Amongst the Crowd
Welcome to the third post of the School Series: High School Edition. If you have not already, go and check out the first part - “In the Bubble” here and the second part - “Easy Does It” right here. With schools across the country starting back up, this is a great opportunity to share advice, lessons, adventures, all the sorts from my experience in school. School is important after all. Not only from the classes we take to the socialization aspect but also from the discipline of hard work to figuring out who we are and who we want to become.
In today’s world, life is ever-evolving. From self driving cars to artificial intelligence to Gen Z sprucing up the workplace. Today’s existence screams chaotic energy.
Heading into my junior year (11th grade), I made a spontaneous, rash decision. Instead of joining the Cross-Country team once again, I decided to do swimming. For some context, growing up I was a competitive swimmer. I loved spending all of my time swimming and competing. I enjoyed swim meets even though they were long and strenuous. I loved the team we had. Everyone was fun, carefree, and helpful. Sure we were competitive with one another and other teams but it is kind of expected. Both Cross-Country and Swimming are individualized, team sports. Individually you have to do well to help the team out. Anywho, I had missed swimming so much because as I entered high school I had to chose between one of the other. And I loved both sports for similar reasons.
When I finally made the decision to no longer compete competitively at the club level outside of school for swimming, it was difficult. I felt as though I lost a piece of myself that day. But I realized that in order to meet people at my high school, I needed to get involved at my school. So that’s what I did. As for the reason, I chose Cross-Country Team over Swimming, I wanted to try something new. I figured if it didn’t work out, I could go back to swimming at any point. Luckily, it all worked out. In the event, that you are ever put in the situation between choosing between your favorite sports, activities, clubs, or whatever fit may be, follow your heart.
Back to Junior year, I made the decision to follow my heart and join the swim team. Now similar to the XC team, the swim team also joins forces with the rival school across town to make one unified team. However, because our rival school’s pool had proper measurements, we’d use their pool. But because my junior year of high school had chaotic energy, it only made sense that their pool would need to be fixed. This meant that students from both rival schools that would make one team is now having to practice at another high school in our district in the next town over.
On the first day of practice swimming in the next town over, I accidentally locked my keys in my car. So, once practice ended I have to find a teammate that would not only drive me to my house to pick up my extra key, they would then have to bring me back to the next town over. Luckily, they were sweet and did so without a problem. I was grateful.
The lesson here is that we all make mistakes. Some big, some small. Just because you made a mistake doesn’t mean you aren’t qualified, that you aren’t enough, you are human. Remind yourself that everything will be okay. Take a deep breath if you need. Then, pick yourself back up and carry on.
Now as the swim season continued on, things were going great. We were all doing well in our events, we were having fun. All was good. That was until one day at practice when I dove in from the block. As I came up to swim, I felt pain in my shoulder immediately. After going to the doctor, I learned I had shoulder tendonitis from repeated overhead motions. The doctor provided me with some exercises to strengthen my shoulder. However, I was young and dumb. I couldn’t be bothered. Even way after the season ended, I still experienced pain and discomfort any time that I could try to left my arm above my head. So, eventually I started to build up strength in my shoulder. My injury lasted almost until I graduated high school (nearly 1.5 years).
My advice is to listen to your doctor, physical therapist, chiropractor, or whoever. Do the stretching or exercises they recommend. The sooner you begin, hopefully the faster you heal. But don’t over do it either.
During the school year, I took AP US History, Physics, and another hard clsss (I don’t remember which). Anyway, when I asked the superintendent at the time to drop AP US History, she wouldn’t let me drop it. Eventually after persuading the superintendent or counselor, I was able to finally drop it. I was struggling to keep up with physics and the other class alone.
My suggestion is to be careful of the classes you select. Specifically, the difficulty of each class. Remember to balance your classes and extra circular activities.
One of the Student Government volunteer opportunities I participated in was Feed My Starving Children (FMSC). It was a unique experience. I went with a group of students who also signed up. It was during the week at night for a couple hours. When we showed up, we were split into group of 4-5 students each. Then, we decided amongst our group who was going to do such role. One person opened the bag, two people filled the bags, and a person weighed a bag. Amongst the crowd, we tried to win by getting the most bags of food filled. Although we didn’t accomplish our goal as another one of the groups succeeded, all the groups combined filled X amount of boxes to feed children overseas. It was one of my favorite volunteering opportunities.
If you get the chance to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children, I strongly recommend it. It’s such a unique concept for volunteering. It doesn’t feel like work.
Another volunteering experience I had in 11th grade was volunteering at a Soup Kitchen in Chicago. I was unsure of what it might entail. My impression of homeless people or people staying at shelters came from television shows, what other people told me. I was scared to volunteer at the Soup Kitchen. I thought everyone would be mean and aggressive. After confiding in my dad, he told me otherwise and suggested I stick to it. I went. It was a great experience. I met plenty of amazing people, both other volunteers and those we fed at the Soup Kitchen. I got to know some of the people well. They shared their story, their perspective, and their experiences. It was such a great learning opportunity and it taught me more than I ever thought possible. It also changed my mindset and I continued to volunteer at Soup Kitchen’s over the years.
If you ever find yourself hesitant to try something new, I recommend giving it a go. You might have the best time of your life. You might learn something new.
All in all, Junior year was an interesting year. It was full of spontaneous decisions and good times. I learned a few things particularly when it came to injuries. But most of all, I learned how much I enjoyed volunteering in the community.
How was 11th grade for you? Did we have similar or differing experiences? Comment down below or connect with me on socials. You can find me on the Facebook page “Inspiring Those Who Inspire You” or my Instagram @Inspire.Those.Who.Inspire.You.
As a signature of this blog, I like to end each post with a suggestion to “Pass on kindness”. There is no such time as the present to “Inspire Those Who Inspire You”. Acts of kindness, no matter how big of small, can have a direct, positive impact on someone else. Go out there today and change someone’s life for the better.
