This semester provided not just a lot of lessons for me but also a lot of memories. Me being a new student as well as it being my senior year of high school made it so much more unique but also supper fun at the same time. I learned so many lessons that I couldn’t pick just one so here are my favorite two lessons from this first semester.
- How to adjust to an environment.
My first semester at Naperville North was slightly overwhelming in some aspects and that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. I really enjoyed my first semester here, but boy did I have a lot going on. The transition for me as an athlete switching teams as well as the transition for me as a student moving to a new district where I didn’t know that many people was a lot to come at me all at once. Showing up to a brand new school and playing a football game the next week was not easy. On top of that, the culture shift from Waubonsie Valley to Naperville North seemed to be a lot more dramatic than I thought it would be. That, combined with living in a new neighborhood was just all a bunch of stuff that came at me really quickly. However, what I learned through this process taught me a lot and prepared me for when I go off to college in less than a year. The lesson I learned is to try to have fun in everything you do. I was able to make some of the best memories and moments of my life in this first semester just because whenever I set out to do something I tried to have as much fun as possible. Now that’s not to say that there weren’t moments where it was hard to have fun. There were times where I just was not happy to be at Naperville North and that’s no knock on Naperville North as a school. I will be the first one to tell you that the way that I was accepted by everyone here from my football teammates and coaches, to the teachers and students was remarkable. The people at this school made the transition a lot easier than it would be at most schools. However a new environment isn’t always the most exciting thing possible for a high school kid. My point in saying that is I think that mindset is very crucial. I believe that coming to school looking for a reason to be happy and coming to school looking for a reason to be sad will give you two different results on average. Whether I was happy to come to school on a certain day or not I would always look for a reason to be happy throughout the day and that’s a lesson I will carry with me not just throughout school but throughout the rest of my life.
- Don’t ever get too high or too low
The second lesson I learned is similar to the first one. In the way that it also has to do with how you carry yourself. That lesson is to never get too high and also never get too low on yourself. Throughout this semester I have experienced a lot of moments where I wanted to jump on the table and scream at the top of my lungs in celebration. I had other moments where I had wanted to just go to sleep and not say a single word to anybody. However Coach Drendel really instilled in me that the most important play is always “the next one”. That’s something I apply to everything in life now. Don’t dwell on the things in the past that you can’t control, instead focus on the stuff in the future that you can control. So moving forward I now know to not stress about things in the past if there is nothing I can no longer do about it. Most people will have enough time and opportunities in the future to right their wrongs. As a human you should always be looking forward and be prepared to right that wrong if given the opportunity.