1st Grade

Mrs. Tyler was my first-grade teacher at Ferry Elementary. I vividly remember recess and the excitement it brought to each of my classmates and me. We would love to play soccer at recess and we would split up the teams by the different first-grade classes as if it was the world cup each and every day. 

My Mom remembers her first-grade teacher used to sing and play the guitar in class. This is totally old-school. From what I remember, anytime we listened to music it was through the smartboard or a speaker. 

2nd Grade

Mrs. Horn was my second-grade teacher. At one point we had mealworms in a tiny pill container-like contraption on our desks. Why? I have no idea. For most of elementary school, it’s as if all of the grades blended into one.

My mom’s main memory in second grade is of a classmate dying from a fishing accident with a hook. She always thought they made that story up and he died a different way. She went to a catholic school and had lunch in the classroom. She hated everyone watching her eat. 

Since I didn’t go to a catholic school I was in catechism class all throughout my elementary and part of my middle school career.

3rd Grade

Mrs. Davidson was my third-grade teacher. All I can remember are her cowboy boots and the crazy outfits she used to wear. I remember we would have Wwordly-Wwise  packets that were split up by color. I’m not sure why it was so exciting, but progressing from color to color felt so rewarding. Similarly, Ccool Mmath was a cool computer game we would use in the computer lab to learn addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. All of my friends and I would compete to be the best at cool math. 

My mom remembers having to do spelling bees. I couldn’t imagine the humiliation after misspelling an easy word. From what I imagined it would be in front of the entire school, and I would not like that at all. 

4th Grade

Mrs. Flannegan was my fourth-grade teacher. She was a Diet-Coke enthusiast. There was an awesome point system for good behavior in fourth grade. Receiving the most points resulted in either a trip to coney or TCBY with Mrs.Flanagan and two friends of your choice. Looking back, what a great way to promote good behavior. Fourth grade was when I got my first phone, a green iPhone 5c, and prior I had an iPod 5th generation, and I would just play games on it. 

My mom thinks this is when she had to play the recorder. She hated it because she couldn’t read any of the musical notes. Similarly, I also had to play the recorder and we were rewarded with different color strings as a ranking system.        

5th Grade

Mrs. Mestdaugh was my fifth-grade teacher and one of my favorite teachers I have been able to learn from. I started two weeks late because of my appendicitis. I felt so loved and welcomed when I was finally able to build up the strength to start going back to school. When I got back to school all my friends asked me, what happened? Younger me decided the story was that I needed to remove my appendix for a baby lion in Africa. All of my friends believed me, and they thought I was so cool for it. LOL.

One of my mom’s favorite teachers was Mrs. Knuth. She remembers her final project where everyone had to come up with a board game idea and make all the parts and pieces. When I was in fifth grade I think my final project was to replicate a state in a shoe box including elements from what the state is known for. I want to say I had Wisconsin. 

Middle School

I went to Washington D.C. in eighth grade. Other than that most of middle school is now a blur. 

My mom switched to public school in middle school.  It was overwhelming at first but some of the teachers were great like Mrs. Z for English. She has bad memories of having to swim in the gym. Like my mom, I also swam in gym class, but I loved it. When my mom was in gym class you had to wear the school’s bathing suits, change in the locker room and take a shower in a community shower. I changed in the gym locker room, but we weren’t given school bathing suits or required to take a community shower.  Mom’s big trip was to Boblo island on the boat. Boblo has been shut down for nearly 30 years now. From old pictures on Google, it looks like the Ssix Fflags from the National Lampoon’s Vacation.

9th Grade (Freshman)

Freshman year was also cut a little bit short due to COVID. This contributed to high school flying by, but freshman year feels so long ago. Bit of a contradiction, but nonetheless online school made the days fuse together and time seemed to be nonexistent, and today would be tomorrow. It was my first year at Liggett, and it was a great experience because I felt so welcomed and met some really cool friends. I took a CAD design class which was so foreign to me. We used a specific app in the mac lab, but I can't remember what it was called. We designed bedrooms. 

My mom took typing as an elective. Computers were becoming more available and transportable for schools, and even homes, so it makes sense there was a class to become more familiar with the technology. I wish typing classes were still being offered because it could save a lot of time writing a big paper. I kind of remember having some typing lessons back when I was in elementary school where an orange skin would disguise the keyboard, and we had to learn where each of the letters were. She didn’t have a cell phone or a computer.  She had to go to the library to do research. This is just about the only part of technology that I could not imagine living without. Whenever I have any sort of question I go straight to Google.  

10th Grade (sophomore)

I Got my license sophomore year, and I had a car readily available, a black Ford Taurus that I hold near and dear to my heart and still drive to this day. My sophomore year was the weirdest because the majority of it was spent laying in bed behind a computer screen. I didn’t really mind quarantine but there was no motivation to do anything.

My mom loved taking photography with a camera that used to belong to her grandpa. The only photography I was doing in sophomore year was pictures of assignments due since I couldn’t turn them into my teachers since we were online. She got her license but had to share a car with her older sister who was a senior at the time. The weekends were a nightmare, there were so many fights to see who gets the car for the night. They were always used, old ugly cars but at least they had a car to share. 

11th Grade (junior)

Junior year was personally one of my easiest/most relaxed years in high school just because of all of the stress around taking the SAT or ACT, but was banished since just about every college is test-optional. Although I was close with a lot of the seniors that graduated, it was pretty sad to see them go.  

My mom remembers taking AP social studies. She also had to take the SAT and ACT. Here at Liggett, there aren’t any AP classes being offered. She and her friends went to sports events and she even worked at TCBY. 

12 Grade (senior)

For me senior year has been the hardest no doubt. Unlike my mom, I am able to have a college guidance counselor offered to me. Which has made the college process so much easier and less stressful. I decided to make a hard schedule for this year because I guess colleges don’t want to see any drop-off of effort progressing through high school.

My mom went to prom and the all-night party after graduation. So far my friends and I didn’t attend the homecoming dance but plan to go to the prom dance. It seems like these traditions nowadays aren't as fun for some reason. Maybe it’s because there are more rules, and with more rules comes more consequences. 

My mom didn’t visit any colleges and doesn’t remember having any help with her college applications. She only applied to Michigan and Michigan State. She got into both and decided on MSU. Like both my mom and dad I applied to MSU, and got in! Honestly, I don't think I would be going to college without technology because researching through Google has been utilized at least once per assignment. I couldn’t imagine going to the library to look through fifty different books only to find an answer to one question. Homework would take so much longer.