Taking some advice...

One of the girls that I know suggested that I just write, and that maybe, when I got it all down, I would feel better. So I started.

Part I

I did not want to be there. It was different, the people were different, and I thought I was the same as I had ever been. At the time, I was, but that, itself, was about to change.

*****
It was a normal, cold January Wednesday when it all began. It seems weird that after almost 5 years I can still remember the day of the week. But then again, I've always remembered strange things. For example, I remember that the scissors I was using to cut a circle from a square on construction paper in preschool were blue and white plastic.

But, I digress.

The invitation was printed on paperboard. I didn't know what Mom was handing me as we drove to choir practice.

"You're bother was also sent an invitation to visit. We went to a Preview Day with him. Do you want to go and see it?" she asked.

"What is it, exactly?" I asked while I continued to stare at the small bit of paper in my hands.

Mom answered to the best of her knowledge, "The Indiana Academy is a high school for juniors and seniors who are highly intelligent and looking for more challenging schoolwork."

"Anything has to be better than Shenandoah. I don't think I've had any homework this entire school year." Shenandoah High School, or the whole corporation for that matter, wasn't a bad school, but it wasn't all that great either. I thought a little change could be good. "Yeah. Go ahead and call them. I'd at least like to see it."

And so it began, the start of the biggest step in my life.

*****
A few days later, the envelope came. It held all kind of information about the school, the Preview Day we were to attend, and an application. Taking the initiative, I went ahead and filled out the general information page, the stuff that wouldn't change.

The school itself was mightily impressive. The Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities was located on the Ball State University campus in Muncie, Indiana. The students lived in a four-floor dorm building. The teachers had their offices in the basement of the students' building and the neighboring senior dorm for Ball State. Nearly all of the expenses were paid for by the state of Indiana. Tuition, housing, and all of our meals were taken care of. All of the students paid the same flat rate for book rental, yearbook, and calculator rental. The students were almost always accepted to their first choice college. Most of those colleges were Ivy League, and some were even out of the country and even more difficult to get into than most US colleges. But it was nice to see that a lot of the students did not go to the highly prestigious schools, but ones that they had dreamed of attending and were given the chance to stand out among the thousands of applicants.

The application process was long and tedious. On top of the general information, name, address, GPA, etc., the Academy also wanted you to answer three short-answer questions, write an essay, have your parents write an essay about you, a recommendation from a math, science, and English teacher between the 7th grade year and your current year in school, a recommendation from one of the administrative staff at your school, a specialized SAT, SAT II writing score, and an interview with one of the faculty or staff members of the Academy. Looking back on it, it was easier to fill out my college application than the application to the IASMH.

On Preview Day, we got a tour of campus, or at least, that corner of it, we visited a Civitas class and a chemistry class, met with the administrative faculty, and a tour of the dorms. At the end of the day, I was more than impressed. I was ready to start attending that afternoon. I turned in my general info page of my application and got the ball rolling.

Another random fact that I remember, I left my small, grey purse in the banquet room where the Preview Day was centered. Mom and I had to turn around when we were halfway home to get it. They had it waiting in the Academy House, where most of the administrative offices were located.

The entire time I spent sending in the separate parts to my application, I got more and more excited about it. I wondered how I would react if I got accepted or if I didn't. But I hoped against hope that I would.

I took the SAT specially made for the school, the SAT II writing test (I wrote about Communism), and answered all of the questions to the best of my ability. At the end of that long day, I was finished. I had submitted the final pieces to my application. Now all I had to do was wait.

I didn't have to wait long.

Within two weeks of taking the tests and my interview, the call came. It came while I was at school and the message was left on our answering machine, "Congratulations, Kaycie! You have been accepted into the class of 2003 at the Indiana Academy! More information will be coming in a couple weeks for you to read, and then you will have to reply and let us know if you wish to attend in the fall. Again, congratulations!"

I don't think my feet touched the ground for a month.

But then, they did. I was ripped back down to Earth and thrown to the ground. The day after I sent in my acceptance to their acceptance, the news came, my best friend had cancer.

How could I leave her? How could I abandon her at the worst moment in her life? I no longer wanted to leave. I no longer wanted change. I wanted to stand beside Sarah as she battled for her life.

My parents would not let me out of my decision. I had made it and I had to live with it. My attending the Academy was the root of many fights in my house for months. I wanted out. I wanted to stay at Shenandoah. I could not leave Sarah. I could not leave the rest of my friends. Who was I to think that I was special enough for this school when none of my friends were sent an invitation?

After many long battles, many shed tears, I packed up and moved to Muncie that August.