Stanley Clark is a place full of love, joy, and kindness. This is something I’ve experienced throughout my time here, since coming to the school in the 2nd grade. When I first came, it was a little difficult not knowing anyone, but making friends turned out to be simple. Everyone was so welcoming, and after a week, it seemed like I had been there for months. Our teachers are so caring and kind and provide an amazing learning environment.

Going to Stanley Clark has given me so many opportunities that I now believe I can accomplish almost anything I put my mind to it. However, when I first came here there was something I was dragging with me that made it hard to succeed without getting frustrated: wanting to be perfect!

Lexico.com defines perfect as “Having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.” Perfection is a figment of your imagination much like a utopia, it is an opinion that can’t even be proven by facts. I certainly struggled with striving to be perfect. If something was off, or if I said one wrong thing, I would be so furious with myself that I would shut down and cry. Mrs. Havens, my second-grade teacher, would have talks with me. She told me and tried to make me understand that not everything has to be perfect, but I didn't listen. I didn't see anything wrong with the way I behaved. I tried my hardest to remember what she told me, but for some reason, it didn't stick. The following school year I definitely improved, but it was still a problem. I didn’t really realize the problem with this behavior until around the sixth grade.

That was the year I wanted to make a change in the way I acted upon being told of mistakes. Mrs. Nash talked with me about a little scene I made in class for my grade, but this time I listened. She told me that it's okay to make mistakes as long as I’m learning from them. She really understood and empathized with me and it helped a lot. Since that day, I haven ́t had this problem. Mrs. Nash even pulled me aside during lunch this year to tell me that she’s seen such a change in me since sixth grade and how proud she is of me. Stanley Clark has helped me change physically and mentally to make myself a better person for myself and for others. “There is no such thing as perfect,¨ I tell myself every time I make a mistake, knowing that I can learn from it and figure out how to improve next time. Because I go to Clark, I now know that I can be myself with no judgment, and be appreciated for who I am even when I make a mistake.