The Experience

My first year at Middle College has been very exciting.  I have witnessed and experienced a lot of great things during my first year here at MCHS.  I have learned so much and I have grown both physically and mentally.  Having spent the whole year here, I have a lot to say. First off, I would like to talk about each of the classes that I have taken.

My first true MCHS experience was AVID, Advancement via Individual Determination.  Honestly, overall I truly dislike AVID.  Having come from Elkhorn where cornel notes were mandatory, I have mastered the note taking system and have even developed my own personal hierarchical system that I prefer much more over the cornel note taking system.  Tutorials as well seem pointless to me.  I often find myself making up questions that I already know because if I don’t understand something I ask for help at the spot.  The questions that I do make up are often debatable or controversial so the people in my tutorial group have learned to hate me.  The 3-inch binders seem more like a burden to me than they are actually worth.  Lugging three inches of empty space is pointless if you clean out your binder weekly like me.  I would much rather use folders for each class that I could fit lightly in my backpack and quickly take out, open up, put away, and continue with my day.  On the other hand, there are a few things about AVID that I have grown to appreciate.  I love Philosophical chairs and other debate like events because I can speak my mind about a topic and have a controlled argument.  Being able to express my position and sometimes persuade others to follow my beliefs gives me a great feeling of fulfillment.

English seems to be MCHS’s high level of expertise.  Although I am interested in the areas of Science and Mathematics, Mrs. Solari has done a great job at keeping my interested in English most of the time.  In our English Class I haven’t learned much I didn’t already know, but I was able to refine my English dramatically.  For example, I am now able to put the things to use in grammar and sentence mechanics.  I now pay more attention to little things such as subject-verb agreement, appositives, tense, punctuation, etc.  Before this year, I could write but there would be little errors here and there.  Reading in Mrs. Solari’s class also seemed enjoyable.  I love doing functional reading in my spare time: I always am wondering how and why things (particularly electronic) things work.  I never have seemed to be able to read a novel straight through without being bored out of my mind.  However, some of the reading we did in class seemed great, such as the Odyssey and Romeo and Juliet.  These stories kept me interested the whole time, unlike many other books that I have (attempted) to read.

Mrs. Dueltgen’s Algebra II class was pretty easy for me.  I am naturally gifted in logic, so if the math seems logical to me I will be able to do it.  Mrs. Dueltgen has a particular teaching style: she tells you how but not necessarily why.  Although I typically tend to need to know why in order for me to use anything to its full extend, I have learned to follow along and then look up any additional information in external sources or try to recreate the process myself.  (Although recreating the process is harder and more time consuming, you never forget it after spending the time for something you could have just Google’d)

Mrs. Langone’s Earth Science class was the most disappointing to me.  As I mentioned above, I love science.  I always want to know why and how things work, and I want to be able to recreate everything from scratch.  Mrs. Langone’s class, however, does not give me any chances to do this.  For one, all of us freshman have already taken Earth Science, so we already know most of the material.  Second, the book is so basic, even my first-grade brother could read and understand it.  Science shouldn’t be simple; if it is worth knowing it should be thoroughly and extensively explained so every aspect is covered.  (If it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing as I love to follow).  In class, we always read straight from the book and spend our time doing pointless lab write-ups that involve more English and common street knowledge than any science.  On a positive note, I can’t wait until college lab-science!

Mr. Anema’s P.E. class is great.  I am not generally a very active person except for in the water, so being able to exercise and have fun with my friends is great.  We play a wide variety of sports from Tennis, Football, Soccer, Water Polo (my favorite), and on.  We generally play modified versions of the game that are never as fun as the full blown games, but this way everyone can play be overall we are more productive in grasping the overall concept of the game.

I think my college experience at Delta has been great.  The college classes seem much more detailed and in depth, exactly what I want and need.  In these classes, I actually learn new things daily.  

I first started out the year finishing up my foreign language requirement, Spanish.  Previously at Elkhorn I took Spanish 1, so I finished up with Spanish 2 with Sra. Rich.  I have always struggled with Spanish but I was able to carry on and pass with a B (the only class I didn’t get an A in )I remember on the first day Sra. Rich only spoke in Spanish and when she called on me I had no idea what she was saying.  From that point I thought that for sure Spanish was going to be impossible, but as time went on and I had Teresa Huang help me out I became more and more sufficient.  As I look back now I am glad I got that out of the way, for that sure was a tough semester.  I know that I will never use Spanish in my life again (and I refuse to learn immigrant’s language – if they came to our land they should learn our language) so I am glad the UC requirement is out of the way.

This semester I took Music 4, Health, and Guidance.  First I would like to talk about Health.  Mr. Scott, our teacher, seems to know this subject really well.  Every day we have a short non-relevant talk about something and how it can relate to our health, and then we sit through a lecture.  The thing about his class is that it is more of a discussion, as we are teaching him as much as he is teaching us.  This method works to me, because he does a lot of teaching and then if we have a question, comment, etc. we can talk about that question and how it relates to everything.  This way we really can get detailed about everything.  After taking his class I have learned that I am in good health, and all six of my dimensions of wellness are more or less balanced.

Music 4 is also an interesting class.  Although I am not interested in becoming a music major, this class is an A-G course and is a great “starter” class for MCHS freshman.  Mr. Garner, our professor, is great at teaching us the world of music.  He is a professional pianist himself, so sometimes we are granted the treat of hearing him play.  I have learned a lot of interesting facts about the history of music, and although I will probably never use them in my life, if I show up on Jeopardy… Music 4 was an easy A for me, and I would recommend it to anyone trying to fulfill their A-G requirements. 

The last and probably most influential class that I took was Guidance with Mrs. Muckenfuss.  I learned so much from taking this class with her.  I learned about my personality from both tests and the class, I learned about some jobs that would be suited to me, and I learned about the things in my life that I value most.  In her class I took and received my scored for both the MBTI and the STRONG tests as well as learned to interpret the results.  I learned (validated) that I am an I/E, S, T, P type person.  This means that I am a “doer”.  I do things rather than watch.  This perfectly describes me.  It means that I don’t like to have a planned path for me, I am more risk taking.  It also validated the way I feel about doing or learning something that seems pointless – ESTP people hate learning or doing pointless things.  In this class I learned so much about myself and others.  Although many people think Guidance is a waste of time, I personally think it was the most interesting (and fun) class I took this entire year.  (And I passed with another A).

If I could choose my educational status, I would like to completely skip High School and jump right into college.  I obviously have the knowledge required.  However, since this is not possible I will have to put up with the last three years of High School.  I can’t wait to get my life on, I can’t wait until I grow up and can lead my own life and direct it to where I want it do go.  Time seems to tick away so slow, yet so quickly (oxymoron for the win).

Socially and Extra-Curricularly, I think MCHS has a long way to go.  I wish MCHS was a bigger and more developed school.  I wish there were more clubs, sports, and everything.  I wish there were more games, dances, and whatnot.  I wish there were more girls to date.  There are a lot of changes I would like to see.  However, I know most (if not all) of these things are impossible to see happen any time soon.  The academic strength surely makes up for this hole, but honestly I still have my doubts if it is worth it.  Honestly, overall I am not particularly happy at Middle College.  The only reason that I am staying is because of the free college units.  Other than that, it doesn’t seem like a high school, more like an education system.  I have heard from my other friends about how great high school is supposed to be because of all the clubs, social events, etc. and often I wonder what it really is like at a traditional high school.  Are college units worth the trade off?  I don’t know.  I am still debating even today whether or not to come back, because there is so much that I feel that I am missing out on.  

Overall I have to say that I have gotten a lot out of Middle College, and if I do return (which at this moment I most likely will) I will be ready to continue my academic growth.  And if I don’t return, I will have this year to look back on what I expect when I do get into a real four-year university.  Either way, I know that I will success in my life, not because of school, my parents, my friends, or anything else other than myself.  I know that I am going to go far, and the reason in me.  I am (already) determined to do something valuable with my life.  What’s powering me, I don’t know.  Maybe it’s my view on life, maybe it’s genetic, maybe it’s something I picked up from a television show, I don’t know but I do know that if I try my hardest I can do anything I want.  In the end, when my life has climaxed, when I have found the cure for cancer, or invented the economical hover-car, or invented my wireless electricity, I will be able to look back at this year and say “Gee, There I was years ago, and look at what that has led me to”.