8th Grade Reflection

As I look back on my last year in middle school, I realize how much I’ve grown mentally and physically. This year has taught me an immense amount of things that I can take with me for the next chapters in my life. Considering we were and still are going through a global pandemic, there were many bad times, but also lots of good times. Even though the school year is just not over yet there have been wonderful memories that I’ve created with so many people that I'm glad to call friends.

As the delayed school year started, I was not really excited. The entire day we would be doing work online while spending countless hours looking at a screen. The only thing I was absolutely excited about was the start of volleyball season. It was the one thing that motivated me to get up in the morning and go to practice and finish my school work. Many times I would dread logging in to do work because of how much I was struggling with remote learning. As a student who usually gets straight A’s, with an inclusion of a B sometimes, I was not getting the best grades. Everything came harder to me while being at home. Lots of things played a part especially not having that school environment that allowed me to not get distracted most of the time. It was such a big difference when we came back to school for the first months because my grades improved so much and they were proof of how much I needed to be in a school setting. When we came back to school time flew right by and in the blink of an eye it was almost Christmas break. Many things happened in the first semester like finishing off an amazing volleyball season with the best teammates, making new friends, starting basketball season, and running around crazy stressing about semester exams and other work. With hard work and determination I got it done and was able to enjoy my Christmas break.

The second semester started while there were waves of new kids from home coming face-to-face. It all happened so fast most of us did not even recognize the people we hadn’t seen in almost a year. A variety of things happened at the start of the second semester from starting the yearly dreadful research paper to getting on the bus for our first track meet. It also started to get very serious as the STAAR test got closer. Many people took it as a joke but sooner than later it was April and there we were with a month left until our first test. The days went by and the day came, adrenaline was through the roof on finding out what my score would be. Then the next test came and the people who weren't testing one day had to be at home but if they were testing another day there they went back to take the awful state test. It was like that for about two weeks, on and off showing up to school got tiring and I was so ready for summer to start.

But now as I sit here writing this with two weeks left, I realize that I am really going to miss this place. For three years I watched people come and go. I became closer to so many people, got closer with so many of my favorite teachers. To be honest I just want time to stop and be here for the rest of my life. I have had such an amazing time in middle school that has taught me so much. I will be eternally grateful for the people who have helped me get here, my friends, my teachers, my parents. All because of you guys I am honored to be the person I am today.