"Freshman Year " by Elias A P

Throughout high school, I have been fortunate enough to have some amazing experiences that ultimately opened up my mind in one shape or form. As a football player, I learned that just simply putting in the effort to achieve a goal is a great accomplishment, even if I never achieved that goal. Even though being a part of the team allowed me to experience incredible moments, it was not the experience that impacted me the most. The class that really changed my way of thought was Drama 1 with Mr. Kyle. The decision to take drama was not actually my own.  At the start of Freshman year, I was excited and equally nervous about my classes and the different people that I would meet. I was lucky in the fact that I was able to get all the classes that I wanted and that the order in which I had these classes sat well with me. After three days my luck ran out as my mother decided that she did not like the classes that I was taking. I originally had all prep classes and wood shop as my elective. After my mom had decided what was best for me, I ended up having to take both honors English and Math but also Drama one. I dreaded this decision and begged my mom to change to my schedule to what it was before. My begging, however, had no effect whatsoever. I was now more nervous than I was excited about high school, and I especially feared Drama and the whole concept of performing to a room full of people. The next day I received my new schedule and I was happy to see that I did not have drama until third period. I then used the first and second period to prepare myself for what I thought was the most terrifying, pointless, biggest waste of time that I perceived as Drama. Although Mr. Kylie is a very passionate teacher that focuses on finding the best ways to help his students learn, he can at times be a little bit too much. As third period rolled by, I became more nervous with each step that I took on the way to the E building from the A building. As I stepped through the door, I quickly noticed that the majority of the room was all black. The walls and the stage were painted black, the chairs were black, and there were black curtains that covered the walkway that lead towards Mr. Kylie’s desk in the back. I nervously introduced myself to Mr. Kylie and took a seat in the front row. As much as I thought that I would absolutely hate my time in drama I actually started to become quite fond of the class. I began to enjoy the class because it allowed everybody to freely express themselves and put on performances that at times would bring the whole room to tears. The class was mainly made up of freshman and seniors, all who had their own hobbies like choir, water polo, football, ASB, and baseball. As time went by I saw how everyone was either completely comfortable or at least begging to become comfortable performing. In spite of everyone being nonjudgmental and even helpful to one another with constructive criticism, I was still terrified of performing. I would go up on stage and be so nervous that my hands would not stop shaking and I would not talk loud enough. I had always been insecure about a lot of things in my life and therefore I always had a fear of presenting to people, even if it was just a small group and not a classroom. I was then stuck at a crossroads, I would either continue the way I had been doing things and cower away when it came to performing or I would try and find even the smallest bit of courage and give it my all when it came to performing. Luckily, I chose the latter and decided to not let my fears dictate how I lived my life. Once I had decided to give it my all I noticed that my hands would no longer shake and that the people in the back could clearly hear my voice. I was now comfortable being on stage and allowing my creative side to be freely expressed without having any interference from fear. In one particular performance, my partner Samuel and I decided to put a twist on what was serious dialogue. For the location of where the monologue was taking place, we decided to make it an amusement park. We were two strangers that were both extremely nervous about riding a rollercoaster and we tried to ease each other's fears as we came to the drop where we ultimately just lost any progress that we had made. The whole scene was at most six to seven minutes but in that short time, I gave it my all. At the end of the semester, I felt as though I was an extremely different person thanks to Drama. I believe that the valuable lessons that I learned while in football allowed me to learn even more in Drama which in turn opened up a variety of new perspectives that I had never even considered.