As the end of senior year approaches, I can’t help but get sentimental. These four years went by in the blink of an eye, and I didn’t appreciate everything as much as I should have in the moment.  

Although there have been times where I have sworn off school forever, the reality is that I love learning. As long as the topic is semi-interesting and there’s not a bunch of pointless busy work, I’m happy to be there. Looking back on my four years at North, there are a few classes that really stuck out to me. 

Here are my top five classes of all time that I’ve taken and why: 

#1 Early Childhood 1 and 2 

This is the only class where I have actually cried when it was over. We run a preschool where kids 2-4 come in. You get to act as a teacher and create/plan lessons for the kids, while also getting to work closely with one preschooler who is your “special child.” You get to work with them closely, and do a case study of them at the end of the year. 

There seriously aren’t words to express my love for this class. As someone who loves working with kids, this class was the highlight of my day every single day. Working with my kid Jay confirmed that I wanted to work in Pediatrics when I’m older, and helped me better understand the social and emotional development of children at this age. From reading books, to making crafts, to going to the zoo— I will always remember the joy this class brought me everyday. 

#2 Health Occupations 

This is a class that I’m currently taking this semester, and I love it. As an only senior class, we get to go on rotations two days a week to Edward Hospital and different diversified sites. From the NICU, to the Naperville Animal Hospital, to mental health facilities, we see it all! 

I love this class because it has given me the opportunity to shadow different professions and occupations that I would never be able to do otherwise. Even though I almost cried and passed out at the Animal Hospital because of seeing them doing surgeries on dogs, the experience was still great! Now I have a clearer idea of what’s for me and what’s  definitely not for me. 

Plus, who doesn’t love to get to leave school for 2 periods? 

#3 AP Lang 

Whenever I tell people that this was one of my favorite classes that I have ever been in, they’re always very surprised. The reality is that even though I want to go into the medical field when I am older, I still love English. The reason I loved this class so much is largely because of my teacher, Mr. Pearson. 

I’m one of the few people who actually read the books that were assigned. In this class, we mainly read different books and articles and then had discussions. There were no assigned questions, we would just talk and see where the conversation would carry us. I loved how Mr. Pearson always emphasized that there is no right answer, because instead of everyone looking analysis on sparknotes and coming into class trying to sound smart, we all collaborated and worked on understanding the deeper meaning of the book together. 

Also, we had a P for passing for the entire semester which I loved because if you don’t have a grade, there’s nothing to worry about! Overall, this class was very stress free and I’m very glad I took it over Honors English 3. 

#4 Sociology 

Okay, this is a class I think everyone needs to take before they graduate. It’s fun, pushes you out of your comfort zone, and helps you get to know the people around you better. The class is all project and discussion based, and you talk about very serious topics such as conformity,  LGBTQ+ history, mental health, serial killers, mob mentality, and our current prison system. 

The biggest highlight for me was my breaking social norms project. Sivaayan and I went to Target, and he pushed me around in cart while I wore a banana costume. Then he dropped me off and I sat by the bananas and talked to people walking by. It was fun, crazy, and truly unforgettable. 

If that doesn’t make this sound like a class you wanna take, I don’t know what will. 

#5 Anatomy and Physiology 

While this class was a lot of work, I absolutely loved it. We got to learn a lot about the human body in pretty great depth. I am absolutely fascinated by the human body and how everything works, so I was always excited to come to this class. 

One thing that made this class really special was all the dissections we did. While learning about anatomy from a textbook is important, seeing it up close and personal is even better. We dissected animals from pigs, to cats, to cow eyes. With this hands on experience, I was able to learn a lot more. 

It was definitely a class worth taking, even though our dead cats that we had started to dissect exploded (Yikes). But that’s a story for another time. 

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I hope you enjoyed hearing about my favorite classes at North! Please let me know in the comments if you also enjoyed these classes or any other classes you were in that you’ll never forget!!  

Did you know that the average 4 year old laughs 300 times a day? Guess how much the average 40 year old laughs every day. 

 

4 times. 

 

Only 4 times????? 

 

Yep, you heard me right. 

So, are we headed for a life full of depression? What other explanation is there? How is it possible that a 4 year old would laugh 75 times more than an adult on a daily basis. 

Well, I’ll tell you how. And spoiler alert— it’s not because we’re all heading for a life of gloom and unhappiness. The reality is that people take life and themselves too seriously. 

Do you know what happens when a young child trips and falls over their own two feet? Sometimes they cry if they get injured, but a large majority of the time they laugh and get back up again before continuing to go on their way.  

As we grow older, we fall victim to constantly being stressed and worrying. We want to be perfect, and we try and reach that high expectation for ourselves by staying driven and goal-orientated. But, in the process we lose that youthfulness of being able to destress and realize that we aren’t perfect. 

One thing I’ve always been proud of is my ability to laugh at myself. It may sound stupid, but I think that too many times people are so scared of failing or of not being absolutely perfect that they miss out. Let me tell you, I have a long list of blonde moments in my life, and instead of trying to look past them or forget them, I keep their memories alive by sharing the stories with my family and friends. 

Lucky for you, I’m feeling particularly close with all of you right now. So please enjoy my top 6, funniest and blondest moments of my 18 years on earth. 

1 Medium Eggs?  

It was 5th grade, the night air was crisp, and my family was enjoying a lovely meal at Denny’s. I ordered pancakes with eggs and sausage, because I have good taste. But, when the waitress asked me how I wanted my eggs I panicked because I had no idea what that meant. So I answered “medium”. With the look she gave me, you would have thought that I had three heads. 

2) Ankle snatcher? 

This next funny story also happened at Denny’s. Guess that restaurant really made me who I am today. 

Anyways, it was Halloween time and my family was eating here yet again. Denny’s had a mini haunted house inside the restaurant. So my siblings and I went in. Terrified, I did the dumbest thing I could do. I stepped away from my brother and I walked by the one covered table in the haunted house. Someone under the table grabbed my ankle, and I screamed and literally almost peed my pants. 

This traumatizing experience has stayed with me to this day, because even as an 18 year old I still jump getting onto my bed so that the monster under my bed won’t grab my ankle. 

3) No dad, Tyler’s not 14 

On a family vacation, my family went to Tennessee and we visited old, historical homes on plantations by doing house tours. It was filled with hours upon hours of the same boring thing “And here is the blood stain of Abraham Lincoln’s cousin’s son’s daughter’s boyfriend’s parent’s nephew who fell one fatal day” It was practically torture, but that’s beyond the point. 

When we went to sign up, my dad went up to pay. There was a huge cut off in payment between 14 and under, and being 15 or older. By being in the lower group, you saved $30. Well my brother had just turned 15 a few months prior to this trip, and when my dad went to pay for the tickets and said that he had three children under 14, I said 

“Wait Dad what do you mean? Tyler isn’t 14, he turned 15 a few months ago, remember?” 

Yikes that was a bad day. Not only were the tours boring as hell, but I also got yelled at like I never have before.  

4)There’s a sign there? 

During middle school, my family went on a vacation to Texas. On one of the days of our trip, we got out of our car and started walking across a field to go to a park or something. I became deep in thought, and I remember seeing a sign in front of me. In my haze, I thought that I could fit under it but I couldn’t so BOINGGGGG my face slapped right into the sign.

No cellphone. No talking to anyone. Nothing to distract me. I just walked into a sign because I was dumb enough to think I could fit under it.

 

5) Butter or Cream cheese? Same Difference. 

My mom makes an amazing baked potato soup in the crockpot, but it takes awhile to cook. During her lunch break one day, she put everything in and after school she asked me to do the last step in and add the cream cheese. 

So I did what she asked, or at least I thought I did. But really, instead of adding a stick of cream cheese I added a stick of butter. The soup was ruined and when my mom realized, she lost it. My sister tried to eat the soup to make it seem like it was okay, but even I couldn’t do that. To this day, my family doesn’t let me live it down. 

But to my defense, butter and cream cheese do kind of look alike. 

6) That’s not actually a word…

I have taken Spanish in school for more than 5 years of my life. And although I am probably the whitest person ever trying to learn it, I thought that I was pretty good. I used to try and speak it as much as I could outside of school, and during that time I started saying a word that I thought was real, but really wasn’t. 

“Amunto” means amount doesn’t it? 

Well, up until Spanish 4 I thought it did. I used it in papers, socratic seminars, and in speaking assessments. And NOBODY, literally NOBODY, had the guts to tell me that what I was saying was completely wrong. Until my Spanish 4 teacher Señora Pitts told me it wasn’t a word after I used it on a test. 

When I found out, I literally laughed so hard I cried. For five years of my life, I made up a Spanish word by taking an English word and adding an “O” to it, and I genuinely tricked myself into believing it was a real word. 

That’s a special kind of stupid. 

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I hope that my experiences made you laugh! Remember, it is important to let loose sometimes and see the hilarity in the world and in ourselves. We all make mistakes, and you can trust me when I tell you that’s it’s better to use them to laugh than to try and pretend they never happened. 

Have any funny stories you would like to share? Please leave them below in the comments. I could always use a few more laughs 🙂