By Janel Hagstrom
I came to Mini-School three years ago in my junior year. When I first came here, the only thing I knew about Mini-School was the rumors Mainstream had to say. I had anticipated my time in school, from then on, would be wasted hanging out with drug addicts and people who just were too slack-jawed to want to go to class. I was nervous. I was scared.
I didn’t exactly take my junior year seriously. I figured “Hey, it’s only my junior year, nothing really matters right now. I’m 16! I’m invincible!” Again, I was dead wrong. After skipping day after day and only doing minimal work to get by, I threw my junior year. I thought of it more as an ephemeron and I’d graduate early.
Senior year rolled around and I was back in Mini. I had a meeting within the first week. I was screwed. Thirteen credits required to graduate … think that was going to happen?? Not at all. I took a look at what I was doing, and what I had done. I hadn‘t taken the program seriously. There is much more it has to offer than what people think.
It really gets to me when some people just sit around and slack, doing nothing all hour, then complain about how they’re not going to graduate. Not taking things seriously. A majority of the time, all I hear from them is, “I was this high, I was this drunk.” Those people should be kicked out and left to figure out what to do all on their own. I should have been kicked out my junior year. But luckily for me, Mini-School gave me a second chance. I hauled my ass. And that opened up several opportunities.
By the end of my senior year, I somehow lucked out or something. I had made up ten credits that year. Ten! That’s nearly 2 school years. Still not enough to graduate, but much better than where I was. Because of the help of working with Mini and Mainstream, I was able to take a bunch of college classes. And I don’t mean HTC in the morning, I’m talking about level III College, the real thing.
People don’t understand if YOU move your butt, you can be out of here on time, if not even early. It’s up to you when you get out of here. No one is going to do it for you, no matter how much you think they will. A handful of people graduated early last year because they hauled. Don’t take the program for granted; it’s here to help you.
Anyways, if it weren’t for Mini, I’d probably have dropped out by now. Instead, I should be out of here in a month, a month and a half, or so. Not only am I graduating now, I’m going to graduate with a college degree.