Preparations for Change

Garnet Smith

One Wednesday morning all 8th graders from Mountain Middle School piled onto a
bus destined for Animas High. The day started out normally, however this would be
one of the most transformative days of my life. Groups dispersed into classrooms
and a question was proposed to us as a four corners style activity, Would you rate
your educational experience as great? Students started to shuffle to corners based
on their beliefs. I found I was the only one in the class in the Strongly Agree
corner. I explained my point of view, Mountain has an environment that produces a
higher skill level of work, and refinement pushes us to review what we have created
to make it better.
My words of praise fell on deaf ears. Later that day I was asked to leave Mountain
over a misunderstanding. Another student misconstrued a joking retort I made to
her question and complained to the principal. Instead of facilitating a safe way for
both parties to talk, they took the approach of expelling me. I was shocked and
crushed, the very school that I had been defending, rejected me.
I consulted with the La Plata Youth Services and with the help of my counselor, Scott
Smith, we created a schedule that allowed me to finish my 8th grade studies. I
applied for an internship to learn valuable real world skills and experience. Getting
thrown out of school and into an internship at Connecting Point was very
discombobulating, to say the least. After eight years of traditional and project based
education, I had become used to this style of learning. My struggle to fit into a new
work environment stunted my ability to be helpful at my internship.
I finally found my place by releasing my attachment to my previous learning style.
This change was extremely important to find success in my internship at Connecting
Point. Holding on to my past habits of learning only detracted from my ability to
contribute in the new environment. In the end, I made a large profound impact on
the employees and boss at my internship, by observing my surroundings to search
for tasks without being asked.
I believe that embracing change is the best way to continually experience valuable
growth. I gained valuable insight by watching myself grow in this profound way. I
have become more easily detached from emotional, physical, mental, and material
situations. When change occurs in my life, I accept it as an opportunity for growth.
Through this experience, I have learned to strive for growth. I am now more
prepared and tolerant of inevitable changes and the resulting consequences. The
experience that I gained from embracing change is astronomically more important
than my attachment to Mountain Middle School and the learning style it taught me.
If I had not embraced growth I would have missed the opportunity to capitalize on
my unfortunate situation. The treatment I received from my internship was a fresh
welcomed relief from that of Mountain.