Switching Schools

Grade 3 – CCAT

Scared. I was scared, but confident. We were doing CCAT, and I had no idea at all that this was a test of fate. Everyone, I think, was scared too, but I had no idea at all. I knew that this wasn’t EQAO, but almost like it. I wanted to get a good mark, I wanted to pass, but it was too easy. A couple of days later, we got our results. I think I got 97%, which was pretty good. The next day, I got a letter. One of my other friends got it too, but I was worried about myself. What was it about? Why did only two people get it? Apparently, I had got admitted to this “Gifted” program, which just meant I was a little ahead of all my classmates in my studies. I could go, or I could stay. I chose to go, I wanted an experience, but I was scared to go. At least there was still a year to go.

I would miss my best friends, Abdullah, Elyas, Logan, Taeshawn, and so many more. I had known them for two years, and became really close to them. We were the fastest in the class, the most athletic, and Abdullah and Elyas were both Muslim, like me.

In my opinion, the best teacher was Mr. Tenn. He was pretty funny, and in grade two, he was our gym teacher. The second best was Mr. Hersh. We called him Mr. Hershey, like the chocolate, and he was funny too.

Summer couldn’t have come more quickly. I started avoiding contact with my friends, as I wanted to get used to life without them. Then, it was the next school year. To my great surprise, I went on a bus! A small one, and I was a little disappointed. When I got there, I met another Muslim kid like me, and he spoke the same language! And for some reason, he looked like me, too. We were half an hour late, because the buses for the gifted kids weren’t due for another four days. The first day was fun, and I started getting comfortable. I wasn’t that comfortable, because 90% of the kids were Chinese.

At recess, I saw this kid named Jayden. He got these things called akedo, and they were super cool. I wanted them, and we became friends. Later, during french, we did a kahoot and I got another group of kids as my friends, all Chinese. They were named Keith, Austin, John, Eric, and Kurtis. They were pretty nice, except Eric kept hitting me on the head. I minded a little.

I didn’t have many challenges at Fairglen, except settling in. There were way too many Chinese kids there, and only four kids in my class didn’t come from china. It was cool, as we had a lot of room for play at our school, and a playground. It was cool, and before I knew it, it was March, the month I’m writing this now.