Grade 8 Reflection

by: Xin Wang 8H

It's the time of the year again, when every grade 8 student will walk majestically onto the stage and hold the grad certificate proudly in their hands while thanking every individual who helped them to make the achievement. For me, I have never been to a graduation, and I am looking forward to the experience and the pain that you feel when you say the goodbyes to your closest teachers and friends, but most of all, the moment when all of your fondest memories flash back through your mind.

I have been at Hazel McCallion for 2 straight years, everyday I open the same door, greet the same people, but never stopped having fun. If it were for me to decide, I feel almost every second of me at Hazel McCallion was pretty cool, but everyone has a fondest memory, and mine takes me back about a month ago. Striving for excellence is what I always try to do, but sometimes failure happens along the way. A year ago in grade 7, I only achieved 87/150 on the Gauss Mathematics contest, a score I wanted to erase and forget. This year I tried hard, practised a lot, made the Math Olympics team to represent Hazel McCallion, and on the Gauss contest date, I tried my best. The next day, the result were posted on the bulletin board, and when I saw a 130 beside my name, I cheered. Third place overall made me feel proud and I told myself, this will go down in history!

For every fond memory, there's a sad one, and in every child, there's always a memory, which they would want to erase. Through the years at Hazel, I found out that I had very strong academic skills and so on and so forth, but I was lacking in friends. In grade 7, I made a few Acool@ friends, and in the end I got ignored, I felt that I wasn't being accepted and I was very lonely. In grade 8, I made not many, but a few truly great friends, and I treasure each one of them. I felt for the first time more complete and more contented. Though it was grade 7 that I wanted to erase from the Hazel McCallion experience, even through all these sad memories, if another kid comes to Hazel, I would tell them, if you want respect, trust, commitment, and excellence, then come on over to Hazel McCallion, and experience years you'll never expect from an ordinary school!

From when I first stepped into Hazel McCallion in the beginning of grade 7, I was amazed at the size and the vastness of the school and it made me feel homesick. After 2 years of hard work, I look back at that memory, and I felt strange. I consider the school nowadays incredibly small, very cozy, like a second home for me, where I can be nurtured. Today I glance back, I believe I walked into the school as a kid and walked out as a man. I will always remember the school and may it always remember me.

Grad night is only 2 days away and I thought about who I would most like to thank personally, but there are just too many, I would like to thank everybody, even the ones who I haven't gotten to know. I would first like to thank my parents, who always caught my back when I fell out of track, and I am proud to say I have the 2 best parents in the world. Through my experience as a student, I would like to give the best teacher award to Mr. Taylor, who I think half of the grad certificate for me belonged to him, because without him, I don't know what would have happened, he taught me all the science formulas for me to know for life, he was remarkable. In second place is Miss. Seguin; she was kind and compassionate, but sometimes strict as Mr. Stone, she would give out harsh limits and I bet that without those restrictions, I would be an R student. Finally, last but not least is Mrs. Gallino, the person who would care about you, nurture you and you can count on her to be a good guardian. Well, the teachers are only, should I say, the foundation, but without the bricks and steel, nothing can be accomplished, I would like to thank four special friends, Rebecca, who was always there when I needed support, Katherine, Sheena, and Supraja, Upon finishing grade 8, I will continue to strive for excellence to become a doctor one day. I hope to come back and thank the people who made it possible.