Interview with an Adolescent
On June 23, 2009, I interviewed Heaven *****, a soon-to-be Junior at Bastrop High School (BHS), about her high school experience thus far. I chose to interview Heaven because I have known her since she was about 4 years old as she was my neighbor and younger sister to my brothers’ best friend growing up. She has grown into a lovely young woman and attends the same high school that I did, and grew up in the same school district, albeit it has changed drastically since my time.
Prior to attending Bastrop High School, Heaven went to Red Rock Elementary, Cedar Creek Elementary, Cedar Creek Intermediate, and Cedar Creek Middle School. These are all integral parts of the collective conglomerate Bastrop Independent School District, that can be characterized by incessant growth due to unyielding urban sprawl.
Heaven lives with her mom and is cared for by two adults. Her favorite element of going to school is getting to see her friends. She feels that one of her classmates’ shared attributes is their openness to make new friends. Her friends make her feel comfortable because they all get along effortlessly and they do not waste their time judging others. As far as her genuine “dislikes” about her classmates are concerned, she would have to say that some tend to be very disrespectful toward the teachers. She is bothered by such flagrant disrespect and later said she wished that students and teachers, alike, would be more respectful of the school and others around them.
For the most part, Heaven enjoys going to school, but she wishes that there was open campus for lunch and that passing periods would be extended. I remember wishing the same thing when I was attending BHS. Heaven really likes that a lot of her teachers listen to what she has to say and she subsequently feels that they really cared about her (Heaven, they probably do
). However, she had one teacher that made the students feel as if they would fail in the real world if they did not do well in his class. So far, her favorite subject has been art because the teacher made class fun. If this interview had not been hastily conducted through the use of Gmail as a trusty liaison, I would’ve inquired as to whether or not she was referring to that crazy old Ms. Green, who in my opinion could’ve been easily confused with an inebriated derelict. Her least favorite class was biology because she found the subject matter difficult and the lectures subpar. I assume she did not have Coach Spalding (a super hot Bolivian that was married to this harridan lunch monitor) or Mr. Wardell (my high school B.F.F.’s father), who were both incredible biology teachers.Heaven has received quality guidance and advice from her teachers, but specifically mentioned she has not from the counselors. In my experience, BHS counselors were just there taking up space and were about as useful as a fake houseplant. Upon graduation she wants to go to college at Texas State and major in English so that she can become a writer or a magazine columnist.
Interviewing Heaven made me feel somewhat nostalgic about high school, which is rare because I personally did not have the best overall experience there. I did graduate in the top 10 percentile with a 99.9% grade point average and a total of 12 dual credit hours from Austin Community College. I was published in one edition of Who’s Who Among American High School Students and later recognized in the town’s newspaper for Recycler of the Month for my extensive environmental efforts. However, I struggled tremendously with what I later found is Bipolar Disorder which I would self-assuage with copious amounts of marijuana, which I was expelled for the possession of in my sophomore year. It was a time of self-exploration for me and I experimented heavily with drugs and alcohol to the point of excess and was quite careless with my life. I made life really hard for my family. There were a few periods of time where I abstained from the drugs and life sans marijuana proved to be quite tumultuous. I was incredibly irascible and found myself with 20-something referrals and office visits in a matter of less than three months because I started paying attention to the blatant hypocrisy I was immersed in and I never ceased to bite my tongue. I was opinionated and audaciously brazen. This was entirely unacceptable in the backwoods, provincial, luddite town of Bastrop, Texas.
In this interview, I learned that Heaven is a bright young lady with a great future ahead of her. Her take on high school is refreshing and I am floored by her maturity. Her stable, refined attitude is quite laudable. It is obvious to me that she applies herself in school and has a clear focus on the future for which she will utilize to set out her goals and work adamantly toward achieving them. I am going to let Heaven know that I am available as a mentor and friend in her educational endeavors and that I will be willing to assist her in any way possible. I’ve a lot of good advice and experience in my ripe old age! Haha.
Heaven mentioned that she did not enjoy her biology class because the material was difficult and the teacher did not do a good job teaching it. Biology is what I intend to teach and this inspired me to come up with interesting and creative ways to ingrain key biological concepts into the young minds of my adolescent students. Personally, I feel that understanding biology is extremely important, not just scholastically, but because it is really useful in understanding the way the body and other living organisms work. When you have a better understanding of the fundamental elements, you can take better care of yourself and the things around you.
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