Personally, I feel like schools limit the creativity of their students. This is through no fault of the teachers, or any school individually, but I place my blame on the dreaded ~Common Core~.

Although it has been repeated countless times by countless people, those who have never taught a day in their life should not have the right to tell our teachers how to do their jobs, but still, we find the children of today trapped in a rigorous curriculum that they struggle to keep up with. This, in turn, leads to kids not being kids, and consequently not learning on their own, which is overall detrimental to their development.

I only caught the tail end of Common Core with it being enacted while I was in middle school, but it has had its effects on me as a person.

In elementary school, I was an avid reader, and one of my favorite fun facts to share about myself is that I read the first Harry Potter book before I had turned five years old, in my first few months of kindergarten. I had maintained a love of reading from a very early age, having my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins reading to me my entire life. They taught me how to become consumed by a story, and how to make reading my favorite activity.

This continued throughout my elementary school years and into middle school until my workload became too much to handle on top of my rigorous reading schedule. Throughout middle and high school, it became tougher and tougher to find time to read, with AP courses, cheerleading practices, play rehearsals, band, and trying to figure out how to have a social life (whatever that is). I became delinquent in my reading since I went long periods of time without indulging in a book. Meanwhile, technology began to rise and stigmas began to form, and no one was ever seen with a physical book.

I rediscovered reading only this past summer, with Cassandra Clare's books (which are absolutely amazing — I highly recommend) and the wonderful world of BookTube that introduced me to them. In the year 2017, I have read almost thirty books, and this summer alone I finished fifteen.

I feel welcomed back to the book world with open arms, despite my mom's joke that I am "adorkable." Reading has drawn me closer to my friends; we frequently visit the Strand bookstore in Manhattan and offer recommendations. Reading is where I am most at home.