Rite of Passage

Essay #1

Rite of Passage

"Man, I can't wait until I graduate high school and move out my mom's house", this was my constant thought as soon as I entered ninth grade. I wanted to be popular and be at all the main events. My mom, on the other hand, did not have the same thoughts as me. As high school passed by my mom and I began to get closer. I suddenly realized that popularity was not that important to me. I wanted to focus on school and decide what I was going to do next. Four years later I was graduating high school. I had accomplished what I, at sometimes, thought was unobtainable. I had a high school diploma and the rest of my life a head of me. This was a turning point in my life. I was no longer a child but considered an adult. There was now an important decision to be made, was I going to continue my education or was I going to find a full-time job. It all boiled down to what I wanted for my life.

My high school graduation was a major turning point in my life. I had sense of accomplishment that I had done what I had set out to do. First off, I was a high school graduate without any children. This was not an easy triumph. At times I didn't want go to school but I would think, "What alternative did I have". Also, my mom wasn't having it any other way. Either I was graduating from school or I was not doing anything else, ever. She was going to take me out. I also didn't want to be another statistic. In 2004, approximately 48.9% of the African American race was actually high school graduates. I wanted to prove to everybody, who thought I was not going to succeed, wrong. On June 3, 2003 I walked across the stage, received my diploma and simultaneously proved everybody wrong.

Not only was I a high school graduate but I was considered, at least by the law, an adult. Most parents were not going to be doing the things that they were doing before. It