enjoy. I stopped playing the piano after having played for ten years. I loved to run, but I stopped completely. I didn’t have the energy for either.

Looming in front of me was something new, a fresh start. Despite being this, it seemed cold and trying, something that sent shivers down my spine. Mixed emotions of uncertainty and optimism had filled my first day of middle school; and as my final year is drawing to a close, I realize that this place-this transitional time in my life- is something that I never want to leave. I created a home away from home, and a family, over the short three years spent learning here. Each school year, from first to concluding, brought new experiences in which have altered my life. These are the things that I am hoping to carry over into high school-my next chapter. Every experience in which middle school has brought leaves me changed indefinitely, shaped for the future ahead.

As much as my freshman year self didn’t want to admit it, I knew going into my first year at Lowell High School that my life, and myself, were going to be different when I left four years later. Throughout my high school career I watched myself change, becoming more confident in myself and curious about the world around me. However, I was unable to pinpoint why that change was happening. I still had the same friends, did the same sports, and had the same hobbies as I had all throughout high school. After some deep reflection, I realized that during my junior year, there wasn’t a day that I didn't wake up more mature. The change happened slowly throughout that year, the big catalyst being my foreign exchange student from Spain, Paula Sebastia-Puig. Looking back on those 10 months with Paula, I realized she helped broaden my perspective on the world around me and grow as a person.

Candace Cameron, an actress famous for her role on the sitcom Full House, said, “Once I

It was the stress of junior year that taught me how to focus on a goal, a passion, and a dream and make it a reality. It was the multiple encounters of death during junior year that taught me to value and positively embrace each second of life and use it to make a positive difference in not only my life, but in the lives of families and millions of the less fortuned.

Volunteer work has always been a prominent activity that occurred within my life. Growing up with a father that was involved in the community so much that it felt like it was his job, I was always surrounded by community service and helping others. At the young age of six years old, I decided to do my part as well, feeding the homeless in a local church in New Bedford, Massachusetts. From that year on, I believe a majority of my most valuable characteristics derived directly from my volunteer work. Now, almost thirteen years later, I am involved in over 100 hours of community service per year and am ready to apply it into a new field- as a Resident Assistant.

I am an Audiology tech working for a Company that just merged with Mercy Clinic

I felt so accomplished but I knew I was only a couple steps behind because I get so distracted on other things. Anyways I’m still working and getting sidetracked by everything else, still waiting on rides. One day soon it was getting close to summer being over so no more working for me which means no more waiting for rides. September Came around and I was jobless so I stopped caring about my license I rode a bus to school and after that I stay home until school time the next day. Then I started to realize I wanted to go out and have fun with friends but I either had to get picked up by someone or get dropped off which was no fun at all. From that point on I was determined to hurry and get these requirements done so I can be dependable for

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.

It was 2016, and I was finally a senior in high school. Being a senior in high school was something that I had dreamed of since my early middle school days, and at last, I was there. It was the last year in one of my least favorite environments, and I couldn’t wait to graduate and move away from the only place I had ever known. I had lived in the same town for seventeen years, and I had gone to the same school with the same people for thirteen years. I was looking forward to something new in my life. I was most excited for my senior year because it was the year that I was going to choose where I wanted to move away to and what school I wanted to spend the next four years of my life at. As the year moved along, I slowly realized that I wasn’t moving away and that I’d be staying home to attend college, which was one of the most difficult decisions that I ever had to make.