My Personal History: Elementary through High School

My Personal History

                In my family history class, we are required to write a paper on a section of our life’s history.  I have decided to start with writing about my elementary school years and then progress up to my high school years because that is what I mostly remember.  I also think it would be a great charm to have in the later years of my life to go back and read.

 When I was six years old, I started kindergarten. I was so excited to start and be able to make new friends but also I was nervous. My teacher was Mrs. Hansen and I absolutely loved her. My kindergarten class started in the morning and ended just after lunch. I remember we would stand up every day and learn the pledge of allegiance and the importance of it. I also remember every day at recess we would get treats just before we started running to the playground. My favorite treats were the Oreo’s. About halfway through the year something happened to me that made my teacher very concerned about me. We were all out at recess just releasing our energy when all of a sudden these two boys, Holden Price and Cody Hess, were chasing me. I was running for my dear life and I couldn't figure out why they were chasing me! I eventually had to stop to catch my breath when all of a sudden they both came up and kissed me on the cheek! After that, I didn’t say a word to anyone because, after all, boys had cooties and what they did to me was a horrible thing. A few days later, Mrs. Hansen sent a note home to my mom asking to have me write a list of things I like about school and things I don’t necessarily like about it and then wrote that she was able to get me to talk and even smile a little bit. Looking back, I don’t remember being that mad about it, but obviously I was mad enough to make the teacher concerned.

 At 7 years old, I was able to attend 1^st grade which meant I went to school all day just like everybody else. I remember feeling pretty cool about being able to go to the elementary school and being there with all the older kids. My teacher was Mrs. Golsen and she was the best teacher ever! One thing I remember about Mrs. Golsen’s class was the teddy bear. Every weekend, a class member had the privilege of taking home the teddy bear and taking it on an “adventure.” I was so excited when it was time for me to take home the teddy bear. I took it with me to feed the calves every morning and tried so hard not to spill the milk on him. I also remember I would always bring Mrs. Golsen gifts every now and then simply because she was the nicest person I had ever met. She would always send notes home to my parents telling them how good of a student I was and how I was just such an angel.  1^st grade was probably one of my favorite years of school.

  Once I reached 8, I was able to advance to 2^nd grade where I had Mrs. Hawkes. I remember how much I loved her class and learning how to write. She was a super nice teacher but always made sure we were on our best behavior. I remember always hearing kids that were in Mrs. Hess’s class talk about how strict she was about writing and then I was thankful I had Mrs. Hawkes. But now looking back, Mrs. Hess is a great teacher and I absolutely would have loved her.

                In 2000, at 9 years old, I was able to have Ms. Hull for my 3^rd grade teacher. This year is really memorable to me for a few reasons. My first reason is my best friend Whitney Hunt was in the class with me and I was so excited. Ms. Hull even let us sit by each other sometimes, even though it always ended with a fail because we would get in trouble for talking. The second reason is we had to learn cursive and I absolutely hated it. Ms. Hull would always tell us how much we will always use it in high school and college so we needed to learn it very well. I can say now, I have not used it once since then (except to write my name) because technology has grown in education. For my third reason, this was the year 9/11 occurred. I just remember getting to class and Ms. Hull wasn’t there to start right on time like always. All of us kids were a little worried and a little happy that class was late. After about ten minutes, Ms. Hull came into the class room and turned on the television to show us what had happened. I don’t remember thinking it was a big deal but then again I wasn’t very old. All I remember is all of the teachers couldn’t get their eyes off the television and seemed really down all day. I will never forget the year of 2000.

                In 4^th grade, I had the privilege of being in the class of Mrs. Horsley. She was my most favorite teacher ever. Mrs. Horsley was the nicest teacher and always looked out for me. My favorite activity of this year was learning about baby chicks and ducks and being able to hatch them in class. It was such a fun experience learning how they are born and watching them form inside the egg. I got to take home 3 ducks and 2 chicks. We also, as a class, put on a rendezvous for the entire school and city. I remember having tee-pee’s everywhere around the playground with different activities in each of them. One of them we learned about gold nuggets and how they used to mine for them. 4^th grade was easily my favorite year of elementary simply because I had the best teacher ever.

                5^th grade was also a great year. My teacher was Mrs. Hannah; she was amazing. I honestly don’t remember a lot about 5^th grade except I had some kids from the stone school in my class and I thought that was pretty cool. Also, in 4^th and 5^th grade, I had the opportunity to be a peer tutor to the younger kids in the school. That was a great experience being able to help them with their readings and writings.

In elementary, they like to give out awards to students to make them feel accomplished and motivated to be a better student. Throughout my elementary years I was able to receive many awards including: the citizenship award (1999-2000), the presidents education award for outstanding academic achievement with a letter from the president of the United States, George Bush (2003-2004 and 2004-2005), the perfect attendance award (2001-2002 and 2003-2004), the excellent attendance award (2002-2003), the academic excellence award (2002-2003 and 2003-2004), the accelerated reader 100 point club award (2002-2003 and 2003-2004), and the accelerated reader MARS 250 point club award (2003-2004). In 2^nd grade, my grade also put on a Christmas pageant for the community. Out of my whole grade I was chosen to play Mary while Cody Hess was picked to play Joseph.  I was such an honor for me to be able to play Mary and get to hold the “baby Jesus.”

                I would write a lot about middle school but I honestly don’t remember a lot about it. My 6^th grade year started out great! I was the class secretary. Having 7 classes a day was a huge change for me to get used to though. I remember loving my math class and how easy it was. A few weeks into the school year I got really sick with bad stomach pains. There was no food or drink that I was able to keep down because I was throwing up so bad. It seemed like every weekend I was going to doctor appointments to get tests taken only to have them come back negative. I even had to have a scope with a camera on the end of it put down my throat to take pictures of my stomach. They found nothing. I even had to be hospitalized for a few days because I was so dehydrated from not eating or drinking anything for days. The day I got out of the hospital, my family got word that my great uncle Frank passed away in a four-wheeler accident. We attended his funeral and afterwards, I had to go downstairs for something. Of course, because I was so weak from being in the hospital for a few days, I fell down the stairs and hurt my ankle. Back to the hospital we went only to find out that I had fractured my foot and would be on crutches for a while with a cast. This was pretty much my whole 6^th grade year.

                In my 7^th grade year I was voted to be the class secretary again. I don’t remember doing a whole lot for it though. Like I mentioned before, I don’t remember a lot about middle school. In 8^th grade I was voted to be student body secretary. I also remember my 8^th grade year was the year my aunt Tonya and her family moved away from Malad. We were sad to see them go but Uncle Blaine got a job offer in Blackfoot that he couldn’t turn down. In both 7^th and 8^th grade I was able to start playing sports. I played both basketball and volleyball. I remember having early morning practice for basketball and I hated every minute of it.  But I enjoy playing sports and middle school was a great start to my sports career.

                When I started high school I was once again at the bottom of the totem pole. 9^th grade was a pretty good year for me. There isn’t much about 9^th grade that I remember but I was able to play volleyball, basketball, and softball. Volleyball was such a blast and I learned a lot. I remember breaking my nose at the end of the season when I slid into my teammate’s shin leaving a bruise. I had to wear a mask for the rest of the season and absolutely hated it. When softball season came around, I worked as hard as I could to get a varsity spot. I didn’t end up getting it because there were too many seniors that needed to get playing time, but I did get asked to play at district which was an honor because freshman usually don’t get to go. The day of our first district game, I broke my foot in P.E. on a big blow up obstacle course. My parents were in Reno, Nevada with my sister Tori at the time for National BPA for the week and I was home alone with my brother. The doctor in Malad x-rayed my foot and told me that I had just sprained my ankle really bad. So a few days later it was not better at all and actually getting worse. A friend of mine brought me to a foot specialist where we decided my tibia was chipped off and tore all my ligaments and tendons. I was in a cast and crutches for the next 3 months it seemed like and not able to play in district softball. That summer I taught swimming lessons at the swimming pool. The water therapy on my ankle miraculously healed and I was able to play volleyball that fall, my 10^th grade year.

I don’t remember much about the rest of my High School career except how we did in sports and what awards I received. In softball, my team placed first in the district all years except my senior year because we tied and had to flip a coin. At the state tournament in Lewiston, Idaho my 10^th grade year, we took second at place only losing by 1 point. My junior year we took 3^rd place at the Meridian, Idaho state tournament. My senior year, state was in Orofino, Idaho and unfortunately we didn’t place because our pitcher didn’t have the experience we needed to get us farther. It’s crazy how important a pitcher is in softball. I also lettered all four years in softball. I will never forget playing softball with my wonderful team and coach. Because of them, I learned how to play softball but more importantly I learned life lessons that will carry on with me throughout my life. I also played volleyball all four years but only lettered my senior year.

                

 Throughout my high school years, I was able to compete in BPA (Business Professionals of America). I participated for 3 years. My senior year (2011) I was able to be secretary of the club which meant I had a responsibility. I competed in desktop publishing and took 5^th at regionals my junior year. Through the years I also competed in basic office systems & procedures and placed 1^st at regionals; I also competed in advanced word processing skills and took 2^nd place at regionals; then went on to place 2^nd at state which allowed me to advance to nationals that took place at Disneyland.

                Some other awards I received were my food handlers license, my CNA license, and my CPR license. These licenses have and will continue to help me throughout my life. My junior year I received a certificate for being on the junior prom committee which was a lot of fun. My senior year I was voted to be student body historian which also meant I was on the student council. During homecoming, the student body voted me to be homecoming queen which was an honor. I didn’t really feel like I had deserved it, but it was a great blessing to know how many people looked up to me and also reminded me what kind of person I needed to continue to be. A few months later, I was voted again to be Mrs. Mirror. Again, I didn’t feel like I deserved it but felt blessed to know that so many students had looked up to me.