Jenny's E-Portfolio

     In recent years, I would always like to think of AdVENTURE as a preparation of high school. A ‘pre-high school.’ At first, it was like a small joke to myself. But I realized that this is, honestly, freakishly true in so many ways, that it’s actually scaring me. Because yes, you will cringe when you think about memories of your days at school. For example, I cringe so badly whenever I think about the fact that I stared at one classmate for so long during the state test, that I didn’t realize that I was way behind on the test. And the reason why you may ask? Because I realized that his eyes were not blue, so I tried to examine his eyes. Fortunately, he did not notice, which was beneficial, on my part. As for my test scores...well let’s just say I did not do as great I thought I would. Fortunately for you, you will have me (your AdVENTURE expert) to help you avoid these types of memories. Unfortunately for me, I had to go through the most awkward moments in order to learn these things. So let’s get started.

 

Rule 1: Don’t let your emotions get in the way of your school work. Yes, in our school work, we sometimes feel the need to include emotion in order to appeal to people in that specific way. But what I am talking about is that when you enter the classroom, all your thoughts of drama should go away. Sounds simple, but this is actually something that is pretty hard to do. Trust me, I am practically the queen of sensitivity. I’ll be honest with you, one time, my friend made a joke, which I took the wrong way. So I spent half of my class period attempting to write a letter of apology. Only to realize she was joking, so I scrapped it, and no one ever knew, until now. That probably was not the best thing that I did for my class. So avoid it. Whatever you want to say to your friends, that is not related to school, take it out the door, and when you get out of class, you can then inquire.

 

Rule 2: Try and be excited for school. I admit, I loved school so much at a point, that I practically screamed for joy when Christmas break was over. But this year, something changed in me, maybe school took away my time to watch cute and adorable KDramas, so I was in a funk. School didn’t excite me anymore. But it is your last year. Might as well spend it and leave yourself out in a bang. School still doesn’t excite me as it would, but think of it like this: While you are doing fun projects (that you might not like) in AdVENTURE, all your Herman students are rotting away writing in worksheets. So appreciate what you got. For sure you are not getting it in high school (sorry to keep your hopes down). Be happy with your projects, and the fact that you have less homework. Stay on the positive side.

 

Rule 3: Don’t be surprised if the teachers expect a lot from you. As an eighth grader, you are the oldest people in the AdVENTURE community. The fifth graders (hopefully) look up to you! (But when I was in fifth grade, I didn’t really pay much attention to the eighth graders). In a place where you are the oldest, you are expected to do better. Because you are more experienced. Yes, this might be overwhelming, or just annoying. But what do you expect. If you were the boss at a company, who would set higher expectations for? The person who has worked with you for years? Or the newbie who just came in? Exactly. Pick the person that has worked for years. So yes, it may be annoying, but you need to understand that you are old now, so people expect more from you.

​

     Now these are my top three rules. But talking from experience, maybe I should tell you some aspects of my experience. For instance, the easiest part of AdVENTURE. There is none (just kidding...sort of). Honestly, I wouldn’t say there was anything easy. All the assignments that I do, I always put my effort and my heart into them, and that isn’t easy. Maybe something that was fun and sort of relaxing to do was small class activities. You might have those a lot in science (depending on your teacher) and history. They were very fun and helped you learn more. But speaking of effort, you should always try to work hard in everything you do. It is better that you get a bad grade and you think, ‘I tried as hard as I could.’ Rather than get a bad grade and think, ‘I didn’t try hard, I should’ve done better.’ Because in AdVENTURE, nothing is easy, you have to work hard, and try to have fun at the same time, and that is hard!

 

     One of the things that was the hardest for me was trying to interact with people. I am not the best person at talking to others, so I will admit sometimes it was really hard to talk to my classmates or confront them about issues that we have had. This isn’t really related to studying at AdVENTURE, but these are people that I have spent four years with, and it still is hard for me to talk to them sometimes because I do care about their opinion, and I consider whether saying what I want to say is worth it or not. So to avoid that, you should try to be comfortable with your classmates and always talk to new people. Don’t be like me and be too scared. Since you did spend a little less than four years with them, you might as well get to know them.

 

     Finally the last thing to talk about are the teachers. I do wish a few things of the teachers, and that is perfectly fine. I wish the teachers knew that some students don’t really try to disrespect them, it is just that some are very more outspoken than expected. For this year, I do wish things got a little more exciting, the way of learning was not as interactive as I thought it would be, and that was a little disappointing. Despite this, the teachers just want you to do a good job and school and hopefully learn something, so might as well put up with your school days with them. It is the least you could do since they are teaching you. Eighth grade for me was so many things, fun, crazy, awesome, emotional (emphasis on the emotional), but it gives you a sense of ‘Wow, I came this far,’ feeling. So you know what? Leave your last year feeling awesome. Because chances are, your classes will never be like AdVENTURE once you leave. If you take that as a good thing or bad thing, I leave it up to you. But for me, it is a good thing. Have fun.