Do you ever feel ignored at school, like no one wants to hear what you have to say? I have felt like this nearly every day since I entered high school in late 2008 up until February 11, 2010. Normally while having a discussion amongst a group of friends most of the times I try to speak I am cut off by another person in the group and it quite honestly hurts and makes me feel like no one wants to hear what I have to say. I’m not saying I haven’t cut someone off mid sentence before because I know I most certainly have. Usually when I do cut someone off once I realize what I have done I apologize and ask them to finish what they were saying. Most of the time when I am cut off I am not apologized to. Sometimes I am but most of the time I am not. I am also not saying that I am always cut off I am just saying most of the time I speak at school I am.

On February 11, 2010 in my first period English class my teacher wanted me to tell the class about the Teen Ink Points Of View Contest. I had told him about it the day before but it was after class so he said we would tell the class about it the next day. When I reminded him about it the next day in class he asked me to stand up and tell the class about the contest. Me being the slightly shy person I am asked if I really had to and one girl who is also in my choir class said “come on you can sing in front of the choir.” Hearing this I said “okay” and stood up. Before I could begin speaking my teacher began speaking to another student about something off topic. I stood waiting for him to finish for about a minute then finally sat back down. My teacher carried on with his conversation with the other student for a little bit until someone in the class said “wait, what did Ashley want to say?” and another student said “yeah, I want to hear what Ashley had to say she was standing there for like two minutes!” Hearing his students say this my teacher said “oh! Right!” My teacher then asked me to say what I wanted to say and I told the class about the contest.

It may not seem like much but those students saying they wanted to hear what I had to say truly meant a lot to me. When you go through high school feeling ignored and like no one wants to hear what you have to say something as simple as a few fellow students saying they want to hear what you have to say can be huge to you. I do not hold anything against my teacher for engaging in the conversation with the other student. My teacher is a great teacher and I do not feel like he was ignoring me or didn’t want to hear what I had to say I feel that he simply got a little off topic. Overall February 11, 2010 was a great day that made me feel wanted.