Everyone has a life-changing experience that changes their entire perspective on life. My personal life-changing experience was throughout my entire high school years. When I was younger, I was told how much I would “love high school” and how much it would “change my life.”
I was always excited thinking about how the years to come would be. After years of being encouraged, it was finally time to start my freshman year. I started to prepare for the exciting high school experience everyone dreams of having.
Pandemic Struck High School Dreams
At first, things were great. I started making new friends, meeting new people, and I even joined the cheer/dance team. Unfortunately, after a few months of school flying by, everyone around the world started to get sick. No one knew what the cause or cure for this deadly virus was, or how it got here, but it started to spread out of control.
Schools were forced to close and start teaching online, businesses were shut down. And everyone around the world was forced to wear masks. Thousands of students fell behind in schoolwork, including me. I was no longer happy or excited. Eventually, I stopped logging into class, turning in work, and doing everything else that came with school. I was too focused on other things, which caused me to get distracted and fall behind. Too consumed with my own personal life, and issues, or wanting to do other unimportant things. I didn’t prioritize school.
School Shut Down
Schools continued to stay shut down the following year. Except this time I started to work on all of my schoolwork. The only issue was, things began to get more chaotic and distracting in life again. I was uninterested and unmotivated.
After a few weeks of a new school year and being in the process of moving, some major changes happened. I ended up being removed from school because of absences and missing work. Which didn’t matter to me at the time because I was “transferring anyway” right?
Failing to realize how much this could affect my education and future. Ultimately, I started my new school, and it was very hard adjusting to the way things were. Not only was I in a new school, but we were forced to wear masks and stay six feet away from everyone. I continued to fall behind.
Eventually, that deadly virus called “COVID-19” got better. Schools went back to normal, but by that time I was “too busy” struggling with every obstacle being thrown at me. Things started pushing me more and more behind for the next school year. By that time, it was the middle of my junior year and I was way behind. My school put me in an online program where I only had to be at school for a couple of hours, and could earn every credit I needed. Unfortunately, still I continued to do the bare minimum when it came to applying myself.
Senior Year
In my senior year, I continued my online program despite joining two months late. I continued to deal with challenging obstacles but, decided to push through and do my best to make up for lost time. I realized how making in-the-moment decisions was affecting my life. My family helped me in any way they could while encouraging me not to give up. With only a few months left of school, I decided to start growing my relationship with God and remove myself from all distractions. I did my best to stay focused on trying to better my life from where I could’ve potentially ended up.
I changed my entire surroundings, stayed at home, and did school work every day for hours. With only a couple weeks of school left, my teachers explained to me the chances of me graduating on stage were slim. On top of being behind in credits and continuously failing a very important test, I still continued to do everything I could and find alternatives.
By that time, I only had three weeks of school left and was doing everything I could to finish. After staying focused and consistent, I was finally almost done. I worked hard to get multiple classes done a week. Eventually, I finally earned all the forty credits I needed to graduate.
2023 Graduate
After hearing “Congratulations class of 2023,” I was so happy that I was able to make myself, and my family proud. I never realized how much graduating was going to impact my life. Despite feeling like I couldn’t do it, and being told I couldn’t. I was so proud of myself.
After graduating, I realized no matter what life throws at me, I can accomplish anything and so can others. I also realized that I am capable of doing anything I put my mind to. I am constantly reminded to never give up. The experience of my high school years has molded me to become the person I am today. As well as the person I look forward to seeing myself becoming. Despite all the hardships I’ve experienced, I couldn’t be more grateful for the past few years, and the life lessons each day has taught me.
Written By- Bella Rose Ortega
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of xMizLitx’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
First Inset Image Courtesy of Lower Columbia College (LCC)’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
