My Legacy, My Self

By Nazier McDonald
 
I started off East High School as one of the unknown people in the school.  I thought middle school was going to be easy; I barely made it out of the 7th grade. The worst year of all was 8th grade where I became a follower. I went from a good kid that my mother would talk about to “if you don’t do this work in class, you are going to get a phone call home.” I didn’t want my mom to be disappointed in me.  I can try so hard to do the right thing, but one word from one of my friends, and I was ready to do the absolutely WRONG thing. Then, after barely making it out of 8th grade with a 1.36 GPA, I looked at that GPA and I thought, man, I can do better! 
 
In 9th grade is where I became more comfortable with my hearing loss. My best friend cracked a joke about my hearing loss and it was so hilarious that my nickname became “one-ear.”  To me, I thought it was hilarious.  I do only have hearing in one ear, and even that good ear has hearing loss. It went from joking at lunch using the nickname, to being a school wide nickname. There are several people at East with the name Nazier. If people were talking about a Nazier, someone would say “which one?” and they would say “one-ear” and they would know it was me. I still felt the same as everyone else, mind you, but that nickname brought me closer to people and helped me fit in.  
 
One teacher that has helped me a lot is Mr. Gillett. He is my favorite teacher of all time. He is the first teacher that I ever cried in front of. It is very hard to make me cry and I cried in front of him because he was helping me speak some very true words.  I would also like to thank Mr. Newman because he taught me how to make glasses. I really think that is interesting. 
 
For anyone that plans on attending and graduating from East in the future, my advice is mind your business and do what you have to do and you will be fine. Listen to your teachers and don’t be a follower.