Changing Not Just Schools

Before it was all different; I had the usual classes at the usual times, having the same schedule every day. On Mondays we always had a grammar quiz, on Tuesday we’d always start a new unit in History. On Wednesday we’d do a “math rundown”. On Thursdays we would always have a Science quiz, and on Fridays we would always go to the Library at the end of the school day. However, going into highschool changed everything. SLA was different though; instead of a rigid and structured class schedule everything was fluid, on Mondays we might have a history class but the next day we didn’t.

I walked into the cafe of SLA, hearing the echoes of people screaming and talking down the halls. I walk by the gym, up towards the back staircase where I see people laying down by the windows, sleeping. I finally reach the back staircase, just past the stairs to go downward towards the basement. I start walking up towards the stairs, to room 209, where my advisory is, and I walk past a giant hole in the wall on the second flight of staircases from the second floor, and keep going to avoid it. I finally reach the second floor and turn the corner, there’s a giant series of lockers there. I walk down through them and turn left, scanning for room 209. I finally find it, and I’m already late. I walk in and sit down, and hear Mrs. Martin talking. She says Hull wasn’t here, but then I realized I was in the wrong advisory, and so was Justice. I raise my hand and say I’m in the wrong place and leave, going to the right advisory right across the hall, in room 211, the physics room. I go across the hall and walk in slowly, trying to avoid suspicion from me being late, but to my surprise they hadn’t started yet. I sat down next to one of the people who weren’t in the advisory, one of the people just volunteering. I wondered why they would take a week out of their own summer to help out. My advisor for my next four years, GIorgio, starts to explain about what the summer institute is all about, as I almost fall asleep. She then says we’re gonna do a team building exercise as an advisory, and everybody groans. The other volunteers even look sad about it, besides the one I sat next to. Giorgio said that we’re each gonna teach each other something new and exciting, and I got paired up with the only excited person in the room about this, the volunteer. She taught me how to do the Cotton Eyed Joe.

Giorgio told everyone to start sharing, going in a circle. I was the last one in the circle, and stood up and did the Cotton Eyed Joe.I was nervous, all the new faces starting directly at me. A few people started to laugh, but they stopped after a few seconds. She then explained a lot of random stuff about advisories and stuff but I phased out and looked around the room. To my back was the lab bench that the teacher usually sits at, with a cluttered sink and an empty table. Towards the door to the right was a cluttered lab bench again, filled with random cardboard. The other lab benches were the same, except in the middle was a gap with a door leading to another room exactly like this one. However, I phased back in and everyone was getting up and going to their expedition groups. I got up and went to the fifth floor; back to the hallway with the lockers and the holes in the wall. Why are there so many holes in the walls? Why aren’t they fixed? I walked to the staircase and climbed all the way to the fifth floor, turned right and walked and turned right yet again. At the end of the mini hall, I turned left and went into room 501. Just a few months ago, I was walking down a newly painted hallway. It was a Friday afternoon, and we were walking from our homeroom classroom to the library in a single file organized line. If we talked, we were usually yelled at. Everything was always cleaned overnight and kept pristine and in good condition. If somebody was yelling in the hallways, they were often just given detentions. Comparing my old school and SLA, they’re polar opposites.

Skip forward a few months later, no longer new to high school. We’ve already started our classes, gotten to know the schedules and our streams, and the worst part of each quarter begins, benchmark season. Before this time, I’d always ask myself what benchmarks were, until the first teacher, Ms. Jonas, explained them to us. Basically, they’re a project that’s worth a big portion of your grade, which for me was a big change from middle school. We could never even see our grades in junior high until the end of the quarter; and we certainly never had projects worth this much. She had assigned a thesis essay on the book, “The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano”. It wasn’t that interesting, despite what the title says. I struggled with the concept of what exactly a thesis essay was, she never explained it so I just came up with a question and ran with that, and honestly I learned more writing this essay than actually reading the sparknotes for the book. My ways of learning changed when I came to SLA, from what I had done in reading class in junior high, where we just read books and explained what they really meant, to going to SLA where we would write essays on them as well.

Jump forward all the way to now, junior year of high school. Throughout SLA, my learning style has changed a lot as well as my own opinions. However, one big thing that changed as well is just how I present myself. All throughout junior high and even freshman year, I would just wake up, put on some random clothes and leave the house. However, because SLA is so different, I started to change the ways I present myself. My hair was changed from the what it was to a more fashionable style, my clothes changed from ill-fitting jeans to more of a comfortable and skinny fit, and not only did that change but as I changed how people viewed me, I gained more confidence. SLA didn’t just change how I learned, or even change what I viewed of others’ opinions and ideas, but it changed the confidence I have in myself.