Jen - The Early Years: High School


I had gone to public school all my life, but once I moved to Florida from the tiny village of Medina in upstate NY, that changed. Not at first, but it changed. I started going to Forest High School in Ocala, but I HATED IT!!! It was the middle of my sophomore year, the students were already into the swing of things and really had no interest in an outsider, especially a "Yankee." I went home from school nearly every day telling my parents that I was dropping out of school. I was always a straight 'A' student, but I couldn't handle this place. I wanted OUT.

My mom did the only thing she could - she checked out the private schools. I started going to Ocala Christian Academy about 2 weeks into my career at Forest High School. I loved OCA. The students and teachers were a lot nicer and the school was very small. I was used to small. This was a good thing.

I stayed at OCA for the rest of my high school career, graduating in 1990. I made a lot of friends while I was there - friends that I will never forget. OCA is where I got my feet wet in Journalism. I was on the Yearbook staff, and devoted a lot of my Senior year to working on the Yearbook -- the first yearbook of the new decade -- it looked good, too, I must say. I wrote most the captions in it, too. That's where I discovered I could actually make people laugh - not just my friends and parents, but REAL people.

My classmates voted me "Friendliest" for Senior Superlatives and I didn't even have to pay any of them!

A lot of people ask me if I support private schools or if I think public schools give a better education. I could go for hours about the pros and cons of each since I've experienced both, but I have to say it mostly depends on the individual. If you REALLY wanna know, e-mail me and I'll be glad to tell you more!


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Email Jen Page at JenPage@juno.com.

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