By Ysrael Hernandez
I’m going to be honest here, I had no idea what to write about. After all, it has felt like I haven’t had some giant “success story.” I mean like, this is my first year at this school, and even at my old middle and elementary school, I wasn’t someone people noticed; I never was an outgoing or social student. But, I have to say, there are a lot of people at this school that helped make these four/five months something great. Naturally, I’m a very shy, quiet student and tend to just slip by friend groups and teachers, but everyone at this school made it hard to not share things I like or things I’ve learned. I’m learning to be much more outgoing and it’s taking a long time, but practice makes perfect. Challenges along the way have created a giant block in the middle of my journey.
When I first started at this school, it was nerve-racking: New people, new teachers, new subjects. Not to mention it also being the first year of high school, it made me very anxious. It seemed like people knew each other from middle school or they were already friends together. Along with being a year ahead, it felt like everyone was much older and maturer than me. It was a fearful and distressing first few months at the school.
Yet, ASU Prep Digital still created a way for me to be, well, me. Support from teachers like my wonderful LSC and joining different clubs started to impact how I was with new people. I was encouraged to share with people and in different classes, I was also given the opportunity to talk about what I wanted to do. Personally, I feel like ever since starting this school, I’ve started to become a more sociable person. I would like to say that these last months definitely made me a different student and I hope that change continues through life. It might seem hard to be social, especially if you are used to being a quiet and shy person like I was. It’s harder to make friends, and keep them, if you let yourself be quiet. And I know it may seem hard and like I’m trying to force you into doing something, but after all, it is a long journey to change the way you are, but it is very rewarding in the end.
