Rough Draft #1
Coming to New York was not want I wanted and still deciding whether or not I still want to stay. Initially I thought I was going to be a sophomore when I began school because my brother, having gone through the New York public school system said that I had to take 8 regents and there was now way I was going to be able to do them in just 2 years. Regents were the things I feared the most, not completing or scoring too low would have me not graduating high school or staying back a grade or two until I completed them. Those were my thoughts before I even encountered and fully grasped what a Regent was and how it would fully affect my academic life.
After going to many, many many DOE conferences and being told that no I don’t have the right documentation and yes I may have to redo a year or two again because of it. At that point in my life I was fed up and tired of school and everything that was going on. However, soon after I was told that the DOE had decided that though I didn’t have transferred papers my report cards from my previous school in Florida would be enough to calculate that I was probably okay with being in the 11th grade and I was good to go and all I had to do was decide what school I wanted to go to and the rest would be a breeze. But it turns out that choosing a school would be and even harder task than expected.
Certain schools wanted students with proper identification and other didn’t need the documents but you had to have the right skin tone and after being rejected from three different school I grabbed the big fat New York school directory once again and tried to find another school in Brooklyn. And that’s when I came across John Dewey High School. Dewey had decent school scores, a fair amount of graduation classes, and a larger amount of student activities and clubs, plus my aunt went there so I guess it was an okay place to be. During my registration for Dewey, I met the woman who would my lifesaver and personal guardian at school for the next two years, Mrs. Gatusso.
Mrs. Gatusso was there for me when I need her throughout my junior and senior. She was there when I needed to talk and her office was always open to all students and she was always willing to help everyone that came to her office in need of everything.
On the school I met My English teacher, who later became my Mock Trial Coach, her name was Ms. Clark and to this day I’m extremely grateful to have been in her class. She was one of the best teachers that I have ever had. Ms. Clark was a White and Koren, who was rather young, small and had the energy of a power house. She was very compassionate and helpful during my Junior year of High School and she was a big help during the English Regents and I will be forever grateful for her.
It was the day of the English Regents and I was what you could call terrified. I had prepared and studied the formats but that wasn’t gonna help if I couldn’t even remember what my name was. But I ate a good breakfast arrived early and was ready. I can’t remember what happened during the test or what was on that test. I do know that I was the last one to leave and I had left in tears. I was absolutely positive that I had failed. As I was leaving I passed Ms. Clark’s room. I went inside with the intention of apologizing for falling and to tell her I was probably going to be transferred out because of it. She saw me and stopped eating. She then asked me what was wrong and gave me a hug. I explained that I was sure to have failed and I’m sorry to have disappointed her. She then sat me down asked me every possible question about the test, what I did and the formats that I had presented the questions in. It was then that I knew that I had a teacher that actually cared about her students and was there for them, even when she didn’t need to be. She told me that, from everything I told her that I would’ve passed with at least a 65. I left reassured and grateful for pep talk and reassurance.
After waiting two weeks antagonizing weeks, the scores were announced. Clark then informed me that I had passed with a 90 and that she was very proud of me and that there was truly nothing to worry about.
This has made me realize that there are teachers and counselors that actually care about their students and they would do whatever it takes to actually counsel them and make them feel better about whatever they are going through.
