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Mariah Swiski
Mrs. Evans
English 10 per. 1
2 November 2015

When She Had Just Become a Teenager

In late afternoon of December 14, 2012, a week and a half before Christmas
and just 20 days before my 13th birthday, something bad had happened in
Newtown, CT; just a couple towns over from Oxford, CT, the town I live in. A man by
the name of Adam Lanza opened fire in and elementary school and killed 26
innocent people, 20 of them being children ages 6-7 and 6 being adult staff
members. I stayed home from school that day, I was sick as a dog, I was only in
middle school at the time so something like a madman shooting up an elementary
school seemed so surreal to me. From then on things changed in CT.
Subsequently everyones everyday life would change; school seemed like jail,
security guards (policeman) everywhere. The whole school was on lockdown. Two
years has passed and the school continues to use a secure surveillance system to
make sure that anyone who comes in the building isnt there to harm students. For
me, this marked a shift in everyones lives. Parents, Teachers and Schools had all
become more compliant in our lives as teenagers. Everyone learned to put their
guard up, and plan for the worst but hope for the best. Rules changed and people
changed. Parents became more involved in their childrens friend groups because
they didnt want corruption of drugs and disobedience. My parents didnt care, they
still dont. I was raised to know not to do drugs and make good choices. My parents
believed that if they didnt push me to make the right decisions I would learn to
make them on my own. They were right.

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Growing up in Oxford you were trained to make the right choice anyways,
otherwise people would judge you. Oxford was a mix of things, the categories of
people ranged preppy rich kids to mud kicking hicks. Though many people from
other towns see Oxford as a rich preppy town, the people that live in it beg to differ.
As a teenager in High school I get to witness opinionated kids throw rude
comments at each other all day. I would soon learn that Oxford isnt exactly what
comes to meet the eye. Late August, 2014, was the time I had first started my high
school career. Going to school was having a parent in every new class you entered,
and stress in students became more know that a good nights rest. At this time in
your life is when you become more responsible. Responsibility is accepting that you
are the cause and the solution of the matter.
High school is supposed be the best years of your life, but odds are they will
be the most stressful, depressing and worst years of your life. Getting caught up in
things that didnt matter rather than focusing on the more important things in life is
where many kids had problems. For instance, love became an important part of
almost every high school students life. The word love became a drug in the
teenage years. See, when we were younger the statement I love you was a sweet
and simple way to tell your parents that you would miss them while they were gone.
Hearing I love you come out of the mouth of another boy or girl you werent likely
to spend the rest of your life with became the most hospitable thing to hear in high
school. Every girl in high school thought they would find a Romeo. A boy, who would
be her Romeo, they would soon find out that the average male brain consisted of
nothing of the sort.

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When we were younger things were a lot simpler. We didnt have to focus on
stupid things like high school drama, or whether or not your outfit was plausible
enough for people to like. When we were younger it was like living on a cloud. You
had people to do things for you instead of worrying about doing them on your own.
As you get older things get more complicated and instead of living on the cloud its
like living in the ocean and not knowing how to swim; you must learn to swim and
keep on paddling in order to stay alive.
For me growing up was fun, but becoming a teenager was and still is the
most stressful thing alive. Now being a high school student you have to learn to
make the right choices ahead of time in order to make for a better future. For some
students this isnt the case. Kids like Jack Harrison and Jared Thomas should learn
now that doing drugs isnt the smartest choice you can make. Doing drugs now
wont make for a better future.

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Yellow- mimic the title

Turquoise- specific date and time in life
Red- Juxtaposition
Pink- metaphor
Olive Green- Allusion
Teal- A word with different meaning as you age
Green- Backstory of Oxford
Gray- Reference to parents/ the way youre being raised