I am the product of four long years of Norwalk High School. Thank you to Norwalk High for allowing me to not only learn about myself but other people as well. I hated my four years at Norwalk High School; mainly the constant interruptions of the kids who did not want to be there asking dumb questions. The only time I found salience was when I took honors and AP classes. I even hated it so much that the day of graduation I spat on our seal in the front of the main office. Even though I do not have those rude interruptions that I did when I was younger I do miss them.

Many people ask me why i want to go back to my high school to teach if i hated it so much. This is to tell you why.

I was told by many people my senior year how much I would miss high school. I laughed at them because at that time it seemed that those four years would be the worst four years of my life and not just because of my goth haircut.

Now going to a Catholic liberal arts college I have released how truly fortunate i was to have the four years at Norwalk High.

As I look around my campus at Saint Anselm College I noticed that there is no diversity. I was fortunate to have a mixture of all kinds of different people and I miss that. Although we do have a muti-cultural center it is just not the same. One of my best friends from home is a first born, American citizen who is also the first person in her family to go to college. I do not think that is common at my college. When I ran track in my high school the team was not only comprised of one race, or one gender, but a multitude of cultures and races. In fact most of my friends during high school were not even the same race.

Also, when I was a senior in high school my soccer team made it to the state championship. It had to be postponed because three members of the team were getting their citizenship that day. Also something else not common.

I learned about real world problems. I will admit that I grew up in a some what well-off neighborhood in Norwalk and because schools were based on where you lived I lived a pretty sheltered life until I got to Norwalk High. It was then I learned about the real world.

I understood how truly fortunate I was to have a house and two parents who actually cared about me. I saw how some people just did not get anything handed to them. Going to my high school allowed me to see all three sides of the economic spectrum. Those that are poor, those that are middle class, and those that are really well off.

I saw things in a sense for what they really were. I understood how good I really had it. Although I was not given an opportunity to go on missions to help those who need it, I believe my school did not offer them because most of us did not need to understand the impact of poverty, or a natural disaster. This was because most of us already understood it first hand by going to the local food bank or volunteering at the homeless shelter.

I learned not to judge a person based on what they looked liked. I had many friends throughout high school that were, your stereotypical jocks, nerds, geeks, music people, and any other stereotypical groups. From these I met some of the best people those four years and although I really never talk to them they were at the time, some of my best friends.

As I look into the eyes of the current students at Norwalk High I cannot help but be jealous of them they do not realize what a important experience that will be. Going to that school made me the person I am today and I would not change it. I I wish I could tell 9th grade me how much it would be an influence in my life.