My decision

    This post today will be more personal and not so boring, at least I hope not... So stay with me if you can.
    Summer of my eighth grade year, a week before school began was one of the hardest weeks of my life. With that, came a decision that I had to make that would then change the course of the rest of my life. It was a decision that set me up for success and allowed me to grow into the young adult that I am today.
     This decision that I had to make was one that all my very close friends now had to make as well. That decision was, to leave our zoned high schools and venture out, for most of us without our friends that we grew up with for most of our lives, on our own. None of us knowing, that by far that was going to be the best decision that we would make in our lives to date. The school that we go to now, is by far one of the best schools that I have ever heard of. It allows you to be yourself, and always has allowed us to be ourselves. It has allowed us to grow, change, and mature as a tight knit family.
   I'm sure everyone here can relate when I say, that the decision to change high schools was not an easy one. It came with a lot of anxiety, tears, anticipation, and any other emotion that you could possibly think of. And yet, my friends we made that decision, and we made that decision with pride and positivity. Going into a new situation with open eyes, and open minds.  
   Sure our school may not have sports, or huge pep rallies like "normal" high schools do, we have something even better. Something that takes much more brains then just kicking a ball around and trying to score a goal. We compete in what's called SkillsUSA, which is ten times better than any sport that I know. Competing in SkillsUSA has allowed me to have the opportunity to make friends with people from all over the country, have more confidence in myself as well as my leadership skills, and better me as a person. Without this competition, I would not carry the friendships that I have right now with me, for the rest of my life.
   I honestly couldn't imagine what my life would be like if I had not decided to go to this school and had just chosen to go to my zoned high school instead. I would have been lost in the crowd, forgotten by all those around me, and never in a million years, turned into the human being that I am right this very moment. I have had the most amazing high school experience that anyone could have ever dreamed of, thanks to all the people that I have around to support me.
   I wonder at times, what would have become of me if I hadn't made this brave decision. Sometimes I think that it would have been fun to go to a normal high school, and then I just think of all that I have done in these short three years, and think to myself that no other decision would have better suited me than this one.
   I couldn't be more grateful for all the opportunities that I was given by attending school here. Thank you for letting me spread my wings and fly. I am now an eagle in a sky full of pigeons.