Before grade seven, I hated school with a passion.
During my earlier elementary years especially, I'd go to school kicking and screaming. There were very few things which I found enjoyment in. My classes were, I believed, dull and not inconsequential. I had no say in what I was going to study, or what people I was going to spend my time with. My life was composed of waiting for recess, waiting until the next playdate.
Then I made it to junior high, and everything changed.
Coming into the school in grade seven, I imagined that the gang of people from my elementary school would all band together in some super-mob of Glenora students. Things would be, I thought, much like they always had been before.
But then I started to branch out. I started to meet new people, and tentatively I stretched towards them. I started taking Drama class, where I learned to be myself and to never shy away from a challenge. I began to meet new people who taught me that, as good as they'd been, my gang of kids from Glenora were just a small sample of people, and that in the wider pool of potential friends I could find people both much better and much worse then them. In small pieces my shell of shyness and insecurity began to chip away.
The most significant change for me, though, was when through my studies and some wonderful teachers I began to question the world outside of what I'd always been taught. I began to question what was right and, more importantly, question why it was right. I learned that there are always more then two sides to a story, and that I was in no position to ever think that my ideas were better then other people's.
Through Grade eight, I expanded upon this idea with the help of my wonderful Social teacher, Mr. Koziej, who helped to teach me that the world is wonderful and diverse and that everyone should deserve the same respect as the person next to them. I worked harder then ever in my schoolwork, and achieved some wickedly high marks. Through it all, I learned to better work with others and express myself even more.
Finally, grade nine rolled around. That was the year where it fully sunk in that I could do anything if I tried, and that people would support me as long as I worked hard and did it with other's interests in mind. I became a much bigger risk taker, and allowed myself to be put in more and more potentially embarrassing scenarios. I sang in front of the entire school, I was the lead in the school play. Both those experiences were simultaneously terrifying and immensely rewarding. That year I also completed NaNoWriMo, an achievement which I'm more proud of then perhaps any other in my life.
Finally and most importantly, I threw myself into more social settings then ever before. I started making more and better friends, hanging out with them outside of school, and letting my shell of insecurities all but fall away. Heck, I even asked a girl out (still going strong, by the way)!
Now, though, I'm faced with the grim reality that it's all over. My friends- including some of my very best friends- are leaving for different schools then I am, and it breaks my heart to see them go. Soon, I'll find myself at a new school, and the whole process will repeat itself.
But you know what? I'm excited.
I've grown so much during my three years at Westminster, and I can only assume that I'll continue to do so over these next three years. Some friends may be leaving, but hey! I figured that I'd never make any better friends in Junior High then I did in elementary, but it happened. In high school I'll be exposed to even more people, and I'm sure that I'll make even more friends.
So let me say this; Westminster, you had your faults. You had your fair share of bad classes and shitty teachers. You did do one thing right, though. You made hundreds of people grow and mature, and create memories which will last far beyond the white-washed walls of your hallways.
Thanks for that.
-Mark
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