writing three

Michelle Snavely
Classic City High School
Writing Three
Mr. Siegmund Lit/Comp 10

Communities in Schools have made a huge impact on my life. In my honest opinion, if it wasn’t for Classic City High School and this company that made this school possible, I don’t think I would have graduated high school. I know for a fact that I definitely wouldn’t be graduating high school a whole year early. I know that I am a smart person, and that I can do a lot with my life. But I wouldn’t be able to do much of anything without my education. One thing that really helped me that Classic City has done is that the people are really nice, everybody really is at the school for their education and that’s it. Some other things are; there is no drama, the teachers really care and the student body is so small. I want to start this paper off with a thank you to Communities in Schools; you have made a big difference in my life.
I would like to start by telling you about why I choose to attend Classic City High School. When I moved to Athens, Georgia in the eighth grade from Atlanta, I was devastated. Everything was so different from the people to the way that the schools were run. There were just so many distractions and the people didn’t seem to care if they passed their classes or not. This really discouraged me, I just didn’t understand how people could go to school and not pay attention. I did pretty good my eighth and freshman years, but the beginning of my sophomore year was a different story. I was attending Cedar Shoals High School and for some reason I couldn’t concentrate on anything. I think there were just too many distractions going on in the class rooms. Another problem I was having is that none of the teachers seemed to care if I failed or passed. This brought me down a lot.
After a few weeks of school I became extremely depressed. I was so used to being praised for my hard work and having good grades and now all of that seemed to have vanished. I began to become really tired and soon I was skipping school just to sleep in. After about two weeks of constantly skipping every class I possibly could, my grades were so low that there was no way I could pull them up. I had also missed too many days of school so my classes were going to be dropped anyways. In my mind, my only option was to drop out.
After I had made my decision, I had no idea what I was going to do. It seemed like my whole life had gone down the drain and there was no way of reviving it. Then I heard about a school called Classic City. A few of my friends who had dropped out of school told me about it and it sounded like the perfect place for me. So I went up to the school to get an application and I was surprised at how happy everybody looked being at school. I took my test a few days later and passed, so they interviewed me. The principal seemed really nice and I felt at home at the school. Mr. Hunter accepted me on the spot and told me I could start next semester. He said that there was no reason to waist my education, especially with the grades that I had before I dropped out.
The whole rest of the semester that I was dropped out from Cedar Shoals, I couldn’t wait for my first day at Classic City. Finally that day rolled around and I had never been more excited in my life. I had never been more nervous in my life either. I wondered what the teachers and students would be like and if they would accept me or not. I soon found out that there was nothing to worry about and that everybody was really laid back. The part that helped me the most was that there was no drama. In every public school there is always people talking and starting rumors about everybody. This really distracted me from my work at Cedar because I was more worried what other people thought of me.
There was this one time at Cedar when some girl didn’t like me so she started a rumor that I was having sex with some guy that I had never even met before. This rumor spread like wildfire and soon enough people were giving me mean looks in the hall ways and calling me a slut. I was devastated; I just had no idea what to do to make it stop. It was almost like I was trapped in a whole that somebody else pushed me in and I couldn’t get out. I ended up making my first C in school that year because I could no longer concentrate on what was important. It is completely different at Classic City. People here are a lot more real and if they hear something they come right up to you and ask. Rumors like that don’t happen here in the first place because everybody is here to learn and they don’t care about stuff like that. If that were to happen here at Classic City, the rumor would only last for about an hour before things got straight.
Another thing I love about Classic City is that all of the teachers care. They care about your school life, your home life and your life with your friends. They all want you to make the right decisions and learn from your mistakes. I know every single teacher here personally and I love that. They don’t mind giving you advice and pointing you in the right path. I was on a lot of drugs when I started attending Classic City and when I had a deep conversation with one of the teachers about how I hated who I had become; they knew exactly what to say to help me get clean. There main goal is to help you graduate, if you ask any of the students they will tell you the same. Any teacher will stay after school with you when you need help; all you have to do is ask. Some of the time you don’t even have to ask, they will ask you. It was so surreal to me, a teacher voluntarily asking to give up their home time to help a student.
The size of the student body is also a big help. Because Communities in Schools made the student body is so small, the teachers have fewer students in a class, thus more time to help everybody. There is normally a max of about fifteen students and in two hours, the teacher can go around the room and help everybody at least ten times. Another thing is that because there are fewer people in a class, there are virtually no distractions. If for some reason someone becomes a distraction, there is one warning and then they are sent out. At Classic City, everybody is here to learn and if for some reason you don’t want to learn, they feel there is no need for you to be in class.
I think Classic City is the best school for most people. This school is perfect for people who want to learn and want to graduate but can’t deal with the public schools. In my opinion, I think there should be a lot more schools like Classic City High School. Again I just would like to thank Communities in Schools for your tribute to the school and helping people like me to move on with their life and make it better.