BEYOND BY cHARLIE rUBIN

When I was in middle school I was always being watched. There were always familiar faces that either babied me or didn’t treat me equally. The people that babied me made me feel not confident in my abilities and self. There was an overwhelming amount of people who didn’t want to know me because I had a learning disability. Weekly I would go to a Nest class to learn basic things I already knew, it made me feel small.

There were a select group of people that did help me transition from middle school to high school, including my art teacher. Her name is Mrs.Elman and she treated me with respect. There was also my counselor. She would help me advocate for me when I couldn’t. Both of them helped me socially and emotionally to transition to high school. My older sibling at the time was in their first year of high school. They would sometimes talk about school and some classes. In one of those classes I took interest. That class is called OneGoal. One goal is a preparation class to help divide the degree divide in the states. I found this program very interesting and to help achieve my goals in life. Soon I found out it was a program not in many schools. Unfortunately my mother didn’t want to put me into the school because it lacked any Nest classes. This worried my mother a lot. 

I was hurt but I learned a bit about self advocacy from my counselor. I told my mother how not letting me try made no sense to me. I told her how these classes made me feel. At first she didn’t understand. The process was hard and tedious. I needed to help my mother to understand my feelings. I continued to try to explain to her about how I felt about my situation. One day we made a deal. I would be enrolled into the school in exchange I would have to get a para. I agreed. My Para didn’t let me branch out and make many friends. I feel isolated and alone.

My high school experience was unfortunately cut short due to Covid. During my time online I learned even more about self advocacy and self esteem care. During my junior year after much debate with my mother, we decided to get rid of the para. I was majorly alone for the first time in high school. Now I’m about to be a senior in high school. 

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