The first school I ever really knew about growing up was St. Paul of the Cross. It is the parish my family and I are a part of and it is where my brother and I went to elementary school. I always thought that the Catholic schools were where the good children went and the bad kids went to the public schools. My parents tell me all the time they did not know any better than to send me and my brother to the Catholic school because that is what their parents did with them. Growing up I thought going to St. Paul was the coolest thing because we got to wear uniforms and all eight grades went to the same school so I could see my brother and his friends from time to time. When he graduated in eighth grade and was going to high school, that is when everything in my life pretty much flipped.

I was going into fifth grade when my brother graduated so he was no longer at the same school as me. When he left, I felt alone and just sad because I knew things were not going to be like they once were. At this time in my life, this was the first real change I have really experienced and gone through. As my fifth grade year and my brother’s freshman year progressed him and my parents realized that St. Paul really doesn’t prepare their students for the next level of their educational experience which is high school. My best friend Dominick was talking about leaving St. Paul of the Cross and going to the middle school by our houses which was Emerson Middle School, a public school. Now I never thought about leaving St. Paul but Dominick kind of put it in the back of my mind. All I ever knew when it came to school was St. Paul. When I told my parents about Dom leaving they asked how I felt about the subject of leaving because they knew that is what they should have done with my brother because he really struggled in his freshman year of high school.

I really thought long and hard about this difficult choice I had to make for myself and how things would go. Basically all my friends I had made from the sports teams I played on all went to the public elementary schools. The only friend I really spent time with from St. Paul was Dom. With him leaving I knew I was not going to really have anybody else to talk to and hangout with. And sixth to eighth grade are really where you find your friends going into high school.

“What do you want to do?”, they would ask.

“I’m really not sure. I mean Dom is my best friend and I want to go where he goes and I think a little change might be what’s right for my future,” I’d say.

The moment where I finally realized that leaving St. Paul of the Cross was going to be the right choice for me was when I was at a Maine South football game on a Friday night in early November. The whole atmosphere was perfect for a game. Purplish orange sky with the sun setting over the goalposts, the cool breeze blowing against your skin. It wasn’t too hot or too cold. It was just a perfect night. I noticed that all the kids I was talking to when I was there at the game were all public school kids because they were all going to go to Maine South. I realized that the St. Paul kids I was friends with were nowhere to be seen and in a way I was fine with that. I felt like I just fit in perfectly with the public school kids and I made my decision. I finally thought to myself, I’m going to Emerson after this year is over. After the game when I was in the car with my dad, mom, and my brother my mind was going a million miles an hour. I had to tell them what I had decided to do. Finally I just burst and came out with my decision to leave St. Paul and transfer to Emerson. When they heard what I had to say they seemed to have a lot of weight lifted off their shoulders. They knew that was the right choice for me and so did I. My brother was kind of upset because they never thought about this option with him and he thought it was unfair. For me, I knew it was what was right for me at the time.

The whole thought and decision process behind me leaving was really a struggle and long journey. I was walking away from what I knew and what I was used to. It was my way of life. I was walking away from the kids I grew up with. I was walking away from everything that meant something to me. But I really knew deep down, I was doing what was best for me. Nobody else’s opinion really mattered. In the end, it turned out to be the best decision I have made in my life.