I wrote my title as the Beginning of Maturity because being in Jr. High is like preparing for High School. I learned a lot of older things and started to make wiser choices (I guess?). This is the time when I switched to a different school, heading into Jr. High, after staying in my elementary school for 7 long years. I attended St. Joseph in Pinole. At first it did take me some time to adjust at a different school, but after a while I got used to it. I'm so happy to have met so many friends at this school. All of us has been through ups and downs, but eventually we all still joined back together. What made us join back together were retreats, fieldtrips, and Church Events. In 7th grade, we went on a retreat, where we lived in a look-alike shack. When we first arrived the place was terrible. We were in the middle of nowhere, the walls in the rooms did not go all the way up (so we could here everyone talk in each room), and the food was not too good. But still, we had a fun time just hanging out together and play games with our retreat councelor. We played this game where everyone was on the other side of a table, the table represented a river or a bridge. And one person was already across the bridge. With the help of our entire class, we had to bring everyone over the bridge. Do you get what I'm saying? And we also went through reconcession, where everyone said sorry one on one, sitting in the middle of a dark room filled with candles. In December of 7th grade, I went on a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico and Catalina Island with my entire family. What an experience of luxury that was. I had a wonderful time and hope to go on a cruise again. In the summer of 8th grade, I went to Honolulu, Hawaii with my family. This vacation was another fun one, too. And in 8th grade, one more year till High School. We were the leaders of the school. We were so very lucky, me and my best bud, Eileen, both made it to the Student Leadership Team and Yearbook. I was Co-Environmentalist and Eileen was Co-Yearbook Coordinator. This was already a big event in my life. I remember that one fieldtrip we went to was to see "The Phantom of Opera". Our class first hung out in small groups at Union Square, but our group, we went to Chinatown. And then we came back to watch the play. This fieldtrip is probably one of my favorites. And at the end of the year we went on a retreat at a Ropes Course, where we lived in cabins that were made of wood and did not have any windows. This time, we were really sleeping in the middle of the forest. In order to eat, we had to walk a long way to get to the cafeteria. This was actually my first time going camping. I had a fun time. At the end of the year, we also went to Great America. And the my whole St. Joseph career was ended with a graduation ceremony at our church. I remember when I was walking down the aisle with my partner and then saying a speech. Graduation was a memorable time. I'll alway cherish the memories I've had at Jr. High.
Scroll down if you'd like to see some pictures?
Look my cousins and I are piling from shortest to tallest, but this time a couple years later. But look the ordering is still the same, but instead, youngest sister is the shortest now.
This is a picture of me with my two sisters at Disneyland. Look we're with either Chip or Dale!
This is Rosary from 106.1 KMEL, who came to St. Joseph with Brandy when I was in 7th grade. Brandy came to our school because we won this Penny Contest from KMEL. This'll probably be one of the closest time I'll ever get to be near someone kinda famous, I guess.
This was our biggest dinner during our cruise ship. See this was my entire family that went. Aren't we a big party?
This is a formal picture of me, my two sisters, and my mom and dad during our cruise.
And this is me and my best friend cuddling our 8th grade teacher, Mrs. Brunstein, after our graduation was over.