Four years ago, I was in seventh grade at my little elementary school, and every student started to wonder, what high school am I going to go to? Private or Public? Close or Far? Out of only 80 kids in my grade, every person really stuck out in their own way in intelligence or sports. I was an average student; I was somewhat athletic, very high intellectual abilities, and average height, so I couldn’t decide and really didn’t want to. I enjoyed my life at school and thinking about leaving most of my friends just dampened my spirits. So I ignored all things. Life just went on. I had one year left. However, it was the most difficult school year to go through since it was the last time we were all going to the same school and be Tigers. It put me in an internal battle of my future and my past.

2007 comes rolling around and so does eighth grade, last year at my little old school and with all my friends. Each one of them had picked their schools; however they all picked different schools. One went to Northridge. One went to Loyola. And then a few went to Notre Dame. This didn’t help me at all. I wanted to go to a high school with at least one of them so I wouldn’t be alone, but none of them were willing to go to the school I preferred to go to because it was a public school, and they barely knew anyone going there and wouldn’t be the coolest guys anymore like they were at my old school. They were the big shots at my grade school, they were the top of line guys at our tiny school, a few were sports stars who won important games against our rival school; others were the smartest kids who aced all their tests, however all of them were heart throbs for girls, and at their schools they might still be the big fish too, but definitely not at public school, this was a completely new group of kids without of the teens who had worshipped them in the past. I liked public school and all its benefits over the other private schools, but my friends were almost as stubborn as mules and weren’t going to change. So I ignored the problem. Until February came around, we had to start settling on a school. And that’s when the threats starting coming to. I was the only one of my friends who hadn’t decided on a school yet and my friends knew I was thinking of going to the dreaded public school. They told me, “If you go to that crappy dump of the public school, then we are done with you. Go to my school or don’t bother asking to hang because we won’t be friends anymore!” This thought frightened me to death because I wasn’t very good at making friends at the time and it took me twelve years to get these guys so starting from scratch would be brutal. I might go four years without anyone to talk to or have fun with. I had to decide either go to the great education at public school and lose everyone I had finally earned, or choose a decent private school in the area that my friends went to but live the same life. S***.

I had to puzzle over how I am going to solve these dilemmas. First, I determined that these young boys weren’t my true friends, and I needed to lose them and find some actual cool and honest guys. If I went to a private school I could stay strong to my religion, but I wouldn’t get the privileges of the engineering programs that the public schools had. However, if I went to public school I would receive one of the greatest educations in the state of Illinois, but I would be flying solo and have to start fresh. This means I can become a different person. Become a better person. Smarter and possibly cooler. I could experiment with my true self and not the one drone I pretended to be for these guys. This new school could be fun. I made my decision. I told my friends, “Eff you!” and sign-up for the first day of the 2008-2009 school year.

I am now a junior and I will never regret that decision; I have many more and better friends than before, and I am now more prepared for my future career than my “friends” at the private schools. I am also a proud and active member of my youth group at my old school and church, and I’m holding strong to my religion, Catholicism, just like I wanted to do at the private schools, but with more sophisticated friends and more fun! I am proud to be a Hawk instead of just trying to relive my old days for four more long years through being a Don, or a Rambler, or who knows.