Title: Destiny’s Blog

High School in a Nutshell.. 

MOTIVATION

Motivation, an urge of self encouragement that truly comes from only yourself. Yeah, sure someone can motivate you and push you where you need to go but nobody but you will ever get you to the finish line.  Personally, motivation is one of the things I struggle with the most- choosing to get out of bed and go to school to get closer and closer to the finish line, may sound simple. The part that isn’t so simple is when you actually do it, because of the self-motivational voice in the back of your head that believes in you.  For the few of you who actually take the time to read this and are looking for that voice, it’s there but you have to let it be heard. We all think about the day where we are standing on the stage, where it is the last time we are all together, the last time we all share smiles and laughter at the same place at the same time.  When that day grows closer than any of us can comprehend it hits us in the pit of our stomachs where we feel such nervousness and sadness, but accomplishment all at once. We could never ride this roller coaster ever again because it is the last day before they shut it down and it turns into something fun that we used to do.

PEERS

Your peers turn into strangers when they were once people you made memories with every single day, but this motivation is what got us through the hardest four years of mandatory education.  But just imagine if you went through high school alone, only one student per classroom, so quiet you can hear the wind move the leaves off the floor that everyone should be walking on because high school is clicks and clubs and groups- it is people of all colors and cultures coming together to make the most memorable memories of our lives, making a huge impact on each other. So as I remain with only one hundred and seventy eight days left I stop and look around, look around at my peers, the people I shared my second home with- not a home with a bed, but a home with a chair and a desk and a pencil.  I sit and thank every person individually for every smile they gave me on the days I had my headphones in and my mind was racing with negative thoughts. I thank these people because on a day I didn’t want to be awake, let alone be walking the halls and going to each classroom, my peers made me smile, they cared about how I felt. Although I have had many second homes this one feels just right. Walking through many schools not always feeling the most welcomed, sitting alone at lunch, feeling like I didn’t belong. 

TEACHERS

For the teachers who spent a little extra time with me, thank you for your patience for taking your own personal time to better my future to help me understand the concepts.  To the one teacher who smiled at me everytime I walked in the class, expecting a smile back but I didn’t always return, she took the time to listen to me, she made me feel like someone cared.  She believed in me when nobody else did. To the teacher who made me realize my passion for expressing my feelings through writing, thank you. I’ll never forget how you admired my words and gave me the best ideas to use in my writing journey.

Saying Goodbye to my High School identity

High school was my life before life and I would not be the person I am today without all of the experiences that high school gave me.  In 20 years I will look back on high school and remember it as the years I was able to figure out who Destiny Montgomery was… I will miss the rainy days that made school just a little more delightful, I’ll always remember looking out the window watching the rain pour down for hours while I should have been finishing my essay that was due that day. I’ll remember the hair-pulling fights of girls with lost identities, but all power to them because “I was girls” and I will never forget the second girl I fell in love with because she was a part of my high school experience.  If we are being honest when I think about her everything else is a blur and because of her I want to tell my story on graduation day, she inspired me, because I know if she can tell her story then I can tell mine. Thank you Gilbert High School for making me feel the most at home. I will take everything I feel for this school and continue my life journey on to be something big. I will make sure I become someone who makes a difference in people’s lives and I hope to inspire people everyday. For the people after me, I hope Gilbert gets you back on your feet and you are able to learn who you are.  I hope you find teachers you connect with, well I’m sure you will. NO “regular” high school could have been a better choice for me. I want to be an example of why Gilbert can be a great choice for you in hopes people will stop having such a hard judgment. You will never find more dedicated teachers then the ones at alternative education schools. High school isn’t for everyone, but it should be, put your thoughts aside and give it a try.