Personal Narrative: Growing Up In Reading

The city of Reading has a population of 87,893 people, and is the fifth largest city in the state of Pennsylvania. Over forty percent of the population in Reading lives below the poverty line. Growing up in Reading, I have seen a lot of things a child in a rural or suburban setting might not, things most kids do not need to see while growing up. Students as young as seventh grade are more worried about joining a gang than they are getting good grades. Girls at the age of fourteen walk around school with a child growing inside of them. Students I went to middle school with are shot and killed because they were somewhere should not have been. These are things a person from another setting might look in and be horrified to see. This city is where I have called home my entire life, going from pre-kindergarten to now, my senior year. Despite the negativity I am surrounded by, I manage to push it aside and focus school and activities. Throughout my school career I have participated in the band and chorus for four years, I was invited to Clarion University twice to …show more content…
My life was focused around my health for two years of my life, forcing me to put school aside in eighth and ninth grades. I had to make the decision I wanted to become healthy and get my life back on track. When I finally recovered in 2014 I had a lot of cleaning up to do with my grades since, for the past two years school was not my main focus. Within two years I brought my grades back up to an A – B average. I am now ranked in the top 5% of my class, while playing soccer and swimming, and also keeping a job as a lifeguard in the summers and working at Panera Bread during the school year. This set back in my life caused me to be the strong person I am today. I believe that because of the obstacles placed in front me like, I am able to conquer