Personal Narrative: Switching From Catholic School To Public School

I had to leave all of my friends and favorite teachers. I went from Cloverdale to Taylor’s Crossing Public Charter School. I went there for fifth and sixth grade then I changed again and came to Rocky Mountain. Coming back to the district was a little hard but most of my friends recognized me and all I really had to do was get used to the schedules and routine. I have enjoyed all three of the schools

High school was a roller coaster ride for me, from the endless fun of parties to the minor breakdowns and panic attacks that would land myself in the hospital. The pressure and stress got to me and the fact that failing out of the school that I’ve been going to for twelve years with long life friends was coming to an end. Now that I look back at it though it might have been the best decision for my well-being because then I would of not been able to meet the people that I met at Chamblee Charter High School. You would think moving from a private to a public school would be a big cultural shock, you are very correct. Atlanta International School, which was the school I went for basically my whole life, was a very open minded, well rounded, and accepting establishment since the most of the students where from all over the world.

I was lost. Friends were not at my disposal. Time was in abundance. Thoughts was all i had. Freshman through Christmas break of my sophomore year I attended Berks Catholic High School, but before that I graduated from a feeder school named Scared Heart School.

Before I went to a Public school, I went to a Catholic school. For six years I went to my Catholic school, so it was weird to be told that I was going to a Public school. When I started at my new school, I was nervous. I didn’t know anybody and I missed my friends.

The school was very big compared to my old school. I had many classes that were far away from my homeroom, and I would be late. Eventually, I got better at getting to class earlier over the course of the

Ten years ago, I immigrated to the United States and ever since I have been an undocumented immigrant. Due to my legal status in the United States, I felt like I was restricted from certain situations and possessions and would never be able to succeed. I was not living the normal life of a seven-year-old. Instead, I had to learn to cope and adapt to a whole new culture. Even though the drastic change at such a young age was a challenge, it has shaped who I am today.

“I don’t want to go there!” I yelled. “You should go! With me!” My dad said, “And no more rejection!”

To say that adjusting to life in America was difficult would be an understatement. I started school in the midst of fourth grade at School 27, where everything was well and happy. A couple months later, we moved to a part of town and I started attending School #5. At school, everyone already had their own little cliques and as most kids can be, they were not very welcoming.

My struggles started in elementary school, so much so that my parents took me to have some testing done to try to find some answers. In between fifth and sixth grade I had a neuropsychological evaluation done and the results were not optimistic. The doctor informed me and my parents that I read well below my peers and that I would always struggle to keep up with them especially in high school. My parents took a wait and see approach. I went into sixth grade with an “I 'll show this doctor” attitude!

I was used to how school was when I went to school, and how I was as a student going to high school. Coming into LA Matheson it was a bit of an adjustment, since a lot of the rules were different from what I was used to. Since LA Matheson is an inner city school I had to adjust to the student population at this school. Lauren said in my midterm to "focus on today's youth, not the youth of your high school/ volunteer experience. " When I went back to LA Matheson I tried to understand the students of this school.

I moved to Canada during second grade during April. Even though I was used to being new, second grade was the most terrifying. I was scared because I did not know how I would make new friends. It was easier to make new friends when I was younger, but by second grade moving into a new school meant most people already knew each other. All I could do was hang out with kids in my class, but my interests were never really aligned with theirs.

Have you ever felt uncomfortable, nervous, and confused ? These are all the things I felt moving to a new school. I had no idea if I would gain friends or if anyone would like me. Maybe if I had a tour around the new school before my first day I would have not been so disorientated. Going from a one story school to a two story school was hard, having to look down every five seconds to make sure I was on the right hall, or if I was suppose to be upstairs or downstairs.

One of my experiences with failure took place when I was in fourth grade. There were many problems accumulated and I was a child who needed people to see if I did my homework or study for the test, because I couldn’t concentrate and was distracted by anything in the room. My brother also had problems that year, he needed more attention because he didn’t get along with his math teacher and my Mom was always after him with the homework; otherwise he would have failed Math at the end of the year. In fourth grade, the teacher that was assigned to us was one of the strict teachers that were in that school

Kindergarten to 8th grade I attended a private school called Holy Family Catholic School. The school was very small along with classes, teachers extremely strict and hallways always quiet, the totally opposite from Dr. Henry A. Wise. My first day of high school I was very nervous I was not used to big classes, endless amount of students in the halls and the loud ruckus. This was an educational challenge for me because it was a totally different learning environment for me that i had to get used to quickly. My studying habits also challenged me through high school because test and quizzes were given out frequently and if you didn't know how to study you probably wouldn’t get a good grade.

When I was growing up, I was in a small town. With about 1,000 people in total. I went to a small school that in total had about 300 kids in the Elementary, Junior high, and High school. In kindergarten-5th grade things went really good. I had a few really good friends, we 'd hang out all the time.