I still can recall the feeling of pure unadulterated fear, and even thinking about it now gives me that sense of dread that has become all too familiar. Every first day was slightly different, but they all had the same effect on me, the uncomfortable feeling of being on the chopping block. In four years, I have experienced the feeling of brand new faces staring at me with harsh, judgemental eyes 4 times, something most high schoolers have to endure only once, if at all. However, these four different educational institutions have brought more than just scholarly concepts into my mind. They have each bent and contorted me in ways that have forced me to learn to become inure. Each transfer required me to adapt and learn to make friends with people who were not…
The light at the end of my dark, agonizing, year-long tunnel came in the form of the massive Rocky Mountains. Against my initial wishes, my family and doctors decided that it was probably a good idea to get as far away from the origin of my problems. Mullen High School and the people I met there, saved my life from my own hands. Unlike most life-altering changes, it came slowly. I started to focus more in school and my grades improved. I began to pray to and love a God I had always heard of, but never knew personally. Most importantly, I began to once again see my own self-worth even through the blinding, overwhelming black cloak of depression. Everyone I met there changed my life. My Latin teacher helped me to see God in new ways, to see him as a father, which taught me that I was never alone. My best friend taught me to see every part of myself as beautiful, even my mind which I once thought was useless. My theology class inspired me to love community service and helping others the way I do…
