The first day of school has the biggest impact on the way a person will eventually turn out in the future. Many events have happened in my life long ago, some forgotten, and some I still distinctly remember. In the beginning of August 1995, I ventured into the small class room of nothing but new faces, which my parents called school. I remember before class I was the happiest kid on the planet knowing that I would finally get to wear my uniform and bring out my new colorful Power Ranger back bag.
On my 20 minute early arrival I remember I was hesitant and overwhelmed with the amount of kids. Although some of the kids were crying and pounding on the floor, I noticed some parents starting to leave. My mother looked at me and reassured that everything would be fine and gave me a peck on the cheek. She slowly walked away looking back a few times to check if I started to mingle with the other kids. Luckily, I remember I seen Jose in the class room which was my neighbor at the time. We instantly connected and before I knew it, it was time to go home.
My first day of school was not only a success but it was such a great event in my life that it will always remain fresh in my memory. Having English as my second language, I recall being nervous and skeptical about speaking and writing in English, to top it off I was incredibly shy so that didn’t help out my situation. I was five years old when I was finally admitted to school. I remember I had the first day jitters. It was all so new and unknown to me at the time. I feared that I would have no friends. I even feared the teachers for some odd reason.
Little did I know the teachers were very affectionate and helped me get over my fear and nervousness. My writing started here in kindergarten. I remember my teacher taught me how to write my name with endless sheets of repetitive work. From upper case letters to lower case letters we didn’t stop until we can write our names with no errors. After we mastered our names we then moved on to sentences. We put words together to form small sentences. As we moved on, we started working on sentences that did not consist of any run ons or fragments, only clean and complete sentences.
Eventually, by the time I reached elementary school I was able to use what I had learned in kindergarten to write paragraphs and even one page papers. It all started in kindergarten but I strongly feel that everything that I have learned in school has not only helped me prepare as an adult but also it has provided me an outlet to overcome all my fears. My writing for the most part has been basic up until this point. I have many writing needs that I need to improve on and goals that I want to accomplish while in school.
A few consist of being able to organize all my thoughts professionally so they make sense. I’d like to be able to write papers effortlessly at a college level. As a young kid I also wrestled with shyness. At the beginning I struggled opening up and inviting new people in my life which caused me to fall behind. I felt fear of being rejected or even embarrassed. I remember as a kid being asked questions by the teacher. I knew the answer but I was too shy to respond out loud in front of the entire class. Being shy is not the best thing to be.
Sometimes being shy can ruin many opportunities. In my case, I lost out in candy, points, and the possibility in making new friends. As I improved my grammar and literature skills, I felt like I became more confident and eventually was able to let go of my shyness. This had a tremendous effect in my school work but most importantly in my personality. All of a sudden making new friends became second nature. Unconsciously, I became more outgoing and more successful in school. In conclusion, I would say my first day at school was a challenge.
At first it might have seemed like I did not accomplish very much on that very first day, but I survived an entirely new experience filled with new things such as people, subjects, and an actual schedule. Although challenging, I must say this was one of my most rewarding and memorable experiences. Not only was I being educated but I also learned how to open up and make friends. Till this day, I still am grateful and appreciative of this significant experience. It was the foundation where my writing began. Because of how well I remember this experience, I can say English is now one of my preferred subjects.
