High School:The Exploration Of Dreams

High School was a very interesting experience for me. I went to two different schools; Oakland School for the Arts (OSA), and Oakland Technical High School. I would consider my high school days sort of like a soup opera there was, fun, excitement, drama, tragedy, sadness, and suspense. But overall, my whole high school experience really taught me a lot about life and also help me to become the man I am today. I started at OSA my 9th and 10th grade years in the acting emphasis. The School was very diverse but everyone was so close to one another. There were so many talented students there actors/actresses, dancers, singers, literary writers, arts managers, as well as visual artist, and the great thing about the school was that they gave you chances to showcase your talents as well. While I was there I performed in a few shows such as; 'You’re a good man Charlie Brown', a 1920's Vaudeville, 'The Colored Museum', and I also worked as sound crew, working the sound system for the shows, as well as set crew and building the sets for performances. But at this time I was a big football fan, and I had big dreams of making it to the NFL so I transferred to Oakland Tech. Oakland Tech was a very good school, but the thing was I knew a lot of people that went there so as I started school it was hard for me to focus and it showed in my grades. My 11th grade year was the first year I played high school football so I wasn't as good as I wanted to be so I used that year to become better, and try to work on my grades. My 12th grade year I was starting wide receiver and I actually lead the league in receiving yards. When it came to the end of the season and trying to get a scholarship I couldn't get it because my grades were bad. So even though I didn't get the scholarship I wanted, as I went through high school I still worked on another passion I had, it was music. Music has always been in my family and I will keep it going until my son one day can follow in my footsteps and continue where I leave off.

Influential Speaker

I agree, that a person's use of language is developed by the people he surrounds himself with. I believe through all your lifes' experience you will ultimately create the unique way that is your way of speaking. I feel like a lot of my influences for the way I speak came from either me being in the church, or sports and other activities that my mother would have me involved in as i was growing up. As I grew up at times I wasn't as focused on my future and sometimes would feel like as if I wouldn't make it in my life, but being around my family(that worked as teachers) and other educated black peers that I looked up to. I wanted to be able to talk like that, to sound educated and for people to want to listen to me. Also music and art has played a big role in the way I choose my words and want to speak to people, because when it comes to me writing a song or poetry I want to use words that were poetic and smooth. But on the other side of the way I speak to people, I hung around a couple of  influences in my life, that at times when we would speak to people I would use a lot of slang and grammar that is; as I get older, inappropriate business/professional skills. But also, hanging around with my god brother in church and being involved in the choir, junior deacon board, and usher board help me keep my mind on the path I wanted to take and this kept my head on straight as I moved on through life. Other influences of the way I speak came from a myriad of other places like when I'm making a joke or just being goofy it probably came from comedy sitcoms like martin, or fresh prince of bel-aire, or just even people I thought was funny that I met over the course of my life. So by mixing all the influences of the way I speak you get a young man still trying to better hisself as a man but understands the way you talk to people is not what makes you who you are but the actions you take with them and I hope you understand a new side that you may not have known about me.