Highland High School Experience

Day Three

Period one was health class; we were finishing up watching the last of the presentations on mental illnesses.  We watched the presentations on amnesia, hypochondrias, autism and multiple personalities to name a few.  Cursing was a problem today the students had to be talked to multiple times about their language.  Period two the students had an assembly, this was a former student talking about the military.  The speaker touched on his back ground, starting from high school on.  He went to the air force academy and is very successful.  He is a positive influence on these students and I think everyone benefited from his speech.  After his background he talked about life and three lessons to follow.  Lesson one is mind over matter, do not mind the things that don’t matter.  His examples were drama and high school stress; he was explaining that what to wear tomorrow and who kissed who is not important in life.  Focus on school and family which will always be very important. Lesson two, Appreciate tomorrows memories today.  Tomorrow is another day to really succeed, do not stress over today’s failures because tomorrow is a success. Lesson number three use present to prepare the future, work hard today and tomorrow will be a success.  Working hard now will pay off, and the future will be bright.  I enjoyed his speech and thought they way he present was great for a high school setting, he joked a lot and still had a positive lesson.  I think teachers should have more life long talks with students and really influence positive thought.  During lunch I was introduced to an adapted physical education teacher from the Boces program.  His name was Roy Spieling; he was here to work with a few students.  Instead of lunch I chose to observe and work with him.  He seemed really passionate about physical education and I knew I could learn a lot from him.  We worked with a student who was visually impaired, we played basketball.  She was amazing; she was making shots left and right.  I was very impressed and with her skill level.  We were playing around the world. I enjoyed working with this student because she was so grateful and really listened to every word we said.  I would really love to get involved with the adapted community.  I am going to keep in touch with Mr. Spieling and hopefully have to opportunity to work with him again.  This week is flying by and I am trying to make the best of this experience while it last because before you know it I will not be at Highland high school.    

-Albert A. Mercado