I'm not entirely sure what happened. I used to be a very good student, a nerd even. But starting in 7th grade (which is apparently the grade where students should begin thinking about college) I started to slip. I could very easily blame the fact of my academic meltdown on having just moved to a new and incredibly boring town, or my severe depression which emerged at 12 and climaxed at 16. But whatever the reason, I must accept the fact that I screwed up. And by the time I was in high school my grades were even worse. I had once been an accelerated reader in Honors classes but now I found myself failing regular core classes, desperately wishing I could relive the past to make up for my mistakes. My senior year was a mad dash to shape my grades into something presentable to a college, any college. Despite my 9-11th grade sufferings I did manage to graduate on time but did so with a pitiful 2.89 GPA. Some might call it respectable but that's nowhere near good enough for me.
I know that I won't be able to actually retake high school and get a second diploma even though I desperately wish I could, so I'm going to try a little experiment. This blog is my attempt to rewrite the last 10 academic years of my life. I'm starting with the 7th grade, the year things started to get icky.
These are my ultimate goals:
- To see if there is a way to take AP exams in certain classes. (They don't have to count, I just want to know how well I could do.)
- To finally learn proper study skills. I was an excellent test-taker despite being a notorious procrastinator. Hopefully I will be able to learn to avoid the stress of cramming.
- Finally take the SAT/ACT. Yes I did manage to get into college without them, but it wasn't specifically speaking a "real" school. Real in this case meaning dorms, Bachelor's degrees, student life activities, maybe even a sports team.
- Get into a "real" school's Anthropology/Archaeology program. Nothing interests me more than history and people, and the history of people.
- To prove that anyone can get a second chance. I'm a firm believer in second chances. I know that a major part of life is making mistakes and learning from them. But I really wish I could have a reset button.
- Research the American education system and see where there is room for improvement, and of course, find a way to improve it.
- To experiment. I love the idea of being able to look at another aspect of a life, an alternate reality, if you will, to see how one's life could turn out if different choices were made.
- To prove to myself that I can do this. I could have the life I wanted if I make better decisions. My true intention is that one day when I have children, I can make sure they don't make the mistakes I did. As I said earlier, life is about learning from your mistakes and passing on what you've learned to future generations.
- To turn these extensive life-altering experiences into a book.
These next few years are going to be a wild ride. I hope I'm ready for it.
