Narrative Essay

Atinuke Adebiyi
10/2/14
English 101
Professor Muller
The Journey Just Beginning The speaker is speaking on how far we, as the class of 2014, have come. He starts to talk about how people around him thought he would not amount to anything due to him not being really focused in school. From there, he goes on about how he graduated college with a Master’s degree and a Bachelor’s degree with five years. Before he was about to take his seat, he said one statement that stuck in my head like glue. His statement was, ‘Don’t look at the negative; look at the positive and keep pushing.” At that moment, I was anticipating how I was going to walk across the stage without falling down in my heels. As the people were calling the people in the front row, my heart starting pounding. In my head, I was thinking, ‘Wow, this is really happening; I am really about to walk across this long stage and receive my high school diploma.” When they finally called my name, I could hear my mother and my aunt screaming in the background. They were overly excited for me. I could hear my cousin screaming as well. She was saying, ‘Yasss, Atinuke, my baby did it”. As I was taking my long stride across the stage, I pictured my high school career, the friends I made along the way and the ones I lost due to them not rising to my level of academic success. All my thoughts came to a sudden halt when I had to take a picture with the principal of my school. From there, my thoughts continued to my experience attending prom, to some of my accomplishments throughout high school. As my stride came to an end, I shed one tear in realization that high school was over and my own journey was beginning form this day forward. As everyone was in his/her seats, the principal went to the podium. He announced the graduating Class of 2014 of Eleanor Roosevelt High School. After saying that, some of my peers decided to throw their caps in the air. In my mind, I really wanted to, but I was afraid of the aftermath of it. I was also afraid I would not be able to find my exact cap. Then our school song was played, as we were leaving the Comcast Center to go see our family members and pick up our real diploma. They actually handed us pieces of blank paper that said nothing. We had to pick up the actual document as were leaving from our guidance counselors according to name.
After I took pictures with my closet friends in high school; I beamed out in the rain trying to find my family. The rain ruined the atmosphere a little bit, but I had graduated so that was the last thing on my kind. I watched as my peers shared embraces with their families. I began to feel sorry because I was wondering where family was. After pacing back and forth in the rain, I saw my family. They were waiting for me with flowers in each hand on the steps. I ran like a little kid in search of candy. I was overjoyed with happiness and love. I embraced both my mother and my favorite aunt in the whole wide world. My mom had shed a tear; I noticed that. That made me feel as though I did something right. My aunt was explaining to me that she never gave up on me when others thought I was not going to graduate high school due to my actions and behavior in high school. She said she always dreamed of this moment.
With saying that, she placed on my neck a chord she made. With the chord, she explained it symbolized achievement and growth. I’ve now become the lady she always wanted me to be. My mommy was just stuck in amazement. She was smiling the whole time. I knew that graduating from high school on May 29, 2014, was a source of pride and joy for her. To her, it was as if all her efforts and work on me was not in vain. After taking pictures upon pictures; the family decided we should all go out to eat; we did. We ate at the Chinese Buffet in College Park, MD. While eating, I pat myself on the back. If you knew the Atinuke in high school, you would have been also been pound and surprised. I was the rebellious soul who did things on her own. I wanted to find who I was as a person. From doing that in “high school”, I realized that I am a conflicted soul whose path is still being written.
Graduating high school was stepping milestone. I now move on towards achieving my dreams in college. In choosing Delaware State University, I looked at what I can accomplish while here and the education programs, as well as, the environment and people. I am double majoring in Public Health and Social Work. I plan to put my best foot forward in everything I do here at Delaware State. My journey is only just beginning; the rest is yet to come. I still have more to show and tell the world. I want to be the next big thing. I want my generation to remember what I stood for as a person. Therefore, sit back and watch my life and dreams play out in my favor.