Honors Geography Reflection Paper
Lisa Cummings
1/6/15
Period: 5
In my first freshman year of high school, there are many challenges and obstacles I have overcomed, and to this day, I am still working on overcoming some of them. Although many of theses challenges I have faced were, and are still difficult for me, I believe they are all part of the essential aspect of growing up and experiencing a real high school. In fact, I have gained and developed much self­knowledge, valuable to my entire life because of these obstacles I have had to face. Without these challenges blocking my path through life, I don’t think I could grow and mature into being the person I envision as myself in the future.
Looking back on my experience so far in high school, there were many challenges I have had to face, and are still overcoming those challenges today. To begin with, the first challenge I have had to face in high school was balancing sports and school during the tennis season. As a student athlete, I often had to leave school early and stay at school late for tennis games and practices. This, definitely made it very difficult for me to balance my school work with tennis. I would stay up very late working on homework, which made me very frustrated and tired. However, I overcame this challenge when my dad introduced me to the concept of time management. I learned how to set priorities, and do my homework whenever I had any free time at school and at home. I would organize my schedule, and this greatly helped me conquer this

obstacle. Another challenge I have had to face in high school would definitely be fitting in, and making new friends. I was homeschooled from 3rd to 8th grade, and making the transition from an isolated study environment, to a public school was very difficult for me. I didn’t know anyone at my school, and making new friends was very difficult because I felt many people had their own tight knit group of friends, and didn’t want to let someone new in. I didn’t know the trends that would make me “cool”, the type of clothes I should wear, for I was at home for a large majority of my life. But I overcame this challenge just by being myself, and openly expressing who I was to other people. I am very thankful so many kind people opened up to me, and soon I made many new friends through tennis and honors classes. Overall, these obstacles I have had to face and overcome have been a big part my high school experience so far, however I know that I will have to face many more in the future.
Signing up for and taking Honors classes has profoundly helped me develop a variety of self­knowledge, that will greatly improve my skills as a student. An example of the self­knowledge I have developed by taking honors classes, is developing a good study habit and work ethic. Because we are given a lot of work and assignments, I have learned how to prioritize my work, and always complete homework before I can watch tv, or play games. Honors classes have helped me put my work before pleasure, and this helps me avoid procrastination, which can lead to a lot of stress.