Essay #13

Hello and Goodbye:

My Years at Pine Point and the Lessons I Have Learned

An Essay by Ashlyn Buffum

8th Grade English

Pine Point School

  May 16, 2012

Giving a speech

My brother stood in front of the whole school and gave his ninth grade speech with the theme of “hello and goodbye”. He talked about when he came to Pine Point and how he felt about leaving. I never knew that time could go so fast and now have me saying goodbye to Pine Point. Though as I look back on my years from when I said “hello” to now when I am saying “goodbye” I can say that I have grown as a person.

It seems like only yesterday when I said “hello” to Pine Point in preschool. I walked through those doors as a Dinosaur. I can still remember preschool, learning how to write and say the alphabet. I also still remember making my first friend, Lucy, who was an extremely kind girl, but one day I saw her crying next to a teacher. Not knowing what was going on, I asked her what was wrong and she replied, “No one will play with me.” This was my first real friendship inside of Pine Point and was one of my best. This helped me learn the reason for friendship and reaching out to other people ,and as a result the friendship grew. We spent almost every second together until third grade when Lucy left. I was sad, but I knew we would always be friends. Now I have many more friends and many more memories to share with my friends and family. The memories, experiences, and things that I have learned in lower school will be treasures for me to carry with me as I move on to high school at St.Georges.

Athena the Greek God of wisdom

After I said “goodbye” to lower school and soon after when I started middle school I learned many things about myself, and by doing so I grew as a person. For example, during 6th grade we did the greek play, and my character was Athena, the greek god of wisdom. Playing this part helped me realize responsibility and the idea of being a part of a team. Wanting to do a good job in the play, I tried to memorize lines for the part Athena. I also wanted to get them just right so I wouldn’t mess up and forget one of my lines and ruin the play for my classmates. After the play,  everyone congratulated me on my performance and commented about how I had known all my lines to the play. This play also helped me overcome my stage fright, a problem I had for many years. As a result, During the 7th grade drama of Nightmare at 20,000 feet I received a part of the  little girl named June. When I played this part it helped me express more of my emotions and also later in my theatre life in my community I received a good part because of my experience in acting. From the plays I have done through Pine Point and Weekapaug I have learned that it is always good to express what you think, there might be a time when you are right. The years for 6th and 7th grade were the the times where I as a person grew in many unexpected ways.

Now I am in 8th grade and the year is almost ended and with the curtain closing on the final chapter all I can think about is my friends and teachers. My friends have stayed with me through my years at Pine Point and they have shared with me their friendship, smiles, and laughter. From this I have learned that this is a wonderful life we live and that you always need friends. Learning this, I can go to St.George’s with plenty of memories of Pine Point, but also the ability to make new friends and make new wonderful memories. My teachers have also taught me many things. For example, My teachers have taught me to do better on my homework and also in sports, an activity that I enjoy very much. Also, both my friends and my teachers have taught me to be a better person and always try to help others when they are in need. They have helped grow from preschool to now 8th grade and I am who I am because they were with me. I will never forget the lessons they have taught me for the past 10 years and most importantly I will never forget their smiles.

Now my final “goodbye” draws near and I will bow out of Pine Point quietly at graduation.  I say goodbye to my school, second home, and second family, but I will always remember the lessons they taught me and I will also remember how they helped me grow as a person and athlete. In addition, I will also never forget the memories they gave me as I go on to my next adventure at St.George’s. At the end of my years at Pine Point all I can say as one final goodbye is “I am proud to have been a panther”.


Self Assessment
1.) I piece of my writing I continue to work on is my concluding paragraphs and making sure that they are not boring and not just repeating what I have already said.
2.) A strong point I think in my writing is my first body paragraph.
3.) one possible weak point I see is my last body paragraph because I feel it might be repeating what I have already said.