What I did While Your Children Attended High School Essay -- Personal

What I did While Your Children Attended High School    My education began formally, with lunch boxes and purple ditto sheets. I was set free when I was seven -- not just from the school building, but from the notion that I could learn only what was given me to learn, when the powers-that-were deemed I should learn it. Since then, I have been the power-that-is, designing my schooling around my own interests. (The audience is much more receptive this way). That's not to say I've avoided subjects crucial to a well-rounded education, but if I wanted to spend six months studying the Arthurian cycle, I did; and if I wanted to race through algebra as fast as my calculator could compute, I did that, too. I did not take tests, I did not receive grades, I did not whittle down what I was studying until it fit into a traditional subject offered in high school.    Most colleges use high school transcripts to see what prospective students have been doing the last four years of their lives. Here is what I've been doing:    As a volunteer for the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, I worked initially in areas normally staffed by teens, but quickly moved to temporary-exhibit galleries, where touring exhibits from across the nation are featured. I've been involved in several special projects, including building exhibits for area libraries. I co-chaired the advisory committee, which oversees and guides the teen volunteer program. I also served on the activity committee, where I helped put together museum tours (Fort Worth has a unique concentration of museums, with four in a one mile radius), lock-ins, and trips to Shakespeare in the Park. Though I am now a graduate of the program, I still attend meetings as an advi... ...in the workshops was much more valuable than the contacts I made, though they, too, are sure to serve me throughout my life.    Meanwhile, I took theater classes (Shakespeare, Commedia dell'Arte, and Greek tragedy studies) and performed in several productions, including A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. My behind-the-scenes work includes properties management and soundboard operation.    I also worked with my father this summer in his furniture shop. Though I'd collaborated with him often on furniture designs and drawn many of the projected finished pieces for customers, I'd never been a part of the actual production before. My months with him were mind-expanding and helped me develop a concept of art in multiple dimensions.    . . . And everyone said I'd be missing so much if I didn't attend high school.