So, this is a reflective essay I wrote for the Reflections competition this year. It didn’t make it as far in the competition as I wanted it to, but it got passed around to a lot of important people in the school and above, including the principal, assistant principals, administrative assistant, and superintendent of schools. That made me appreciate how amazing it was even though the Reflections judges didn’t think so. I pasted it below, but I’m not going to tell you what it’s about because you’ll see when you read it. The theme was “Let Your Imagination Fly”. It made two teachers cry, so be prepared with tissues because this poignant piece is one of my best by far. So, without further ado, read it and weep. Here it is:
How would you define friendship? In my opinion, it’s all about creating bonds with people. While acquaintances don’t seem to possess such strong, everlasting relationships with each other, best friends do. They love and care for one another, have each other’s backs, and stick together. Unfortunately, in middle school, with friends comes friend groups, or cliques, along with the stress and drama associated with fitting in. Sometimes I get so flustered, anxious, and frustrated that I just need to find an escape route, a place where I can just relax and be myself without feeling the pressures affiliated with being a teenager. And I’m lucky because I have my own, and it’s real rather than imaginary. It’s a place where mental, physical, and emotional issues are addressed with love and care. My safe place, my utopia, is room 119 at Harry B. Thompson Middle School.
I have a passion for helping kids with special needs. Room 119 is a safe, positive, nurturing environment for the kids to engage in learning everyday skills to help them become more intelligent and socially interactive with others. In addition, this room lets me have the time of my life with these students, whether I’m playing Wii, board games, wiffle ball, or just sitting in on a speech session with them. Their teachers are the most loving, caring, kind-hearted, compassionate, and considerate ones I know. They teach the kids valuable things in order to take on their surroundings and the rest of the world. In fact, they’ve inspired me to possibly pursue the career of becoming a special education classroom teacher when I grow up. To me, Let Your Imagination Fly means to let it blossom into something beautiful, and my friendship with the kids in room 119 has come such a long way over the past year. By being in a class with kids with a wide range of disabilities, these students learn to accept both themselves and each other for who they are. I don’t take them for granted or them just because they’re cute. I’m a true friend to them. In fact, the way they act towards each other has even taught me some things about accepting myself for who I am. I have a mild form of cerebral palsy, and before I got tendon releases this summer, I would occasionally break down emotionally. But now I have these guys, so when I get upset, I just stop in their classroom, and their smiling faces always cheer me up. Lending them a helping hand like me is a good way for them to learn to become more capable at interacting with their peers just like typical kids would. The fact that these kids are unique has helped me realize that I’m unique, too, and that’s what makes me and everyone else special. When I’m with these kids, I feel different than when I’m with my other friends. On one hand, I have to deal with the drama and stress of social cliques when I’m with my regular group, but on the other hand, I’m calm, cool, and collected, and my typical teenage issues seem to melt away. My cerebral palsy almost makes it feel as if I’m one of them, but much less severe and very high functioning, so I feel like I’m connected to them more than anyone else. They have had a huge impact on me as a person, and life would be much different without them. In the future, I hope that we all stay best friends and that they continue to teach me valuable things in life even if they don’t know that they’re doing so.
Throughout life, we all experience challenges. Mine happens to mainly be a physical issue, but I’ve managed to deal with it just as well as these kids for the last 13 years. It’s unbelievable to be able to observe the process of these kids learning academics and social skills in order to grow and eventually become capable of doing typical teenage things like learning in classes where people have the intelligence of someone their own age and properly interacting with their peers. In fact, one of my friends in the class is in a wheelchair, and he finally started using a fork to eat during lunch. When he told me, I knew a miracle had just occurred. It’s wonderful that we all love, care for, and cherish one another, and it’s amazing to have the opportunity to work with and hang out with these kids. They light up my world, make everything brighter, and have even taught me a few things about life. Befriending them is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Thank you so much to everyone in room 119. I can’t wait to see what happens on both their journeys and my own.
The Mince Master 
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