I had waited so long for this day to come. I was officially a 9th grader. What did this mean? It meant I was basically a high school student even though I was still in the Junior high building. You see in my neighborhood you were in the junior high school building from 7th to 9th grade and then from 10th to 12th grade you went up the block to the high school. What made 9th grade so special though is that you were able to sign up for a program that would have you at the high school for half of the day every single day, which meant you got to know the high school before the others would a year later. So of course I signed up for the performing arts program, I had known a little about the program that their was acting and singing but didn’t really know anything else about it.

The first day of classes began and I was dropped off at the high school. Barely 5ft, walking into doors surrounded by tall seniors trying to squeeze through the main lobby. The nerves began to settle in as i walked into the theater where all students in the program was to meet for the first day. They let us know what to expect, we would be taking singing, dancing, and acting but we could choose one concentration to focus on and I decided to take musical theater because I loved to sing. Well, I thought I would be singing in a group with everyone else, but this class focused on making everyone comfortable with performing in a group and solo.

SOLO!!!!

I was a nervous wreck. I have sung at church in front of family members and people who have watched me grow up but not in front of strangers. I knew the next 4 years in this program was going to be difficult and honestly that first year I fought very hard to not do what my teachers wanted. I would give the bare minimum and always have an attitude because I was so shy and nervous to step outside my comfort zone, especially because I was the only guy in this program.

Once my freshmen year came around, you would think I was able to push past my insecurities….NOPE. It was not until my sophomore year that I apologized for being so difficult and I actually put everything I had into this program and I actually sung my first time by myself. Every year the program would put on a concert where all the students would perform as groups in their concentration for friends and family, so being in the musical theater program we usually do a dance with a song. This year though we only did a song but not as a group, each person sung part of the song. One by one walking to center stage to the mic continuing where the other left off as the music never stopped. And then finally it was my turn, I had the only part of the song where it was slow and the music was not playing, and I merely had 20 words to sing.

“But most of all, I’m thankful for, loving who I really am. I’m beautiful, I’m beautiful, and I’m here”

You could hear a pin drop as I saw fellow class mates in the seats mouth open in shock that the kid who was always so quiet actually had a great voice. From that day on I began to partake in school musicals as the lead role, and I graduated with honors in the program and more guys ended up joining the program as well. Thankful for those teachers that continued to push me even when I pushed back, because it definitely changed me for the best.