Tenth Grade

I left 9^th grade feeling like I had figured out how school worked. I had lots of friends, I was getting good grades, and I could talk to boys without it being awkward. I thought high school would be a breeze. Well somewhere between the end of 9^th grade and the first day of school someone changed all the rules. I felt like I had no idea what to do as a 10^th grader. A lot of my friends were a year or two younger than me so they were still in Jr High. School was a lot tougher than it had been. And things were weird when boys were involved because this was the year we would all turn 16 and could start dating each other.

Gradually I figured it all out, but it wasn't until 11^th grade that I felt comfortable at school. And because of that I really don't have a lot of really awesome memories from tenth grade. Here's what I do have.

World History with Ms S.

All through Jr high I had looked forward to 10^th grade world history with excitement and trepidation. Ms S, the teacher of the honors class, was rumored to be a very good but demanding teacher. I'd loathed the joke of a teacher I'd had in Jr high so I was looking forward to a competent teacher. However, I was also scared of her. I walked into her class after lunch on the first day of school and tried to be invisible. She walked in and towered over the class. Later my friends and I would decide that she looked like Easma from the movie The Emperor's New Groove. The description “scary beyond all reason” fit her to a tee. And yet despite the “princess of darkness routine” (her words not mine) she was a good teacher. And she gave me the first words of encouragement I had heard all day.

My first two classes had been Biology and Orchestra. Both classes had been made up of 10^th, 11^th and 12th graders and the students and teachers had acted like high school was business as usual – which it was for most of them. But for me it had been a long day of finding classrooms and trying to figure out the system. This was the first class I had been in that was made up entirely of 10^th graders. Ms S looked out at the whole class and said, “don't worry the headache will go away. In a few months you will be going to your classes like you have been doing this your whole lives.” I clung to those words and soon enough I found out she was right. The head ache did go away.

I loved world history and I also loved Ms S. Second semester I had to change my schedule and World History became my 1^st period. I picked out a seat near the front. I did well on every assignment and every test. Ms S started calling me Val and I knew we were friends.

In 11^th grade I would have taken AP American History from another teacher, but my schedule wouldn't fit the class. So I took AP European History from Ms S. That class was full of 12 graders who were taking the class as an elective. Ms S didn't do her “Princess of Darkness” routine with that class. Instead she treated us all like adults and friends. We even threw her a surprise birthday party – and sang happy birthday the way they sing it in Emperors New Groove. I passed the AP test with a 3 which was pretty good for my first AP test.

In 12^th grade I was the TA for Ms S's world history class. I helped her out with sorting and stapling papers. I also did a lot of homework for other classes in there. I remember her asking me where I was applying for college. I was so embarrassed to tell her that I was going to Snow. I thought she would tell me that I could do so much better. Instead she said, “Oh I went there.” After that I was always proud to say I was going to Snow College.

Drivers Ed

I really should have waited a semester to take drivers ed. The birthday cut off to take drivers ed first semester was around February 15^th. My birthday is February 7^th so I was withing the deadline and I signed up. What I didn't realize is that I wouldn't be able to get a practice permit until three months before I turned 16. That wasn't until November 7^th. Without the practice permit I couldn't drive outside of drivers ed. So for the first two months I couldn't practice driving except when I was with a drivers ed teacher. The very first time I drove a car was with a teacher and 3 other students. I was scared to death.

Somehow I got through all the requirements. The only way I passed the range test was because I was doubled up with another girl. We were the only two people in the car. The instructor communicated with us and the other students in cars on the driving range by radio. My friend went through and did the test and then it was my turn. She talked me through everything I was supposed to do, angle parking, 3 point turns, etc. With her help I passed the test – Thanks Debbie.

There were three of us in Sunday school who were all taking Drivers Ed together. Brian, Elizabeth, and I would compare notes each week. We'd talk about our first times on the freeway, what the skid monster was like, and how many times we'd driven a car. Our teacher must have thought we were such babies.

November came and I was able to get my practice permit. With that I could drive with my parents. According to the rules back then I needed to acquire 30 hours of driving time. And 10 of those had to be at night. That sounds fairly easy, but it took a lot of planning to get all that time. Plus I had to overcome a lot of my fears. I was scared of traffic, scared of making a left hand turn, and scarred of the van I was driving. I learned how to drive using my family's huge 15 passenger 1977 tank. At least I had the assurance that if I hit another car, my car would probably win.

My parents took turns driving with me. I remember just driving aimlessly with my mom to get my hours. We drove all the way around on I-215. We drove out to Draper on Bangertor Highway. We drove everywhere. My dad would also go driving with me. I'm not sure if this was legal because he was disabled and hadn't driven a car since 1995, but we figured he had been a driver once so it was okay. On Saturday's he would have me drive him around on all his errands. We'd go to the bank and to stores. The deal was that I got paid the coin change from every transaction. Around Christmas my family went to visit my Grandma in Idaho. I drove the van safely through a snow storm in the dark.

When it came time to take my road test I did everything perfect except one thing. I received an automatic fail because I tried to do a left hand turn in front of a car that was too close. But I passed on my second try.

My mom went with me to get my drivers license on my 16^th birthday. After I got my license I drove home. And then I drove by myself for the very first time. I drove to the Trax station in Murray and took Trax downtown. I was my dad's date to the awards banquet for his work. It was a beautiful dinner. After wards we road Trax to Murray and I drove us home.

Dating

Ever since I was 7 my dad had done “Dating Role Plays” with me and Lindsey and Emily. This was part of our bed time routine on Sunday nights. He would set up the scenario and then pretend to be a teenage boy. We would pretend to be teenage girls. A typical role play would go like this.

Dad: Valerie you are 15 years old and a really good looking guy comes up to you and asks you out on a date what do you say?

Valerie: I'd like to go on a date with you but I'm only 15.

Dad as the boy: Oh really I thought you were older. Well when do you turn 16?

Valerie: February 7

Dad as the boy: Okay I'll ask you out then.

The role plays covered everything from how to handle two guys asking you to a dance, to what to do if a guy doesn't open the car door for you, to the qualifications to get married (returned missionary, has a job, plans for the future, good with kids, seen him in lots of different scenarios and probably some other stuff)

I guess the role plays worked in the long run because Lindsey, Emily and I have all married great guys. But when I was 16 I thought the role plays were worthless. The role plays hadn't covered the situation I faced which was: no one was asking me out. The year I was 16 I think I went on less 5 dates. I went to two girls choice dances and my friend Joel took me on 2 or 3 dates. That was it.

I don't know why I didn't date much that year. I don't know if it was because I was too nerdy, too tomboyish, too shy, or something else. It also might have been because none of the boys knew how to ask a girl out. My dad should have done the role plays with the guys I went to high school with.

Disneyland

Over spring break I went to Disneyland with the orchestra, band, and choir kids. It was probably the highlight of 10^th grade. Because it was so fun I'll dedicate next week's memory post to describing that experience.

Mononucleosis

I had to take Fitness for Life my second semester. It was a gym class. The first 15 minutes of every class were spent stretching and then running for 10 minutes. After that the remainder of the class was spend playing any number of sports. I quickly figured out that if I jogged for the whole 10 minutes the teachers wouldn't pay attention to what I during the rest of the class. So each day I'd jog around the gym while most everyone else walked. Then I'd find some corner of the gym and hang out with my friends in the class. Towards the end of the school year I even started sleeping in during most of gym.

I also started sleeping during some other classes too. My biology class was taught by Mr W who was the dullest person in the world. It didn't take much to put me to sleep in there. There were classes that I wasn't sleeping in, but I had lost most of my interest in them. My grades dropped in every class except world history.

At the time I thought I was just sick of school. But summer came and I still didn't have a lot of interest in doing anything. And I was constantly trying to fall asleep. Eventually my mom took me to the Doctor. After a blood test we found out I had Mononucleosis. I'd been through the worst of it without knowing what it was. But it was still a long time before I felt like myself again.

Tenth grade wasn't the best school year of my life, but I got through it. And thankfully my next two years of high school contain some of my very favorite memories.