College Essay

When I look at myself in the mirror I see a person that has not only changed physically, but mentally as well. In the four years that I have been in high school my third year was the most difficult one because I had to do what most teenagers would never want to do. According to Maya Angelou, “If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain.” When I first saw this quote it made me think of one thing in my life that I didn’t really like, at first, which had a major impact on it.

It all began in the middle of my sophomore year in high school. At that time I was attending Chaska Senior High School. One day, my dad came to me and asked if I had ever thought of going to Holy Family Catholic High School. He told me that Holy Family excels in preparing students for college and he thought that this would be the better school for me. My dad had always wanted my brothers and me to go to catholic schools since I was in elementary school but my brothers and I were not able to get into our local catholic elementary school because there was a waiting list. Anyways, I said to him that I didn’t really care if I went there or not because I knew that he wouldn’t make me transfer in the middle of high school. We hadn’t talked about the topic for a couple months until he brought it up again right about the time school was about to get out. He informed me that he scheduled an appointment for me to talk with the principal at Holy Family. I immediately freaked out and said I was not going to Holy Family but he still made me go to the meeting and said that I should at least see the school before I made my decision. After many nights of contemplating and crying myself to sleep I decided to go to Holy Family. Transferring schools in the middle of high school may have been the hardest thing for me to do; having to make new friends and readjusting to a different curriculum and schedule, but it was the best decision I could have ever made.

I’m one of the few people at my school that has had to experience transferring to a new high school as a junior. When I attended my first day of school at Holy Family I didn’t know what to expect. My mind kept racing thinking about finding all my classes, making new friends, and wondering if people would like me. To be honest I hate uncomfortable situations, typically I would just sit there and be quiet. But this was different for me. I thought that now that I’m in a place where no one knows me, I can be whoever I want to be. Since I had to go to this school now, I didn’t want to go through my last two years of high school without any friends so I decided to join the schools’ soccer and track teams to try to meet more people. I was even voted team captain of my soccer team! I also started to hangout with some of the people I knew from my soccer team and they introduced me to some of their friends.

The experience of transferring schools has positively affected my life in a dramatic way. I must admit that I didn’t want to go to Holy Family at first but now I am so glad that I did. Transferring schools has shaped me into a more outgoing person and a much harder worker. This school has pushed me to achieve more than I could have imagined. The skills that I have gained by attending Holy Family will help me throughout my life. I will have to use these skills in the next couple of years while I try to further my education by going to college. I hope that the reader of this essay will think about the story I have just told you and will make the decision that they think is best.