Writing Task Saved- Kaiulani Perez

When I started eighth grade, my mentality was why does it matter I’m leaving in a couple of months. I feel like this happens a lot with school when it’s the end of the year, but I felt like 8th grade was the end of my middle school journey. This mindset led me to turn in my homework whenever I felt like it and I would not pay as much attention in class as I should’ve. Over time, my grade started to drop and there was only a matter of time till my parents saw. At the time dance was the only thing that I cared about, school was a place to go to countdown the hours until I could leave and go to dance. My parents knew how much I loved dance and that in my 13-year-old head dance was my whole life. If something ever came up on a day where I had dance and I could not go, I would cry and be devastated. Dance made me feel important and helped me express myself when I didn’t have the words too. I learned patience, determination, perseverance, and courage all through dance. It gave me a sense of togetherness and unity while dancing with my friends. We created our own family and community within my dance studio, that I felt safe to be myself in. 

I remember the day they saw that my grades were dropping. My friend in school told me that report cards were mailed out and they were going to be at our houses by the time we all got home. I live two blocks away from my middle school and dad works nights so even though I knew he was home I was praying that he was sleeping. As soon as 3:00 PM hit I grabbed my stuff, and I ran home to try to get my report card before my parents saw it. I busted through my front door sweaty and out of breath because of the run I just took, and I saw my dad standing there opening the mail. I took my shoes off, put my book bag down and walked over to say hi to my dad and look at the mail on the table in front of him to see what was left to open. I looked down and saw that the next envelope wasn’t plain white but with green and gold lines to match the colors of my middle school that had the words. “To the parent or guardian of Kaiulani Perez.” I knew I was done for. There was nothing I could do once he opened it. He gave me a speech and yelled but it wasn’t till my mom came home and said, “If you don’t start trying in school, you can’t go to dance.” My heart dropped, and tears started flowing down. Those words were all it took for me to snap out of my “it doesn’t matter phase” because dance was the only thing that mattered to me. It was something I love to do, and I didn’t want to lose it, so I started doing my homework on time moving my seats in class so I can make sure I had no distractions and going to extra help during lunch so I can make sure that my grades went up. I started using all the lessons that dance taught me and putting it into my schoolwork to make sure I wouldn’t fail and wouldn’t have to stop. I put so much hard work and determination into my schoolwork that by the time June came around I graduated with honors and won an academic award in social studies. I was proud of myself. I realized the lessons I learned while dancing could be used in any aspect of my life, it became extremely comforting to know that if I work hard and focus, I could tackle the next 4 years of high school as well.