Annie, High School Student, CA
Hopefully I will be doing what I love. I'm not really sure what that is yet. Hopefully I have a house, maybe a dog, just something really stable.
Annie is a high school student in California. She was interviewed by a fellow student, Angel, as part of a #schoolpartnership #studentvoice project with REENVISIONED, in which students interview each other and adults in their lives, and reflect together on school and what makes a good life.
Hello! What’s your name?
Hi, I'm Annie.
Hello, Annie tell me about yourself.
I don't know… I like to think of myself as funny. I try to be as nice as I can to people that I don't really know and just in general I try to be nice to everybody.
How would your friends describe you?
Probably they’d say I’m kind of all over the place because I'm an open book with them, so I let them see most sides of me.
How would your family describe you?
Very quiet, actually. Sometimes I can be really quiet just because I don't feel the need to make noise, and other times I can be very loud.
Can you take me through your day yesterday and today?
I wasn't here yesterday, so today I showed up early. I went to advisory - we're learning about Hitler and all that jazz, and then I went to art – painting - that was pretty fun. I got paint everywhere. I went to lunch, and now I'm here in third period.
What was the best or the worst part of your day?
Definitely talking to the new friends that I've made here was the best part.
Was it a normal day if not what parts of the day was not normal?
It’s a pretty average day - the only abnormal part is that it's a short day.
What part of your day is most alive?
The most alive part of the day is fourth period – or, when I go home basically.
When you think of yourself thirty years from now, what would make it a good are successful life for you?
Hopefully I will be doing what I love. I'm not really sure what that is yet. Hopefully I have a house, maybe a dog, just something really stable.
What would you like school to do ideally to help you get to your good life?
I think I would definitely take ROP classes because I am not sure if I want to go into forensics or want to go into the medical field. It all sounds really interesting to me. Or psychology and I can also take a Cabrillo classes to help me with that.
Now imagine how your parent would answer and would be similar or different?
It would probably be similar. Both of my parents went to a trade school to do what they wanted and they actually got to do what they wanted.
What would you like school to do ideally to help you get to like?
Offering classes outside of school like at a university or at Cabrillo.
And how do you think your parents would answer the same or different?
Maybe different just because they would probably want me to have a backup.
Do you think this school will do that for you?
Actually, yeah. I had a lot of opportunities at the school that you wouldn't have it other local schools.
Will your school play that role for all students in the school?
It definitely depends because not everybody wants to go to college, you know. Some people already have stuff lined up – either there is a family business or they already have things lined up for them.
What do you think is the most important thing you're learning in school?
I'm not really sure probably, we are having a Holocaust unit in advisory and for some reason I never had a Holocaust unit and I’m super uneducated in this unit.
Who has been your favorite teacher until now?
Probably my eighth grade English teacher. His name is Mr.O. Or here, Maria here and Aron because they care so much about the students.
Can you tell me about a time when you learned something and it felt really good?
I started watching like forensic shows on TV and I thought it was really really interesting so I kept watching it. Then I started reading books about it and watching interviews I don't know - it just really intrigued me so I looked up more.
Why do you think we have school as a society?
Just to prepare us for our dream careers, I guess. Maybe not our dreams careers but just careers in general - whether it's math and you want to go and engineering. Or if you want to become a history teacher or historian. It doesn't help everybody but it helps most of us.
10,000 Stories. One Shared Vision.
REENVISIONED is a national movement to redefine the purpose of school. We believe schools should foster flourishing individuals and a thriving democratic society. But what does it mean to thrive or flourish?
To answer this, we're building the world's largest collection of stories about what it means to live good lives and the role schools should play in helping create them: 10,000 stories from people across the country. We'll use the stories to learn about our shared values and dreams and to create a new vision for why we send our children to school.
We work with people like YOU across the country: Catalysts - individuals, classrooms, schools, and community organizations - who interview people in their communities and foster empathy nationwide by sharing the stories on our website and social media: Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook (@reenvisioned).