Failing 9th Grade by Omar Arechiga

When I first got here to Cedar Shoals, well to tell you the truth, I really didn’t care. I didn’t care about my classes, I didn’t care about my grades, and I didn’t care about graduating. Really, I didn’t think that I was going to graduate. I really didn’t want to go to college. I thought that school was stupid; I didn’t think that I could be anything. I thought I new where I was going and that’s all I could do. I had it all planed out. I was going to work at Pilgrims Pride, a chicken processing plant, and that’s the best I could do. I came in my freshman year with all that in mind.

I remember my freshman year like it was yesterday. First block, I had J.R.O.T.C, second I had Lit/Comp 9, third I had pre-algebra, and fourth I had world history. Out of all four classes I only passed two. I remember telling myself that wasn’t so bad. Actually I thought that it was pretty good. My whole 9th grade year, I only passed 5 classes. I knew I wasn’t going to pass the grade, but I thought it was still pretty good. Little did I know that it would come back on me and make my high school career almost impossible.

I was one of the more fortunate ones thanks to my counselor. She took care of me. Every month all my teachers, my parents, and I would meet up after school and talk about how bad I was doing in school. At first I thought it was all stupid, but the more they talked about me, the more I realized how bad I was doing. I knew I could do better but I just didn’t feel like it. After a couple of meetings, I realized that I was letting a lot of people down not just myself. I saw how disappointed my parents and teachers were at me. I decided to show everybody what I was capable of and decided to work as hard as I could to pass all my classes. My second time being a freshman, I only failed one of the eight classes. I did so good that I skipped the 10th grade. My 11th grade year, I passed all the classes, and now my senior year I have passed all my classes, and I am just waiting to graduate this May.

What I learned from this experience is that your freshman year is one of the most, if not the most, important year of your high school career. It is really important that you start your high school career on the right foot because it can make your life a lot easier. Maybe you have heard this a thousand times, but it is very important that you do well your first year because you will regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t.