Education & Career

My boarding school nightmare!

My boarding school nightmare!!



The summer I turned seventeen, my parents decided to send me to a christian boarding school in Michigan for my senior year of highschool. Initially I had mixed reactions for the possibilities of making new friends and seeing new places, but as time drew closer to the date of my departure, I began having second thoughts. I would be gone for nine months, leave the life I had known here in Oregon behind and move over three thousand miles away to new a new place, new people, and a new environment that I knew nothing of. I would be separated from all of my friends and family, and be completely isolated from everything familiar. A recent romantic interest also played a big part in my feelings towards leaving. I didn’t want to leave, but I was torn between making an academic decision that would benefit me for the rest of my life, and enjoying my life at home, which and just finally begun to improve. Tears were shed but the plans had been made, it was too late to turn back. Anxiety and dread smothered any spark of hope I had for the place after my first two weeks there, as I realized what life would be like for the next eight and a half months. Over the course of the nine months at the boarding school called Springvale Academy, I experienced the most challenging year of my life. Although the academic and social stress pushed me beyond my breaking point, and having almost every detail of my life micromanaged with absolutely no privacy was the most frustrating part of it. My experience at Springvale Academy shaped me into a stronger individual.


The distance and the amount of time I was away was initially the most difficult part of the transition. A three hour time difference and with only three hours of daily allotted cell phone use made staying in touch with loved ones a daily struggle. Fragile friendships crumbled away, and I made new ones with a select few that I very little in common with. I became a more independent person because of it. Isolated from the comforts and security of my parents, I learned to problem solve, deal with social conflicts that I couldn’t just hide from such as rumors and selective teachers who played favorites.


Then the homesickness set in, and not just the “I miss sleep in my bed” kind of homesickness. The kind of that one can feel in their chest, the kind that threatened to consume me from the inside out, that wouldn’t go away for weeks. I poured all my energy into my studies and sports so that by the end of the day I was too tired to think of home, and of the boy I left behind. So that I was too tired to worry about him moving on because I wasn’t there, but try as I might to push the thought from my mind, my fears haunted me in my sleep. The work ethic I instilled in the first three months of being there became habitual. I worked hard and because of that my grades benefited, and my GPA was the highest it had ever been.


Dealing with the staff was another huge struggle. Religious extremist who felt the need to pressure their beliefs on all the students, were constantly badgering me to be baptized. Of course the school was christian, but in my personal opinion I was uncomfortably pressured, not only by the staff and faculty, but by the school administrator himself to conform their religious standards. Having to verbally defend and explain my personal views and standards helped me tremendously in finding where I stand when it comes to religion, ethics, and Christianity itself.


In conclusion, the hardships and I faced in moving away to Springvale Academy helped strengthen me academically, emotionally and socially. As Napoleon Hill states, “Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.”. I struggled, I grew, and I succeeded.


My English professor assigned us to write a personal essay about a time in our lives that we over came a hardship and is the better for it. Writing isn't my strong suit and some out side input would be great. Writing has never been easy for me so any input is greatly apreciated! thanks !

My boarding school nightmare!
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