Educational Narrative

Matthew Morano

Professor Cipriani

English 1101

October 13th 

 

New Beginnings

 

It was a bright and early morning on that fine day. (It was a humid September morning on the first day of high school where I would start my new beginnings.) That humid September morning was the first day of my high school experience and the start of a new beginning. I can remember it just like it was yesterday, waking up two hours before school as I set my alarm for 6:30 on the dot. I had all these negative thoughts going through my head thinking this very day would be the worst day of my life. For example, it’s a new school and nobody knows me. Also, my middle school teachers always held something against me and wondered if that would carry on to high school. Ultimately, would I be on my “A” game starting the 9th grade? I thought I would be way more mature. So many things trembled inside of my head that very morning, but one singular positive outlook I had on this day was that it was the start of a new beginning, and my middle school teachers are not there to target me anymore.

Then it hit me. None of my friends from middle school would be there for me and I couldn’t be there for them. I was truly heartbroken. The people that I’ve known since I was in pre-school wouldn’t be in my life anymore since we moved on to different schools. The people that have helped me out with everything I’ve done in my life were gone in a blink of an eye and the end of an era. 

My friend Julian and I were truly the class clowns. It went from sitting in the far right corner of the classroom with our feet kicked up playing “ Clash Of Clans’ on our phone until the teachers would call the principal’s office. We couldn’t go a day without getting a phone call from our Math teacher Ms. Chi saying and quote, ”Matthew has been disrupting the class and taking away from his classmate’s education”. Every day she would call but Julian and I couldn’t care less because we knew that we’re never going to change their outlook on us so why would we change for them. It got so bad to the point where they took away our Senior trip since they didn’t trust us to behave on the bus that would be going to the Dude Ranch. 

On the last day of middle school, Julian came over to my house for a little graduation party my parents had thrown for my friends and me. As that day went on, Julian and I had a very serious conversation about the future of our lives. We promised each other as best friends that we were going to make a change for the better. This was the first time in ten years that we weren’t going to be judged on our past due to behavior by higher authority, a chance to prove that these so-called “ trouble makers” can have a clean slate and really mature as young teenage boys. high school would not be the same at the very least and we’d make sure of it.

At first, I was sort of nervous to start off my first day of high school but luckily I still had one friend left with me from middle school and that would be my friend Stefen. So I wasn’t as nervous as I could’ve been. It just so happened that he lived across the street from me and we walked into school together. What made it even better was that we had the same exact schedule so we were sure we wouldn’t feel out of place. As our ten-minute walk to school felt like thirty minutes, due to all the nerves in my system, we eventually got to the front of the building. All I can remember vividly was that there was a banner in the very front of the school that said: “Welcome Back Argo’s”. This was our new school mascot since we were a Greek mythological school. As we walked into the school for the very first time, you sensed the distinct smell of the cafeteria’s lunch. I can see the bright lights that were shining through the glass windows in the front of our school. From what I can remember, I was my tiny 14-year-old self looking up at all the taller upper-class persons. I was then walking up to my first class saying to myself, ” Wow, I can’t wait till I’m that old ”. As Stefen and I walked through the thin halls seeing everyone putting all their belongings in their lockers, we eventually arrived at our first class. Since it was gym class, surprisingly it wasn’t just freshmen in the gym there were about 100 different kids sitting around in a hot humid room. It was extremely quiet in the gym because the freshman students were nervous to speak up, including myself. Lastly, my gym teacher called my name and I began to have a nice conversation with him about the brand new school and all the opportunities that are to come. 

Then suddenly something clicked in my head that I never thought of till that very moment. That moment will be stapled into my brain for the rest of my life. I realized that I have a fresh start and none of my old middle school teachers can judge me so I could just focus on my present self. By the end of the class, I came to the realization that my old middle school teachers wouldn’t come back to haunt me anymore, and that is what made me realize the change in my educational life would be possible. I would be able to do things independently without someone of higher authority getting in my way of being the absolute best version of myself.  Furthermore, a new building, new teachers, and new friends can start a new beginning.

Throughout those last four years, I have changed so much as an individual from going from phone calls every day in middle school, to having teachers call to speak to my parents on how much they appreciated me participating all the time in class. So glad those four years really taught me how to be a grown individual and for me to make the right decisions by myself to better me as a person to grasp a better education for myself. 

1)The reason I wrote this “Shitty Draft” was to get my point across which is “know how long it takes to make a change” and “it’s never too late if you really put your mind to it to make a change”. I hope that the audience can feel like no matter the situation you’re in, you should always have hope. Lastly, I wanted to inspire people to feel like they can always get a second chance and everybody is human and makes mistakes.  It’s how you learn from those mistakes and make a positive change.

2)This project helps us grasp our inner thoughts and put them all on paper. Really focusing on grabbing the reader’s attention. Furthermore, It helps me describe in words that I would never think of in everyday life. In addition, I realized I’m having difficulty with writing this summary. I hope to know if my audience can picture this story in their head. I’m definitely proud of telling people that there’s always a light shining at the end of the tunnel and you can always make a positive change if you want it badly enough.

3)The question for the readers(s): Was there too much information in the narrative which could lead to confusion and some portions could’ve been left out? Or could I have added more material and explained more of my background to make my summary more relatable?