I was never an extroverted person, and talking to people or socializing in school was not my forte. I was never the one to strike up a conversation with anyone, even my friends, and I was always viewed as shy.
When I made it to high school, I didn’t know what would happen to me, and I was scared, which just made me more shy. One day, I was sitting in study hall and when the bell rang, the study hall supervisor, John Stuart, approached me and struck up a conversation. I didn’t know how to react or what to say because I was so surprised that some random person, that I barely knew existed, decided to have a conversation with me about hobbies. We almost immediately became friends after that, and we realized we had quite a bit in common.
After feeling like an outcast when I started high school, only knowing a few people from my previous school, I started to get to know John and started feeling more accepted. As John helped me assimilate into high school, I became more social, and I changed from who I used to be. I started to hang out with him after school, and we talked about a variety of topics. No matter what issue I had in life, or in anything else, John was always there, willing to give great advice. And when I didn’t have any issues, we just had fun conversations.
Everyday I saw John as a non-judgemental, respectful, and reliable mentor that I could trust with anything. Whenever I would tell him something about my life, or ask him about something, he would always give me kind-hearted, passionate, and helpful advice from his life experiences. While some of the conversations we had were deep and meaningful, he always was able to lighten things up with some humor while still being genuine.
John was always encouraging, and he even convinced me to go out for tennis—which he was the coach of. All of the players on his team loved him, and he always had his own unique way of coaching. He would always encourage all of the players, and he always managed to make people feel happy.
John is someone who is always there for you, and is someone who by just talking to you, always puts you in a good mood. He is one of the most caring, kind, and charismatic people I know, and he will always be my friend. I appreciate all that John Stuart—someone that I barely knew existed—did for me, and how he changed my life forever.