Jayla Bryan
Don’t sit in the front of the window. That’s how the worst year of my life began. It was the middle of winter and I had just gotten back from lunch. Although it was only 20 degrees outside, I walked over to the window and opened it. The teacher yelled at me to close it. Then he told me to move away from the window and sit at a desk. Wanting to be defiant and seem cool to my classmates, I refused to move. The same event took place for over a week. Then, I had the greatest idea of my life. I was going to sit on the radiator.
I had recently turned 11 and was in the 7th grade. Middle school years are some of the most important years of your life. I chose to completely 180. I started hanging out with the wrong people. Fitting in with my peers was one of the only things on my mind. My grades began to drop a bit but nothing too drastic. Then second quarter came. I had started getting into trouble with my teachers and it began to lead to problems at home. I was constantly on punishment for getting calls from the school which led to me disliking my parents.
Now back to my bright idea. I got back from lunch and went straight to the radiator. Immediately after, my classmates began to surround me. I felt like one of the coolest people in the room and I loved it. After about 20 minutes, the teacher got fed up and told me to get down. Since I was cherishing the moment and enjoying the spotlight, I refused to get up. We proceeded to argue and he said something negative about my aunt that passed and without thinking I picked up my chair and threw it at his head.
My heart was pounding and my palms were sweating. I had always been a good kid and I had never done anything like that in my life. He sent me down to the office where I spoke to the Principal. He sent me back up to class and when I walked in the room I was bombarded by comments. The most popular one was that the cops were coming to look for me. All I could think was that my life was over and my Yale scholarship would never come.
I only ended up getting suspended for a week and my parents put me on punishment for a month. While I was suspended, my dad forced me to help him build a playhouse. While doing this, I discovered that I enjoy building things. That one suspension made me realize that I don’t even want a scholarship to Yale. I want to work with my hands.
Fast forward to 2022, I turned my life around. My difficulties through middle school ended up helping me find my true calling. Now, I was starting high school and I no longer cared about fitting in. My main goals were to keep my grades up and graduate.