Suhail Alturki
Freshman English
Professor / Pepp
12/2/2014

Life Before University
High school was the place where I made many life-changing decisions. I spent my first nine years in school back home in Medina, Saudi Arabia as a boy whose goal of going to school was to hang out with friends, but it was much different in high school because we had to plan for our transition from secondary school to college.

My school building was a huge gray building that had approximately 600 male students. Boys and girls were segregated because all Saudi schools were not allowed to be co-ed. My school was a very well known school in Medina. It’s called Prince Abdulmihsen complex and it has sport courts, science labs, a theatre, and a cafeteria.

In Saudi Arabia, high school education is a three-year journey. Within the schools that follow the standard Saudi system and curriculum, after the first year, students have to decide whether they want choose between science and literature. Based on that decision their classes will be determined. I had to pick the science field because I knew my ambitions are strongly related to science some how.

During my years in high school, my peers and I decided to establish a group whose main goal was to do voluntary work. One of our activities was to visit the Mideast help center that in the United Arab of Emirates, which is a nonprofit organization, committed to enhancing the quality of thelife of individuals with intellectual disabilities. For five long days, we worked in classes to assist the teachers in taking care of the children and those in need of help. It was an of utmost joy to me to be able to lend a helping hand, but most importantly, it was an exceedingly beneficial experience because it was the first time for me to be with members of a community that provide services around the Middle-east. The students stood out to me because of their super enthusiastic attitude and ambition to gain the utmost skills and knowledge possible. That experience made me appreciate everything that god has given me.
Other activities that I enjoyed in high school are the academic competitions. There are basically are three competitions, one for Physics, one for Chemistry and one for Mathematics. Students would be chosen for the competition based on their grades and talents, and they would spend two hours each week to practice the subject that they are talented in under the subject teacher supervising. At the end of the semester 12 students from each subject would be qualified to participate in the competition and one winner will be honored from the ministry of higher education. In addition, the winner would receive a nice reward. I was involved in this beneficial contest, in matter of fact I was one of the 12 students who qualified in the math section, but unfortunately, some of my peers were better then me, so I ended up in the 6th place ranking.

The high school journey was the best thing for us as students to prepare ourselves academically. However, I believe that the most important year to prepare the