Time for School

Lifted from Amie's blog.

Kindergarten - Was the year I decided I wanted my ears pierced for the first time, because Jenny Derengowski had hers pierced. My mom said no. I also got the chicken pox and missed about a week of school, and my baby sister was in the hospital at the same time.

1st grade - At the beginning of first grade, I was in a 1st/2nd combo class. No one told the first graders we had to come in from recess when the bell rang, so me, Andy Fitch, and 2 other kids stayed outside playing until some 6th grader turned us in. Also that same day, I cried in class, because we had to take a spelling test and I didn't know how to spell anything. Which occasionally included my own name. (it's long, ok?)

2nd Grade - I had a bad teacher, and I just remember my parents going in for a lot of parent/teacher conferences, which one time included me. This was the year I met my friend Suzi. She gave me a tweety bird eraser to cheer me up one bad day. I got poison ivy all over my leg and I missed about a week of school because it was infected. I also missed our play because of it. Luckily I didn't have any lines. I think this was the year I started French class after school. My French name was Genevieve. This kid Scott's French name was Paul, which he thought was cool because he thought the teacher had French-named him after the Beatle. I think I also started piano lessons this year, but all of these lessons could have started in 3rd grade.

3rd Grade - Mrs. Brown was my teacher. We studied Japan, and I got to bring in a fancy Japanese doll my dad had brought me back from a business trip in Japan. We got to go on a field trip to Benihana and my mom came along, too. So did Dante Oliva's mom... Dante had a little sister named Genevieve. (and a big sister named Eve, which I always thought was a little odd)

4th Grade - Maryland history year! I had the same teacher for 4th grade as I did for 1st grade. We did a play called "Annie Goes to Maryland" and someone actually chose me to sing a little solo in the play. We got to trade in our pencils for pens. We took a field trip to Annapolis and another one to Baltimore. Mondale won in our school's mock election.

5th Grade - My last year at Oakland Terrace. I was a patrol. Suzi and I tormented this poor kid Chucky who sat in between us in science by hitting him on the head with textbooks. (not very nice!) I was in a special program called Tapestry for music. You had to audition and be chosen, and you got taken out of regular classes. I had also auditioned for the drama tapestry class but I didn't get chosen for that one. I got a string in my eye on the playground at recess and I had to wear a patch. I graduated elementary school. My parents sold our house and we moved to Darnestown.

6th Grade - The worst year. The year I should have started middle school, but because we moved, I was in elementary school for another year. I didn't have any friends until around Christmas that year. The kids in my new school were very different than the kids in my old (more urban) school. We had to draw a lot for social studies assignments. I am a terrible drawer. We also had to dress up like Greek gods and goddesses for a living museum. I was Athena and I wore a helmet made out of a plastic gallon size milk jug. We went to 6th grade camp for a week. I graduated elementary school.

7th grade - I started middle school. I started French class actually in school. I had a locker for the first time ever, and P.E. class every day.

8th Grade - I seriously don't remember middle school very well. I think there was an 8th grade dance. My mom made my dress because I was too small for normal dresses, and I didn't want to wear a little girl's dress to the dance. My friend Martha and I created our own Trivial Pursuit: Canada Edition for social studies.

9th Grade - This kid who I had gone to school with from kindergarten to 5th grade, when we moved, Ricky Parker, turned up in my English class, calling himself Rik. I met my friend Erin, and became better friends with Jayne, who lived on my street but I didn't know very well until high school. I joined the drama club but I only did stuff backstage. I spent part of the summer with Dana in Indiana, visiting our friend Shannon who had moved away the year before.

10th Grade - We had a really bad biology teacher, Mrs. Mandeville. I took driver's ed in school. We did Anything Goes as our spring musical. I started writing for the school newspaper and became friends with Robin. I spent part of the summer in Honduras with other youth from the Diocese of Washington. Honduras is the sister diocese to Washington. We painted a school, swam in slightly oily waters, danced in a club, toured Mayan ruins.

11th Grade - Robin and I were co-entertainment editors for the school paper, and I went into the city to watch weird foreign movies to review. Robin's dad took us to the Renaissance fair to review that, and Robin's sister Kellie announced she wanted to see mud wrestling. I went to a lot of high school football games, but I watched the games with my back to the field. So not really watching, I suppose, but more talking. We would go to Friendly's after the games for ice cream. My friend Jill studied abroad in France, and I went to France for the first time that summer and got to see her a little. I also went to Euro Disney for the first time that summer.

12th Grade - Robin because editor-in-chief for the newspaper, and I was the solo entertainment editor. We had "theme days" for food where we'd make all our friends bring food that matched a particular theme, like all blue food or all round food. Jill was back from France. I got into college on early decision, so I was done with that process in December, while most kids were just gearing up then. My high school graduation was in the Kennedy Center.