I was walking to school on a cold sunny winter morning, the sky was blue it was uplifting. “A sign to a good day,” I thought. I finally got to school, I go to the schoolyard all my friends are there, we sit and chat like we usually do. The bell rings, and we go to our assigned homerooms. We take attendance and when Ms. Guerrieri, my homeroom teacher, tells me that I have been called to the guidance counselor officer. That’s when Ms.Kinal tells me that the teachers have decided to move me to a different class. I had started eighth grade in the second marking period that’s when I came to the U.S. so they put me in an ESL class with my peers also being relatively new to the country. Ms. Kinal told me that the teachers recognized that ESL was too easy for me and that they’re moving me to a higher level class. I remember being very nervous as I did not believe in myself and had doubts that I would do well in those classes. In the first week, I was already having trouble, I talked to my parents about moving back to my previous class. They were reluctant at first but they had no choice but to go with it since I bothered them about every day. My dad makes an appointment with Ms. Kinal and they call me to her office. I tell Ms. Kinal that these classes are hard for me and that I want to go back to my old class. Ms. Kinal was very understanding of my situation but still refused to put me back in my previous class, which looking back I am grateful she didn’t. She told me that it might be hard at first but once I get the hang of it I will do good and excel in my classes. And that I did. Sometimes It may seem like school is too complicated and that makes you think of giving up but self-advocating and using available resources such as tutoring are very important in securing that success. However, everyone is unique and many people don’t get the recognition they deserve due to the simple fact that the education system holds people to the same standards and expects them to learn the same way. As a wise man once said “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”