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Eli Withers

ENG 111

Professor Williams

8 October 2023

Experiences in Education

“The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain” (Dolly Parton).

This quote from Dolly Parton exemplifies that if you want to be happy in life then you have to be

prepared and able to put up with the things that occur during it. I like this quote because I think

everyone can relate to it. We all have our moments in life that would be considered “rainy”.

Overall, I struggled with my confidence, especially in middle school. Looking back on middle

school and even freshman year, as a junior in high school, I am proud of how I have matured and

grown. I owe who I am today to what I have experienced.

Going into sixth grade, I was super nervous for middle school. Around the fourth and

fifth grade, the teachers told us that we needed to prepare because middle school was super

different and a lot of things that could be accepted in elementary school would not be in middle

school. This didn’t really help with the anxiety of going into middle school. In elementary

school, you would occasionally see a middle schooler and would feel a little intimidated to

“become” them. I remember having P.E. my first period in sixth grade. Luckily my teacher, Mr.

Ellis, was super kind and used his humor to help us transition into middle school; Looking back

at middle school while typing this makes me realize how unnecessarily worried I was. Also

while looking back, I realize how unnecessarily stressed out me and my classmates were for

middle school. Certain teachers in fifth and even fourth grade would constantly rant about how
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middle school is so much more difficult and we had to prepare. Perhaps it could have been our

young minds over complicating the message, but from what I remember, it seemed so scary. My

middle school teachers were so easy going it was like a breath of fresh air.

In late seventh grade, I remember going to pick up dinner after tennis practice with my

mom. She says, “Read this email from your school to me.” I read the email to her which revealed

that school and all sports had been canceled due to Covid-19. We were supposed to be out of

school for three weeks in the beginning. Three weeks later, and we are still to stay out of school

and not play any sports, even non-contact ones. I remember quarantine not really having a super

negative effect on me. As an already nervous individual when around other kids in middle

school, I was fine staying out of school. However, learning while online in half of seventh and

eighth grade was difficult at times. It puts things into perspective of how important in-person

learning actually is, especially at that age where we are introduced to subjects we will need to

keep and practice still in high school. My grades were almost always lower than what I used to

get in sixth grade and parts of middle school. Quarantine affected a lot of us socially, but as it

went on, I realized that I kind of missed talking to people. As soon as eighth grade returned to

staggered in person learning, I was super excited. One of my absolute favorite teachers during

this time, Ms. Dolan, helped me feel much more comfortable with myself and overall helped me

grow my confidence immensely. I’m not quite sure what happened, but I felt more and more

comfortable talking to others and making more and more friends. I think I matured as a person

the most that year even during such difficult times.

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Entering ninth grade, I was super excited. I was officially one of the older kids that I had

always seen walking around the halls and had heard so much about. During middle school, I

played tennis. It was co-ed, meaning it was both girls and boys playing together on the same

team. I went to the Lincolnton campus, and all of the tennis practices and games were held in

Denver. The Denver campus was unfamiliar territory to me, but during middle school I had my

friend Natalie with me every step of the way. It was just me and her that played for the tennis

team from Lincolnton, so we felt out of place, but it was better since we had each other to talk to

on the 35-45 minute bus ride to and from the campus. We were often doubles partners, it was a

lot of fun to play with her. In high school though, tennis is separated by gender. I understood this

and played anyway. I was the only male tennis player at Lincolnton my freshman year.

Immediately, I felt very nervous out of place for a majority of the season. I would get to practice

late and have to leave early on some occasions due to the distance of the drive. I also never really

bonded with my teammates. Tennis is so individualized so it didn’t help that I didn’t go to the

same campus as my teammates. This didn’t help with my confidence or my love for tennis.

Early sophomore year, I quit tennis and began playing volleyball for Carolina Union

Volleyball Club in Charlotte. Instantly, I fell in love with the sport and how connected it made

you to people. I had already made the decision to go to Denver for tennis late freshman year, so I

decided to try to start a men's volleyball team at Denver, and it worked. I played volleyball my

sophomore year of high school and could immediately tell a difference in how happy I was. I

was the most confident and happy I had ever been. My grades went up to an all time high. Going

into my junior year, I am still playing both club volleyball in Charlotte and school volleyball. I
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am so thankful for our athletic director at Lincoln Charter for being so supportive and open to

having a men’s volleyball team. It was a big ask and I am very happy he said yes.

Reviewing my educational journey, I am very pleased with the experiences who have

shaped me into the person I am today. My friends, family, teachers, and other supportive figures

in my life have helped shape me into who I am today. I stil have a year and a half to go in my

education, which does not include college. But I am happy to say that it has been a very fun and

fulfilling experience in my education.