This column goes out to all my middle school and freshman teachers.

The beginning of this year I made a decision to be a different person.

Every single day I run into so many unexpected problems and issues.

Some examples: an essay that I spent two hours writing didn’t save onto my computer or forgotten homework for one of my classes or maybe I was absent one day and didn’t get the notes my class took. Whatever the situation, I will find a way to solve it. 

I decided there would be no excuses. 

I know that in at least one of our classes, there’s that person–let’s call him Timmy–who always has the perfect excuse for everything. You know who I’m talking about. They’ll come into class late half of the time, and they sit in class doing nothing when the class is supposed to be working. They barely do any of their homework, and they don’t have much motivation to do… anything.

Teacher: “Why don’t you have your essay printed and ready to turn in?”

Timmy: “So I went to go print it, and my printer was out of ink.”

Teacher: “Why didn’t you e-mail your essay to me and explain your situation?”

Timmy: “I was going to, but I didn’t know your e-mail address.”

Teacher: “It’s on the EHS website… and my website.”

Timmy: “Oh my gosh, really? I didn’t know that!”

Come on now. No excuses people! 

And yes, in middle school and my freshman year, I was a Timmy. Now, if I don’t do my homework for a class, there are no excuses spilling from my mouth. I just simply didn’t get it done, that’s all. When I have to make up excuses as to why something didn’t get done, I’m just being lazy. I most definitely could’ve finished a worksheet last night, but I was too busy browsing Twitter.

So I can’t rely on the good old-fashion “I couldn’t find the worksheet” or “I never got one.” Now I either do it or just fess up to my teacher.

Even though I’m a person that does panic and cry when I forget my password or lose my library book, I still do my absolute best to solve my problem. If I can’t print out my essay at home because my printer is broken, I’ll go to school early and print it out.

Simple. Problem solved.  

There should not be any excuses. I can solve my own problems. A big thanks to Mr. Keith Pardeck, my Language Arts 9 Honors teacher last year, for tolerating my Timminess.