From Niche to Niche by McKenzie

From Niche to Niche by McKenzie - November 2013 Scholarship Essay

"High school will be the best four years of your life." Those are the words that I heard from my mother on the first day of my freshman year. I also heard it from my dad, and my , and my Aunt Sue and my cousin Luke. Everyone was so dead set on these four years as being the "best," but why? I mean, how can you say that being in school will be the best time I'll ever have? I remember thinking, "Well that's a bummer." But as I've traveled through my four years of it, I've began to realize what they all meant. High school isn't just about getting grades, taking home economics, and going to football games; it's all about finding who you truly are through the experiences and memories that will last a life time. In high school, I've been able to find my niche, and realized that the most valuable lesson that I've learned is to take nothing for granted.

Never would I have guessed that within four years, I would change schools and move to a different city with different parents. Not to confuse you, I just went from my mom's to my dad's, but it was still all so new to me. During my sophomore year, I learned of my mother's on-going addiction to alcohol and prescription medication. Struggling with satisfaction and feeling helpless, I reached out to my friends more than ever before, and truly began being a teenager. I was part of the homecoming committee, the choir, went to the movies, football games, you name it, I was there. I was happy. But on May 19, 2011, my world came crashing down. My mom finally hit rock bottom, and my younger brother and I were forced out of my mother's house and into my father's, all in one day.

I finished the school year in Indiana, making 45-minute commutes every morning across the bridge from Louisville just to make it there on time. So, obviously, when it came time to start my junior year, I was in Ballard High school, smack dab in the middle of Louisville. In a school three times the size of my old one, I knew no one but my brother. Scared and intimidated, we walked in with the worst of ideas. What if no one talks to me? What if I get lost? I felt like a freshman all over again, and that same "how is THIS supposed to be the best time of my life?" question began ringing in my head.

However, we pushed through. I realized that sitting around and feeling sorry for myself wasn't going to do anything but make matters worse. So I pushed myself to join the school debate team, where I qualified to compete in the national tournament, and joined school organizations, such as YoungLife, a Christian-based organization, and a group designated to the prevention of teen suicide. My life took a 180 degree turn, and I noticed that I was no longer that girl from Indiana. As a matter of fact, I was nothing like her. But I'm still me, and I was happy again.

Through this experience, I gained many friends, and lost an equal amount. My grades went for a roller coaster ride and my attitude was not always as compatible as my parents hoped it to be. But I also discovered that, even though you think you know what you want or who you are, you never truly do. And through this experience, I've been able to find what makes me happy. Now, as my time in high school is coming to an end, I'm beginning to see high school as if it were a puzzle. Not one of those 20-piece puzzles of puppies, but rather the 500-piece depicting a much too scenic view of a forest that's missing the box. It requires so much time and effort, without any guidance, and after a while, you would probably feel like giving up. That's how I felt about my life. I was that puzzle. But after careful construction and close detail, I'm closer to completion than ever. And I now take my life day by day, learning how to truly appreciate the people I have in my life, because I know just how quickly everything can change.