My father always said, “You can’t stop the rain from falling, but you can choose to use an umbrella.” I figured he got it from a book…maybe an e-mail or a fortune cookie. But I never got the meaning of it until I went to high school.
From pre-school to eighth grade, I attended a private school. Though the class choices were limited, I loved it, and benefited from the one-on-one attention. When it came time for ninth grade, I thought I would continue in private school. But one unfortunate evening, my parents told me I would have to attend the local, closer, public high school. I was devastated. This was the “rain” my dad told me about.
Despite my initial disappointment, public school helped me in ways that a private school couldn’t. Without the personal attention, I took initiative to help myself. I have to raise my hand in class to ask a question, because the teacher won’t come to me.

It gave me the opportunity to take harder classes, and learn how to function in classes larger than fifteen people. I had the privilege of taking Honors Biology, Physics, and Chemistry, which gave me a deeper understanding of the subjects. In addition, my school offers foreign languages such as Japanese and Chinese, which teach not only a different spoken language, but also a different written one. So rather than taking public school as a punishment, I have pushed myself into participating in clubs, activities, and classes that a private high school probably wouldn’t offer, like French, Japanese, and Key club. So this was me using an umbrella.
I finally understand my father’s quote: life has disappointments and challenges, but I can choose to make the best of it, grow from it, and use my umbrella.