Reflections

It intrigues me to think about myself in high school now that I’m an adult…in high school.
In the early 90’s, roaming the halls of Garland High School, I wanted nothing more than to fit in, to be the same, to go with the flow, to be noticed...but not too much. I was quiet and hesitant to speak up in class during instruction, but at the same time I did my fair share of talking amongst friends and classmates during those precious moments in between.

I certainly wasn’t the kid who tried to be different, but I was. We were all different. We were teenagers.

I recently found an invitation my friends and I created for our IB (International Baccalaureate) group’s International Dinner freshman year.

Members of our group represented Spain, Puerto Rico, India, China, Germany, and the United States. We were incredibly different, but we couldn’t have felt more similar. Our diverse backgrounds brought unique perspectives into the group, but they didn’t change the fact that we were the same at our core: teens working to succeed in high school; struggling at times with grades, peers, and parents; hoping to fit in and find our place.

I'm no longer as quiet as I was in high school. Instead I'm a teacher working with a diverse group of teens who aren't that different from 90s us. Sure, they've got cell phones and mp3 players instead of beepers and Walkmans, they sneak into $10 movies instead of $4 ones, and they can eat 4th meal at Taco Bell while we had to settle for 3rd. Beneath it all, though, they're still teens working to succeed in my classes; struggling at times with grades, peers, and parents; hoping to fit in and find their place.

We're different, but we're the same.