I've been at Central for all four years. I was born in West Warwick, not too far away, but I've lived in Providence since I was four. I started in Providence schools in kindergarten, and I'll finish high school next year. My family situation is very mixed up. I live with my stepfather and my mother; we all get along pretty well. The situation between my mother and my actual father was a little rough, but now my mother is doing much better. She's gone through a lot. I have four brothers—two of them are stepbrothers, one half-brother, and one full brother. I'm the only girl, which means that my mom and I are pretty close and I get spoiled. It was a little confusing when I was younger, but it's gotten a lot easier and we're a more comfortable family now.
Over the past few years at Central, I've become a lot more open. I really like speaking in front of crowds, though I used to be very shy. I'm willing to try a lot of new experiences now. And I think I'm more bubbly, I'm nicer to be around. I think a lot of it has to do with my boyfriend who I started dating freshman year. He was older than me—he kind of pulled me out and showed me the world that I hadn't seen before. He showed me new experiences, older situations that I'd never known. He made me more comfortable, made me realize that I didn't need to be shy, that I could really become my own person. There's so much out there that I never even realized.
I've accomplished a lot academically at Central. I've been nominated for a lot of scholarships and honors societies because of my grades. I've also played sports. I've been nominated for the Congressional Student Leadership Committee for 2005-06, and the Youth Leadership Summit, which meets over the summer. I started cheerleading when I was a freshman, but I had some small issues with my parents that made me not want to pursue it. I didn't even bother going back sophomore year. I regret not going back to it. But this year I rejoined the team and now I'm a captain. It's a little hard because I have to catch up and there are some things that I forgot; it's frustrating to have to learn from someone else when you were the teacher for a long time.
I have some tough classes this year, like Chemistry and Pre-Calculus. It's not that the lessons are that difficult, but the way that they're taught to us can be pretty hard sometimes, or confusing. Outside of school, getting a job this year has really been a challenge. It stresses me out because I have big plans for my future and I feel like I need to start somewhere eventually. I haven't been able to get a job and it makes me worry that my dreams are outrageous or out of my grasp. I'm so desperate that I'm willing to do anything: fast food, department stores, anything. I've had a couple jobs before. I was an office assistant one summer and I worked in a clothing store for another summer. I'm not trying to be too picky. It's all a function of knowing someone—if you know someone at a place it's easy to get a job there. But just walking in on your own it seems like they don't even look at you.
College is definitely in my sights. My parents want to me to stay in the state, which is fine for me. I really want to be a teacher and Rhode Island College has a great program. But I also have this dire need to travel. I'd love to go to Europe, maybe Oxford or something. It would be great to go to a school that allowed me to travel outside of the country, maybe to study History or Art or something. I've traveled all over the east coast before, but never outside of the country.
If I could give advice to other students here it would be to try your hardest. I think a lot of people don't try their best because they think it's too hard or because they're scared, or stressed. But if people just try their hardest, if they put their best foot forward and do their best, then I think they can be successful, no matter what. As far as teachers go, I'd tell them to alter their teaching styles to match the ways different students learn. A lot of teachers just teach one way, so some students don't understand the lessons and don't know how to ask the teachers questions. I'd tell teachers to be more understanding of different learning styles in their classrooms, to listen more to their students if they don't understand what's happening.
My dreams and the goals that I've set for myself are what keep me motivated. I want to travel, I want to go to college, and that's what keeps me driven to do well. I'm going to do those things, and no one's going to stop me. I look at something that I want for myself, and I say that I'm going to do everything I need to accomplish that.
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