For my entire pre-college education, I attended Evangel Heights Christian Academy. Despite our constant complaints about dress code and school lunches, we as students all appreciate the pleasant atmosphere that Evangel Heights offers. Although a great school offering a solid Christian education and providing teachers that genuinely cares for their students, Evangel Heights often traps students in a sheltered environment where students build a wall shielding themselves from surrounding schools and communities. I perceived this fact when I realized that several of my friends in high school did not know anyone outside of their own family and the sixty students in the high school. Even though I generally consider myself to be a passive and introverted individual, I was encouraged to break my comfort zone because of the benefits that I could gain in the plethora …show more content…
Simple extracurricular activities such as cross-country and track as a whole remained mysteries to me since my school did not offer such activities. Nevertheless, I remained content in the Evangel Heights culture, for it is a pleasant culture. I still had friends, learned basic algebra, and even learned all sixty-six books of the Bible. What more could I ask for? However, as I continued to commit my time to the swim team, my attitude began to change. Although my timidity persisted, there was a small group of swimmers that offered me a position in their friend group. This offer was pivotal in becoming the catalyst for change in my life. My friends outside of Evangel Heights began opening new doors and opportunities for me to develop. Through my developments, I overcame my fear of new people and learned how to interact with people of vastly different worldviews and beliefs than me and use what I learned to enhance my
Some college students might try to be more inclusive of others outside their own racial group by interacting across racial/ethnic lines. Humphrey’s states that although “students today do sometimes choose to live, socialize, or study together with similar backgrounds.” (575, Hoeffner and Hoeffner) however, she believes self-segregation does not appear to be widespread.
I was never outgoing as a child and always seemed to shy away from change. So, walking into school on that first day back and not recognizing a single soul was the equivalent to me experiencing that dream where you walk into a crowed area and realize you forgot to put your clothes on and everyone is staring. I was a chicken among geese and everyone knew it. I spent my time doing all that I could to fade into the background and hide from the unfamiliar faces. That was until I was unexpectedly pulled from the shadows and shown that starting over was not the end of the
I tried to socialize within the new population of Loyola High School. The elementary school mentality of gaining friends through having the same shoes and liking the same band although it might have worked as kids, it doesn’t help with my social life in the more mature population of high school. I learned that I must change my mentality towards gaining new friends to a relationship in which people compliment but also oppose each other and separately they can be different individuals, but together they thrive because of the help and offer each other.
New development has created heavily concentrated pockets of affluence, an effect clearly visible in our schools. Take, for example, Green Hope High School and Cary High School, two public high schools only miles away but with distinct differences in demographics. The former has a 7% free and reduced lunch rate with 40% of students taking AP classes (Great Schools). In contrast, the latter has a 32% free and reduced lunch rate with only 19% of students taking AP classes (Great Schools). Being at the school with the greater free and reduced lunch rate, I have experienced incredible diversity and a robust sense of community. This rapid growth has allowed for the creation of multiple unique communities within the larger community of Cary, each with their own distinct culture and demographics.
Growing up in apartments scattered about the city of Los Angeles, I never understood the close-knit communities I saw represented on television. I was conditioned from birth to avoid neighbors, never speak to them, and understand that our relationship was maintained only by the walls we shared. All of the informational materials from my current institution, Hollins University, promised a small community and a great sisterhood. Settling into this school was a jarring experience, to say the least, because the school so aptly delivered on its promises. Doors were left unlocked, trusting hands left phones on cafeteria tables, and smiles were openly exchanged with strangers on the way to class. While I have grown fond of this small community living in the Hollins Bubble, I need to reconsider my place here for several reasons.
A new school year, a new district, a new kid; this spelled the recipe for disaster in one’s social life especially my social life. Leaving all of the memories behind to make space for the new memories to come, be it good, or be it bad. Hawthorne High School, also know as my new environment for the next four years, is where I would have to restart my social life over again. I made the choice to leave for Hawthorne High for the engineering academy, knowing very well none of my friends were coming along with me. With a new school came new friends and new experiences as one might expect, but what nobody told me is that not knowing anyone is a disadvantage when it comes to school. If you have no one to help you out with your homework or your studies, school and work becomes a much more strenuous task. I had to make friends once again and me being a very shy person didn’t help my case.
In my life I have been a part of a lot of great events when school is not in session. Whether it's a sports team, my confirmation class, or a vacation during break, everything I do outside of school is helping make me the person I will become and has made the person I am now. For two years I was able to play for the Farmington town lacrosse team. Throughout these two years I would create bonds and learn things I would have never learned if I didn’t reach out to an out of school team. Starting Farmington lacrosse was daunting. I did not know anyone on the team, and everyone else knew each other well. This was the first time I really had to open myself up and reach out and make new friends. For the first couple weeks I was quiet, but as the season began I started making friends. I learned that I had to gain the trust of my team before I could start making an impact on the team. I decided to gain trust the only way I know how, being friendly and trying not to let the team down. After I played a few games and did not mess up too bad the players began to trust me. The whole experience was essential in learning how to open myself up to a group of people I had never met. Around the same year I started lacrosse I began confirmation class, this was another situation in which I did not know many of the kids in my class. However as the year went on I was able to make friends by
One year, I tagged along with my parents when they drove my brother and sister to Worldview Academy. Unfortunately, I forgot about the incident. That all changed, though, when I found myself enrolled at the same academy my siblings had previously attended. Since then, I have returned three times and this year served as my third and final “term”. After my enrollment, I concluded that I had discovered an anomaly, for I had never found myself more comfortable in a crowd of perfect strangers, nor so intrigued with academic subjects or experienced such an exhilarating time evangelizing as I had at the academy.
The result of this neglect to promote social development has created a restricted social atmosphere. Freshman in particular, beyond orientation, have little help from the school to meet new people and learn how to interact with the Archmere community, which includes teachers, older students, but most importantly their new classmates. Many struggle to open up to their peers at first or end up confined to their classes or fall sport when making friends. This limit of interaction between a diversity of students begins to separate groups of students that stay together resulting in “cliques.” As students, we can witness this phenomena on a daily in the SLC, where students seem to have assigned tables, never straying from their regular group of friends.
One of the many great aspects of high school is the new friendships that are formed, along with the existing ones that are strengthened. When your high school life begins, you’re very secluded, and tend not to branch off from your current group of friends to try and meet new people. You feel comfortable seeing familiar faces, but once you’re able to break out of that shell, you realize what you’ve been missing out on. There are all sorts of ne...
I wanted to do something positive for my family, so I would become a better role model for my siblings and cousins. While in the meantime, preparing a solid foundation for my career, and furthering my education to improve my own self-esteem. My freshman and sophomore year started at Jones County Junior College staying on campus, I was involved school clubs such as: Student Government Association (SGA), Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Baptist Student Union. My first year of college was spent with of my best friends, unfortunately she left after a year, so I was forced to open up and meet new people and through the process I made close friends. I was able to overcome my shyness, while still being active in school functions. However, choosing Mississippi State University as a place to continue my degree came easy, the university was close to home and has one of the best teaching programs, since being here at Mississippi State University I have to balance school, work, and my personal life, the transformation is very different and sometimes difficult because I am more independent than I was my freshman
I felt like an outsider when I first started school at Nobles. Many of my peers had already known each other because they lived in the same towns or went to the same schools. I however, started my seventh grade year not knowing a single one of my classmates and found it difficult to connect with them. The process of making friends however became much easier when my brother introduced me to Brother-to-Brother, an affinity group for men of color to create a community within themselves, but as well as the broader Nobles community.
I felt uncomfortable and nervous (in all honesty, I still am) meeting strangers, consequently this did not help that fact in my first year. Seeing how I had no choice in the matter, I became cooperative and thoughtful of others; it was cause of this, I felt assured and at ease for my unaccustomed school year.
When I began to take classes of higher difficulty in middle school, I also became exposed to the community that existed in and out of those classes. As I was assimilated into this tight-knit group, I found that I had never felt so comfortable or had so much in common with anyone else before. These people went on to become my best friends. We would do everything together. Hang out on the weekends, walk around the town, do homework etc. This group of ours was inseparable. I would not realize until halfway High School how true this was. Not far into my Freshman year I started feeling constrained. I found myself in a predicament only comparable to that of a cult member. Trapped in an extremely uncomfortable situation,
WNCN Staff. “The Benefits of Extracurricular Activities.” WNCN: News and Weather. WNCN, 07 Oct. 2013. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.