In seventh grade, I developed an interest that clouded both my judgement and my morals. We had a whole school assembly at the end of the year in my middle school, during which every member of the track team was named, and received applause and cheers from their friends in the audience. The coaches had us divided us up into groups based on both gender and grade, which put me next to the single most popular guy on campus, Gavin Lee. The coaches started naming off athletes, and all the while I was trying to figure out what to do when my name was called. Not very many people got extreme applause, just the formal two-clap salute and whistles from a few friends. But then, everything changed.

    In a monotone voice, a coach said “Gavin Lee”, and the crowd exploded. People jumped to their feet, fists beating the air, screaming at the top of their lungs. Shouts of “GAVIN!!!!” could be heard from all sides while 100 decibel whistles were bursting my eardrums. Everyone was so pumped up just from hearing his name. I’m not really sure how the sixth graders knew him, but they were all on their feet too. I was so lost in all of this commotion that I didn’t even hear my name called. I just felt my friend Miguel quickly push me from behind so that I at least made something of myself. But I think Miguel may have been the only one to hear my name, as all of the cheering for Gavin still hadn’t stopped by the time I stepped back. In that moment, I felt as if I could have died, and nobody would have attended my funeral. That’s how much everybody cared about me.

    Now, I have been told that I take some things way too personally; and looking back on it, this was probably one of those moments. After seeing how much everyone “loved” Gavin, all I wanted was to be popular. So, for the rest of that year, I tried to hang out with the “popular kids”, essentially abandoning my friends. I discovered some things about these “popular kids” that made me question whether or not they even had morals. Being a part of such a corrupt form of leadership (if you can even call it that) was one of the most disturbing things I have studied in our society. Looking back on it, I think a subconscious part of me was using this experience as a chance to formulate what popularity is. Those few weeks were both an enlightening and awakening experience. However, I never actually penetrated the “inner sanctum” of that sect, to them I was just another groupie trying to ride the popularity train. I realized that I missed my friends terribly, and for the last couple weeks of school, I spent every possible moment with them, despite the desire to become popular that still controlled my mind.

    Over that summer leading into eighth year, I lost that desire to become popular. I thought about what popularity stood for: deception, jealousy, false commitments; and I was disgusted by it. I said to myself, “You know what? Screw it. I’m just gonna be as nice as possible to everyone, to show that I care that they exist.”, and let me tell you, it is absolutely amazing what a simple common courtesy like that can do for you. I came in to Frontier eighth grade year, and talked to everyone I met. My goals were: 1. Learn their name, and 2. Remember their name. I met hundreds of people that year, and so many of them treated me like one of their closest friends, even though all I did was say “hi” to them every time I saw them. I became a person that people came to with their problems, opening up to someone who they had known for less than a month.

I will never forget, towards the end of that year, a girl came to me and pulled up her sleeve to reveal scars running up and down her arms. She explained to me that she had been cutting herself, and I, with the help of another close friend of hers had “showed her light” and that she wanted to be just like the way I was, how I seemed so open to everyone, how I didn’t judge people based on looks or social groups, and I listened, to everything. She said that she wished everyone had the courage to be like me, to care about everyone else. That day I realized that I had truly made an impact on someone else’s life. From then on, I didn’t care what people thought about me, I figured out how to truly “be myself”.

 Freshman year at Union was like starting from scratch for me. There were so many new people to meet! That first semester I talked to as many of them as I could, not much, but just enough to let them know that I was there, that I could help. People would come to me with homework questions, trusting me to teach them; with relationship questions, believing in me to comprehend their emotions; and even fashion questions, hoping I could tell them what was in style (I usually just said that everything is in style). I touched so many people in my Freshman year, and I didn’t even really realize just how many until class council elections at the end of the second semester.

I was running against some of the most popular names in our grade, yet I still managed to get elected. I started to realize that I was making a difference with each individual person, and I discovered that within our class, I actually have the ability to be extremely influential. This hypothesis was only further confirmed at the beginning of this year with Homecoming court elections, which is the popularity contest. And I managed to win that as well. I finally had the popularity I had wanted three years ago, but I didn’t even care about it any more. I had gained it in a different way. I wasn’t the best at the sports I played, I didn’t surround myself in gossip like the stereotypical “popular kids”, I gained the trust of my class. I’ve heard that I’m the subject of an occasional conversation between those “popular kids”, with them wondering “How is he popular?!”, it seems that they think it is because my dad works where I go to school. I honestly couldn’t care less what they think about me while they try to tear down my classmates and I on Twitter and Instagram. I, as well as those that know me, probably the ones that voted for me all those times, know that It is because I go out of my way to care for everyone else, and I try to make a positive impact on the life of everyone I meet.