When I first started the year, I thought Grade 9 was going to be a huge step-up from middle school. I thought we wouldn’t even have time to catch our breath before teachers dumped a load of homework on us. I thought exams were the main focus of the year, and that I wouldn’t have time to do anything else but study.

However, the Grade 9 teachers made the transition very easy, and I don’t think I could have asked for a better first year in High School. There are still some goals that I want to be accomplished by the end of the year, like finishing my novel (I’m a writer, and this particular novel has been going since the start of the year, and going on 191 pages), ending the year on a “high” (i.e something good, so that I can go into Grade 10 with confidence), passing my Grade 9 Exams (even though they are just practice for the real exams next year, and they are not everything in Grade 9), and keeping myself grounded. I also try to remember that school isn’t everything and that I need breathing and down time to clear my head.

Exams were, however, a really good experience to see how I studied and what works and what might not. Another goal of mine was to study and try really hard at subjects I am not so confident in (like Science, Math, certain aspects of Geo) and here, now an internal exam veteran, I am proud of myself and everything that I accomplished: not just in exam week, but in the weeks leading up to it. I constantly pushed myself and studied hard every day.

Another goal of mine was to learn something new every day (not just in classes, but about myself, or about a friend of mine). By accomplishing this goal by the end of Grade 9, I develop not only intellectually, but I form long-lasting friendships, as these are equally important.

I don’t know what the future holds, mainly because it is unknown. A week ago, the exams were scary because they were unknown, too. I believe that the fear of the unknown is what scares people (not just students) the most. I don’t feel as afraid anymore, because I feel that if you can accept the unknown for what it is, then it won’t be so scary anymore. That is the primary aspect I am going to take away from Grade 9: everything feels formidable because it is obscured by the fear of the unknown. Take away that fear, and you’ll find that things really aren’t as terrible as they may look.

After high school, I want to be a filmmaker (i.e screenwriter/director) because I write stories to see the film playing in my head. It would be a surreal experience to see that story, that seed that stemmed from one sentence, one line, one idea in my own head projected onto a screen in a darkened room in front of a large number of people, all watching my film, all living my story, all enjoying the company of my characters, fully immersed in the world I created, in the same way that I am. It would be sensational. I daydreamed a lot as a little girl, and I spent my childhood watching film after film, as if trying to escape, trying to wrench myself into these amazing stories. By channeling what I spend so much time dreaming about onto a page, I have an outlet, a source, a piece of my soul out there in the world, for all to see. I’ve never been particularly athletically gifted or especially good with numbers (everybody has their strengths and weaknesses), but when I write, I have a power unlike anything else I have ever felt. I hear lines as dialogue, and I see outlines and storylines tying themselves together in a woven masterpiece, a larger story made to be immortalized on the silver screen. In fact, I see everything a little bit brighter, a swirl of color, something brilliantly new and incomparably nostalgic, familiar and foreign all at the same time.

If I were given the tools to express this ambition (such as a film GCSE option or a screenwriting extracurricular), I would probably enjoy my high school experience a lot more than I do, as I would not only be learning, I would be focusing on and looking towards my future, because although it is unknown, by taking the right steps, I could share my stories and experiences and be a part of something that is bigger than myself.