I was a few months away from graduating elementary school, my emotions were everywhere. During this time, I was more excited because my mom was going to let me shave my legs for the first time on the day of graduation. On the other hand, each day my fear of attending middle school grew. I have an older stepsister and at the time she was going to the middle school my parents wanted me to go to as well. As a child, I did not really understand why my parents wanted me to go to this middle school so badly. When it was time to register to middle schools my parents finally explained why I needed to take this time serious. We have quite a few middle schools in Corona, but they were not the best. My family wanted me to attend Corona Fundamental Intermediate school. At first, I refused because I did not want to go to the same school as my stepsister. Until my parents explained how the other schools in my community consisted of drugs, fights, and unsuccessful students.
I obviously knew I would not be involved in any of those things but the fear of getting peer pressured haunted me. I finally agreed to register for this school and accepted the fact that I would be separated from my best friend. During this time, we did not get a notice back quickly, we actually had to wait and see if we were even acceptable for the raffle. I thought it was so ironic that so many people wanted to attend this school it required a raffle. It was around the same time as graduation when we received a letter in the mail, saying I’ve been enrolled into the raffle. This was still not an acceptance. We were required to attend the raffle a few weeks after my graduation. It was held in the library and this was my first time visiting the school. I did not like it, it was so small, old, and ugly. Surprisingly my dad actually attended this middle school when he was a kid. We found the library and there was already about sixty people. I did not invite my dad because I did not want him to be disappointed if I did not get accepted. My mom and I quickly found a seat as the room began to get even more packed.
There were tons different types of emotions you can just feel all within the library. We patiently waited for about fifteen minutes for the last few people to sign in and find some open seats. I remember it started with the principal and the vice principal introducing themselves then they explained the rules shortly after. This was the moment of truth, this took place roughly about six years ago. Before they even started the raffle, my mom held my hand and they were already sweating. They started the raffle exactly at six just like the letter said. During this session, they were allowed to pick fifty and to be honest I did not even know how many other raffles they have had before me or were going to have. I remember hearing some familiar names of people I went to elementary with but still not my name. an abundant number of names were getting called and I began to start losing hope. It was about 6:45 pm and the principal was about to announce number thirty-seven. That was my moment, loud and clear they said Isabella Gallegos and I remember I felt like I won a million bucks.
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My mom and I did not cry but we were very excited but I think she was more relieved. We could not leave because my mom thought it was rude. As soon as it was over my mom called my grandparents to let them know about the news while I texted my dad that I got accepted. My middle school was from grades seventh and eighth, so I only as there for two years. My friends all attended different schools and in the beginning, I had to make my own friends apart from them. My experience was not great nor horrible, I believe it was just average. I never told my parents this because of how hard they tried to get me into this school, but in my middle school I was still surrounded by drugs and fights. The only difference was the students within my middle school were very successful. I stayed on track and never got involved with any of those bad things.
Theme: I really benefited from all the themes I learned about in class. I will talk about access to education, because I think that relates to my experience in the K-12 education system the most.
Define important concepts: When I think about the access to education and when I was finding sources, the following words sum up “access to education”
Equal, Opportunity, Education system, Access, Future success
Significance: My experiences growing up in my family was not bad at all, my family always made sure the best education was always available to me and my younger siblings. As I grew up I realized it is not like this for every child even though it should be. In elementary school, I attended one of the best in my community. I had such a fun and good experience through kindergarten till sixth. Until it was time for middle school. As I explained this is the first time I encountered not having the access to education. Although there were other middle schools in my area, they were not the best path to a high education. As I also explained before these other middle schools were surrounded by drugs, fights, and located in bad areas. According to the kids from Waiting for Superman, the schools in their areas that they were going to attend if they did not win the raffle, relates to my past issue a lot. The reason the children did not want to attend the school they were close to is because the students that attended the schools were considered “drop-out factories’ and ‘academic sinkholes’.
Conclusion: Access to education is impacted by the lack of funds and well-educated teachers and therefore if the government is clearly not doing anything then as students and parents we need to step up. Education is something everyone as a whole need to put greater value upon
