I imagine at one point in my life, I thought I would be a good student.
But, alas, after majoring in Procrastination and minoring in Laziness, my imagination never became a reality. Despite my disappointing credentials, I always thought of myself as a decent writer.
I discovered this when I was in seventh grade. I wrote an essay about my father that was going to be scored by an outside third party.
After writing the essay, my English teacher at the time asked us to write down what score we thought we got on our essays. I wrote down a three, but my teacher wrote down a five.
It was sometime between that, my .000 batting average in fifth grade Little League and the 11:47 mile time I ran my sophomore year (rested after my third lap) that I decided that I wanted to do Bark.
At the time I signed up for the class, I thought that Bark was just for the super-students. The ones who could spend eight hours after school and then go home to complete the homework for their five AP classes until 3 a.m. Coming into a class of this prestige, all I wanted to do was to write about sports and eat the free food.
Bark not only made me a way better writer, but also helped me with my confidence as I feel like I belong among these super-students, despite what my report card might say.
I would be lying to you right now if I told you that these past four years have been easy for me, or that all of my teachers have enjoyed my presence in their classes, but I am able to say that I spent my time in Bark very well, which is something I will be able to carry with me for awhile.
It’s a surreal feeling, working with not only such great peers but such great people. It will be a long time before I meet another group of individuals who challenge and want me to grow as much as the Barkies.
I wasn’t a good student, which if I could do my life over again I would probably work on that more, but it’s not in my interest to dwell on the past.
And as for the future, if someone were to ask me what I think it will be like, I’m going to write down a five.
