Strange guest speaker experience…
Before starting high school, we had an orientation that I thought would be pretty straightforward—like a tour of the campus and help figuring out our class schedules. Boy, was I mistaken!
As soon as everyone was assembled, a quirky guest speaker appeared. He introduced himself as a DJ, and I thought, “Okay, this could be interesting.” However, he ended up talking for at least 15 minutes before getting us into a circle for some community-building exercises. But these were not your typical activities; they were downright bizarre! He began with questions like, “Take a step forward if you like waffles,” which seemed harmless enough. But then things took a strange turn with serious questions, like, “Take a step forward if a member of your family is currently in prison.”
Wait, what?
Everyone exchanged confused glances and nervous laughter. He continued with questions about divorced parents and asked how many had experienced racial discrimination in a circle that was, to be fair, overwhelmingly white. Then he ramped it up by asking if anyone had ever racially discriminated against someone, cyberbullied, or physically hurt someone.
Seriously, what just happened?
I understand the goal of fostering understanding among classmates, but I just wanted to know where my classes were! After a pizza break, my friend and I decided to bail and called our parents to come pick us up—totally worth it. When I later asked some of the people who stayed for the entire event, they mentioned they only got about 15 minutes at the end to actually locate their classrooms. Thank goodness we didn’t stick around for that!
Wow, that sounds like such an unusual experience! It’s definitely not what most people expect from a high school orientation. I can imagine how uncomfortable those personal questions must have felt, especially in a room full of strangers.
It’s good that you and your friend listened to your instincts and left when you did—sounds like it wasn’t the best use of your time. Plus, the lack of practical information about your classes was a big fail on their part! Hopefully, the rest of your high school experience is way more focused on what you actually need, like learning where to go and who to talk to. And hey, at least you guys got pizza out of it, right? 💁♀️🍕