Personal Narrative Essay

The Gift of Gifted
“Today is going to be a good day and here’s why: because today, at least you’re you and that’s enough”-Dear Evan Hansen. Ever since I was a baby, I’ve always been ahead. I walked early, I talked early, I was on an expedited version of living. This trend continued throughout my life. In Kindergarten, I distinctly remember there were different reading levels on our books. Red for kids who were struggling, yellow for the average, green for the kids pretty good at reading, and blue for the super advanced kids. I remember sitting in the blue book section, alone, wondering why all my fellow classmates thought reading was so hard. The teachers must have noticed because later in kindergarten when I was only five years old, I was tested for the Gifted and Advanced Program at my school. I can still remember the test to this day. I was playing tangrams and matching the red and white blocks to the pictures. To me this was a fun break from class, little did I know it would change my life.
I then got into the Gifted Program. There were maybe two other students from my grade in the program with me, and about 10-15 of us overall. My school was a kindergarten through 8th grade school with approximately 720 students, so I’d say the Gifted Program was a very exclusive group. Being in this program meant I was pulled out of some of my classes throughout the day. I was doing advanced reading, writing, spelling, all my language arts were way more challenging. I remember learning the words ‘scissors’ and ‘notice’ before all my other classmates, clearly making me the coolest kid in my grade.
The moment that sticks out to me the most in my 6 years of Gifted is when we went to see the opera version of Romeo and Juliet at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Now it was definitely not out of the ordinary for the Gifted Program to take field trips to see operas, ballets, or other performances, but Romeo and Juliet really stood out to me. We spent months reading all the different publications of the story, studying Shakespeare, the time period of the piece, and a million other different things. The opera we saw was also performed in Italian, so we were practicing a new language too. At the ripe age of 8, I was experiencing these quintessential pieces of work. Writings that people don’t discover until much later in life. I can remember reading the play out loud with my fellow Gifted students, sitting around the white table, pretzel jar on the side, whilst songs from the opera played in the background. Reading this play and many others at the time really changed my ways of thinking, reading, writing, analyzing, and just overall consumption of literature. Being in Gifted obviously impacted me greatly in many ways, but the specific experience of preparing and seeing Romeo and Juilet impacted me incomparably. The experience taught me so much, and eventually going and seeing the opera was life changing. I knew every little thing about Romeo and Juliet, and seeing it come to life right before my eyes was incredible.
When thinking about relating this experience to a social issue, I immedietly think of mental health and suicide awareness. In Romeo and Juliet, both of the main characters kill themselves. I was learning about all this at such a young age, and it really affected me. The multitude of different mental health struggles represented in Romeo and Juliet were the first time I learned about mental health at all. Obviously, the thing that stuck out to me the most was the suicide that was commited by both Romeo and Juilet. In today’s society, suicide is often brushed over. Of course there are resources, but many are not very accessible to everyone in need. If it wasn’t for reading Romeo and Juliet in Gifted, I would not have learned about suicide until much later in life, and I don’t think I was ever formally educated on the subject in school. In New York City, the suicide numbers have been rising for the last decade. The numbers just keep going up and up and there is little to nothing being done about it. It is a real tragedy watching these numbers rapidly rise. I think in order to help prevent further suicide deaths, better education about the subject should be implemented in all schools. Resources should be taught and advertised regularly to every and all types of people. Everyone should know the warning sides of suicide and where to get help.
Straight away the musical Dear Evan Hansen comes to mind when talking about suicide. In this show, one of the main characters, Connor, dies to suicide. Evan, who the show follows, also struggles with his mental health and attempts to kill himself (this can be seen by the famous cast that he wears throughout the show). During the show, he makes a speech where he talks about Connor’s death and emphasizes that no one is alone and everyone can get through whatever troubles life throws at them. This speech goes viral, which prompts Evan and a couple friends to start a campaign to raise awareness for suicide and mental health. Obviously Dear Evan Hansen isn’t the only musical about suicide and mental health, but it does a great job of showcasing real struggles that are often looked over in media. For being one of the most well known and successful musicals in recent history, Dear Evan Hansen spreads an amazing message and awareness for suicide.
I was born and raised on theater. I watched The Phantom of the Opera everyday when I was three, I was seeing operas like Romeo and Juliet when I was eight, and I have been performing in shows ever since I was 10. Obviously, I am very interested in theater, and that is why I took this class. I wanted to learn more about plays, musicals, and all types of theater. I hope to learn how to better analyze and pull apart shows. I am very excited for this semester and where it will take me!