Becoming One by Jaqueline

Becoming One by Jaqueline - November 2019 Scholarship Essay

What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word “High School?” You may think of friends, clubs, your favorite teachers. Every high school movie without a doubt will portray “popular” and “not popular” kids as almost being different types of humans. iO Tillett Wright put it this way: “We are neurologically hardwired to seek out people like ourselves. We start forming cliques as soon as we're old enough to know what acceptance feels like. We bond together based on anything that we can - music preference, race, gender, the block that we grew up on.” At the high school level, it is easy to notice people similar to you and dismiss those with distinct preferences.
I attended a high school of 100 students or less per grade level. Despite our already small school I still noticed the building of cliques although in a smaller scale. I also had three friends who I had known throughout middle school. The problem with cliques is that they normally limit new friends. We were a little different. We enjoyed meeting new people and talking to everyone.
One of my new friends was Carmen, I met her in biology class when Jasmine, my best friend, noticed her sneakers and we told her how nice they were. Carmen had problems at home. After school she would consume drugs with a separate group of friends that had similar circumstances as her . We became friends because I started helping her with her math homework. She made me aware of her circumstances and her repeated suicide attempts. Little by little I helped open her to new friends with a more positive out look on life and she stopped consuming drugs. Together we made plans for our education and service projects. One day I came into the cafeteria where my friends were at, but I felt a distinct impression to talk to another girl, Laura. Previously I had already shown Laura that I was a friend to her by also offering my help in homework or simply sharing a joke with her in the morning if we happen to walk into school together.
As I sat next to Laura, she told me of her family circumstance and how she felt ostracized by her family. She showed me her scars and began to cry. Carmen was sitting with the group of friends I was originally going to sit with. She was already aware of what Laura was going through. She came to sit with us and together we listened to Laura. Then Carmen proposed Laura to do the Butterfly Remembrance. Carmen drew butterflies on Laura’s arms covering her scars and asked her to write with in the butterflies the names of people who loved her. She wrote my name first, followed my Carmen and then her mother and sister’s names. After that day we became an emotional support for Laura always reaching out to her when she made us aware of when she felt depressed.
This experience motivated us to become even more aware of the people around us. We started by talking to everyone, noticing people who seemed sad or depressed and being there to comfort them. We would introduce each other to new friends on the daily and our new friends would become each other’s friends. We would talk of similar classes or anything to slowly start decreasing the non-existing differences that our minds create at times.
By our senior year we noticed no cliques not even across grade level. During our senior award ceremony my friend Cindy and I received medals for being the kindest students. As a service project we tutored elementary school children twice a week and consistently invited other class member or younger students to help us. As a result of the service project Cindy, Carmen, Yesenia, Alexandra, Odalys, Isabel and I received awards for being the most influential service project.
Our goal during high school was to help others see that they are more alike than they thought. I went from having three best friends to 20 and counting. Each person has an amazing value and my favorite friendship starter is to hear about someone else’s passions even if I initially know nothing about the subject. I love to see how people light up when they speak of something they love. As a team we helped many see the bursting light of others and within themselves. Together we impacted our student body by helping it become one.