Virginia Beach

I started elementary school at Trantwood Elementary school in Virginia Beach in the second grade. All of my friends from my previous school wrote me letters, which was nice and also a little sad. My first memory of Trantwood was looking up the word “fart” in the dictionary with my friend Kim Scott. I think it said something like a”spontaneous explosion of gas” For whatever reason, we found that to be hilarious, and we couldn’t stop laughing. We were separated in groups by skill-set. I was in a Math class that I loved. My teacher was fantastic. As I continued at Trantwood, I got involved with dancing at the Debbie Copeland Dance studio. I took tap, jazz, and ballet. During this time, I learned that I needed to get special inserts in my shoes for having flat feet. I was involved in the production of “A Wizard of Oz”. It was so much fun and a lot of work. As I progressed in school, I was taken into a private room where I was administered a test. I later learned that I was administered an intelligence test and tested into Old Donation School for the Gifted and Talented. At that school, I won the trivia game and was awarded a prize. I worked hard with my dad to prepare for needed presentations and I was happy with the results. Each day we had class, we would start off with mental games and puzzles. As I continued in elementary school, I was learning new skills and I once did a project on Ancient Egypt, and I wrapped gauze around a large doll. Fit the doll into a guitar case, and baked a good replica of an Egyptian mask. I was enormously proud of my “mummy “. I can remember that we would often watch 321 contact on the TV to learn about science. One time we were watching the liftoff of a space shuttle with the first non-astronaut, I believe she was a teacher, and the space ship exploded. My mother, who had been an operating room nurse prior to her marriage, would volunteer in the school’s clinic. I completed Trantwood elementary and awaited what middle school had in store for me.