One of the biggest things that has happened in my life was when I found out that my mom had to get a pacemaker. This is because she had a third degree heart block, which had the bottom of her heart stop communicating with the top. She was legally dead, so they had to bring her back with shocker paddles. There are only eight people in the world that this has happened to while being pregnant, she being one of them. As a result of this, I started to appreciate her more than I had before.

Something that makes me the happiest is my family. They encourage me in the things that I do and the things that I plan on accomplishing. They accept me for who I am, and they don’t expect me to change. They expect me to be who I am. People who I respect the most are my parents because they are always there when I need them and they always know what’s best for me in any situation.

The toughest thing about being a teenager for me is figuring out what I am going to do after high school. When you don’t know what you are going to do, you will tend to get stressed out easily, and you will have to be stuck planning your future last minute.

Something I like about myself is I tend to be honest. I don’t sugar coat anything. If you ask me something, I will be straightforward with you. I am always honest when asked my opinion.

Something that I like most about school is learning because it will help you in your future. My least favorite subject is social studies because I’m just not very good at the subject. My favorite part of school would have to be BOCES, because it prepares me for going into the veterinary field when I go to college.

-The American Teenager Project was inspired by a book and online nationwide project by photographer Robin Bowman and educator Julia Hollinger that collects interviews with adolescents in order to respectfully share their stories and build community.  BCS students in grades 10-12 recorded interviews with one another and used those to write profiles of their classmates. We will publish these throughout the school year.