No Fear by Audrey

No Fear by Audrey - November 2014 Scholarship Essay

One thing I was terrified of going into high school was bullying. Regardless of the fact that I had never been a victim of bullying in years prior, as an 8th grader I was very susceptible to the influences of media. The impressionable eyes of a middle school student soak up everything that flashes across the screen, retaining the information, and therefore becoming subjected to the media's idea of a stereotypical high school. And what is high school without a commonplace antagonist- a bully? Every TV show and movie that I can recall placed in the scene of a high school never failed to have a character representing the school bully.

This fear ran rampant through my mind every time starting high school was mentioned. I had this great vision of making my way down the hallway on the first day of school, tossed about by the heinous hands of seniors, who in my mind were terrible, boorish, and raucous beasts. One wrong step would place me in the path of one of the monsters, who would no doubt haul me over its shoulder to dump me in the 'freshman pond' on a frigid day (come to find out years later, the freshman pond was nothing more than an empty threat, seeing as how it is completely nonexistent). However, much to my surprise, the first day of school was fairly kind, and the insidious hisses of 'out of the way, freshman' that I had envisioned were expressed, but not in the menacing manner I had imagined. Every now and then, a slight knock of the shoulder, followed by the teasing but endearing term 'little freshman' would occur, but never did I feel attacked or threatened.

So, my advice to you: no fear. Do not let the fear of the unknown turn your dreams into nightmares. Whether or not your fear is a bully, don't let it eat you up. High school is what you make of it, so start out with a positive attitude, stay on top of your homework, and make new friends! Some of my dearest friends as a freshman were seniors in high school, and you can learn a lot by making friends with upperclassmen.