Another school year…over. Not just any normal year; a year with new friends, new challenges, and new opportunities. 7th grade is the bridge between the fun, friendly 6th grade and years before that, and the unpredictable years ahead that determine my future. This year was so far the most life changing year, shaping my perspectives of not only how I see the world, but also how I see myself. In this post, I’ll look back on the memorable moments that helped me think differently and conclude on this eventful year.
Don’t Try To Impress Others; They Don’t Care
This can seem like a very generic statement. But as someone who has honestly been trying too hard to seem flaw-free, it just doesn’t work, and it only hurts myself and limits my growth. At the beginning of the year, in Professional Communications/ Career and College Excploration class (a required class for 7th graders focusing on future preperation), we were required to give short speeches with 5 minutes of prep time. As someone who loves speaking in front of others, I felt like I would crush this assignment. I wrote a long speech with complex words. In my head, my goal wasn’t to deliver a simple, ungraded speech in front of my class; it was to seem like a professional TedTalk speaker. After writing, I gave my speech… and did everything I wasn’t supposed to do. I stuttered, fidgeted, and rushed. I recall at that moment, someone even snickered. I was insanely embarrased; my class wouldn’t think I’m smart and cool! For the whole year, I felt the need to redeem myself. I tried to speak perfectly when called apon.
Sadly, I realized the truth extreemly late. I should’ve focused on improving and becoming a better presenter for myself than for my class, who most likely didn’t even remember the incident. So, for University Interscholastic League competitions this year, one of my events was Modern Oratory- a memorized 3-6 minute speech on the given topic. And, let me tell you, I knocked it out of the ballpark, putting all my effort to win for myself and improve, and won 1st place.
Find YOUR Best Way To Learn, Not Someone Else’s
For some of my competitions this year, like Civics Bee, Modern Oratory, and even some school tests, it required rigorous memorizing. I wanted a shortcut, the easiest way to remember everything. “Write with blue ink”, “Play your notes while sleeping”, and “Use the 7-3-2-1 technique” was what Google told me. And for a while, I actually belived it. But now, I find it quite humerous that people think these tricks always work for everyone in every situation. For me, I find it difficult to memorize things word for word, or big chunks of information just by reading.
During these situations that required immediate recall, I made MY own way. I knew that I was good at making stories, or remembering stories. So, I turned every speech, every Amendment, every event into a capivating, imaginative story. I also realized that, as someone who can get distracted easily (I recall extremely random words and phrases at unneccesary times), making weird connections worked for me. One of my favorite examples of this method was when remembering the landmark court case Lochner vs New York (1905). Lochner sounds like Lochness, like the Lochness monster. That is a tale from Europe. When I think of Europe, I think of a street with historical buildings, stores, and… bakeries! This helped me quickly remember that at the time, New York didn’t allow bakers to work for more than 10 hours a day, so Lochner said that it wasn’t dangerous (sadly, also justified child labor).
The moral is that you need to find your own ways to learn, because in the future, the load gets even more rigorous.
You Can’t Always Do Everything Yourself
Time travel back to science fair season, I refused to work with someone else. My mentality said that it would be better to work by myself so I get full control of the project. As I saw, that was not a very sucessful idea. I learned that everyone can bring something to the table, no matter if they have the same qualities as yourself.
Using that learning, I decided to implement this moral into my end-of-year ELA project. At the beginning, I was in a group who seemed to have a slightly pessimistic mindset of the book we had to read. So, I decided to switch groups to work with a singular person who, 1. Was optimistic, 2. Had good ideas, and 3. Was open to ideas. Now, our project is coming out creative, elegant, and exciting. I realize that if I did this project myself, I would not have been able to acheive the result myself.
Life Will Move On, Make The Most Of It
After 28 years dedicated to teaching at my school, my theatre teacher will be retiring after the school year ends. At first, I was broken. What was I going to do after that? I spend 2 years in this elective and was stuck. A few days ago, after I watched the Theatre C Shrek Musical, my teacher’s speech at the end, talking about her time at this school, made me cry. But I know I only have 1 more year in middle school, and I won’t let it drown in tears. I decided to use this opportunity to do something that would lead to my high school dream; band. So, I didn’t let time go to waste. While making the most of the my time in theatre for the last time, I started my instrument. In conclusion, it’s important to savor the moments while also looking ahead for opportunities.
Quitting Isn’t Bad, Giving Up Is
Middle school is the absolute best time to try new things, find what you enjoy, and explore what you’re good at. But sometimes, after doing something for a long time, we can find that it may not benefit us. I’ve heard that I shouldn’t quit, and I agree that this applies to if you’re just tired or want to give up. But quitting is different. I’ve been doing debate class for 2 years now. As someone who was eager to participate and compete in debate, it honestly isn’t benefitting me as much as I thought. But, I refuse to give up, as I will pursue Modern Oratory, which I find is better for me, because it gives me more output to be creative and show emotion, which is my strength, rather than argue about hypothetical bills (debating skills are very important, but it’s not my biggest focus, and I don’t see myself having a full commitment to it). So, find your own path, but don’t give up because something is too hard.
Learning Doesn’t Look Like Pinterest
My learning pet peeve; educational notes that look like they’re from Pinterest. 5 highlighter colors, caligraphy, precise handwriting, aesthetic stickers… just too much. For some people, they can help stay organized, which is great for them. But making aesthetic notes shouldn’t be the main focus. I stand for ledgible handwriting and neatness at school, not flowers all over my work. In 7th grade, I’ve had to rewrite my notes so many times (NOTES, not even the final product) because “the e is floating” or “this sentence is smaller than the others”. This has genuinely wasted so much of my time, and this will not be a mistake that I will make in the future.
In conclusion, as I grow as a person, these moments will hold an important place in my heart. During those moments, I wished I could go back and fix that moment. But I now realize that if I did that, how will I ever learn? This message isn’t to help you prevent my mistakes, it’s to encourage you to make mistakes, embarrass yourself, and try everything so that you can explore yourself better.