My name is Jessica Tucciarone. I am 13 years old, and I go to King’s College School. This is my fourth year at the school, and King’s has shaped me into a mature and responsible person. I can truthfully and happily say that all the times and experiences that I’ve had at King’s have been positive and helpful in getting me started on realizing who I am and who I really want to be.
In my first year, I wanted to participate in everything, but experiences I had had before I came to King’s had made me afraid to stand out as a leader, so I didn’t push myself to my full potential. The teachers recognized this, and they praised me for what I did do, but also tried to get me to see that, even though I’m young, I can still make a difference. In my first year at KIng’s, I was given the opportunity to be part of the annual junior bake sale that raises money for our sister school in Africa. The point of the project is to give the junior students an opportunity to step up and get a feel for what it takes to be a leader. Because the bake sale is near the end of the year, I had enough confidence from the time that I had already been at King’s to feel comfortable to take a main leadership role in the project, and I found out that I really enjoyed it.
In my third year at King’s, I realized that I needed to make a big advancement. Now was the time to apply all the things that I had learned and actually be a leader in a senior project, even though I was only in grade 8 at the time. I worked with students in grades 11 and 12 on our large ‘Tastes of Africa’ project, and we raised over $15,000 for our school in Africa. At the end of the project, I took some time to reflect and realized that I still wanted to improve my leadership even more. This year I am taking even more of leadership role in ‘Tastes of Africa’, and I am already preparing to advance next year to become the main leader of the project. I love this school and everything that it has done for me. It has given me endless opportunities to make me a better person and a better leader. It has also given me the confidence of knowing that, when I leave this school, I will be well prepared for university and I will be able to make a difference in the world.
Submitted by Jessica Tucciarone, Grade 9, King’s College School