August 18th 2006; the beginning of my new life, the beginning of the fall of a roller coaster, the day I would meet the people that would shape the coming years of my life, the day this all began, my first day of high school. If there is one thing I’ve learned about high school it’s that high school is nothing like it is on television. Television warns you about bullies, peer pressure and mean teachers but really I’ve found the only thing you have to fear is yourself. Television shows almost always portray the first day of school as a stressful event that seems to last forever until you eventually find that one person you’ll be best friends with forever. The fact is, for me this didn’t happen. When reality sank in I was crushed. That’s not a fun feeling, the world suddenly becoming clear and realizing you won’t get things handed to you. I was warned my entire middle school career about people who messed up their freshman year and had to work extremely hard to get out of it, I’m sure there even are numerous television shows about it and within a few months I had joined that statistic. However, by the end of the episode the character worked harder and caught up, it’s not that easy. February 24th 2008; the new beginning I needed, the beginning of the climb back up the roller coaster track, the day I woke up and changed my high school career around. This wasn’t something they taught on television shows, they taught about the ah ha moment but not the trudge up, staring down the hole you’ve made and despite the doubt and fear of the definite hard work, continuing anyway. Looking back there is nothing I regret more than my freshman year of high school. While I am extremely proud of where I am now I can’t help but to wonder where I would be now without my freshman year. Freshman year I couldn’t manage school but now I am juggling school, a job, sports, volunteering and more while doing better than ever. The most important lessons learned in high school aren’t learned through text books. Even though I tremendously regret that year I learned my greatest lesson ever through the mistakes I made that year and how I overcame them. May 2010; the day all my hard work pays off, the moment the roller coaster enters the station and the sweaty passengers take a deep breath and look around and the end of my high school career.