Those Fourteen Months were hard. Those Fourteen Months were full of work that I never thought I would have to do one day. Those Fourteen Months created another part of me, a part where, even Those Fourteen Months are over, will never leave me. Those Fourteen Months will stay in my life forever, no matter how hard I try to forget, even though I know I never will. Those Fourteen Months will never end, even though they are over.

One day something happened in Those Fourteen Months. That memory, and each memory, is like a small fish in the vast sea of Those Fourteen Months. In the life of those small fishes, I met the people that would stay with me forever. Those people are in different places right now, although they are also right in front of me. My advisor, who gave me the inspiration to go through those fourteen months, who supported me when I thought I would cut Those Fourteen Months short. My friends, who gave me chips or sandwiches when I had woken up late and had to skip making my lunch. They are my everything.

Why did I sign up for, join, and go through Those Fourteen Months? They weren’t mandatory in my life. I wouldn’t die if I didn’t do them. So, why?

I did them because I was partially forced to. By the people I love. By the people who knew and told me every day that it would be a huge benefit for me, even though I already knew it. I didn’t want to go through the extra work, having less free time, and mumbling that I had to be somewhere whenever people asked me to go to their house or meet them at the park. But I didn’t know that those were the challenges that I would face. I thought I would spend Those Fourteen Months going on trips and doing activities, with some academics involved. So when my mother asked me, why don’t you sign up, it’s a great opportunity and you will have fun, I just said yeah, okay, why not. Instead, I found myself just studying and more studying and doing homework and doing more homework.

But it just wasn’t that. Prep for Prep had much more to it. So much that perhaps a pen dancing on paper would not be able to include every fact and detail that describes Prep. But if one Prep alumnus tries and does, then all the words would be positive. Even the ones that say things like that teacher is strict or oh my god I got so much homework during that time then I might as well have been doing college work in sixth grade. Because although they may describe hardship, or suffering, those things all benefited us. When that teacher was being strict, they were really making sure that we were doing everything correctly so that we would know it in the future. And when we got so much homework that we mights as well have been doing college work in sixth grade, all of that homework was preparing us for the homework that we might get in the future. So we suffered, but we weren’t alone. We had each other, and that gave us the encouragement to finish Those Fourteen Months.

What was the purpose of going through Those Fourteen Months? Why go through all the suffering and fun (sometimes) when I didn’t have to? Because we would get more opportunities. Instead of sitting in public school waiting for attention from a teacher like a donut in a box, we could go to a private school where the system of providing help to those who need it is more efficient. Who is we? Who are all the Prep kids? We are students from minority races that have entered Prep for Prep for the chance to get into a school that is better than the ones we are usually offered. Many minority race students are unfortunately put into low-quality schools because of their race and backgrounds. But Prep for Prep gives us a chance to avoid that and have the opportunities that others couldn’t have.

They were extremely hard, the days leading up to Those Fourteen Months. After applying, we had to go through tests and interviews and applications. It is in fact harder to get into Prep than it is to get into Harvard, which our teachers reminded us every day during Those Fourteen Months. That is the truth, and nothing but the truth.
And so, after getting accepted into and experiencing Those Fourteen Months, we all came out experienced, smarter, and feeling proud of the fact that we completed such a rigorous program. We had already visited and applied to private schools, whereas I had applied to Columbia Prep, Dalton, and Nightingale, and had been accepted into the school that I am sitting in today. Prep has a three-day trip for those who have completed Those Fourteen Months, so that we can relax after fourteen months of hard work, and sitting in a classroom listening to the teachers like an owlet listening to its mother teaching it to fly. The trip was full of activities and fun we hadn’t experienced for a while until then.

And afterward, finally, came commencement, a ceremony celebrating our accomplishment of ending Those Fourteen Months that never actually end. That is what they don’t tell you at the beginning. Prep, and the memory of Those Fourteen Months, will follow you your whole life, in ways you never expected.

But I have experienced Prep, I have breathed Prep, and I have lived Prep. These words are nothing but honest opinions coming from a prep alumnus who has just began the real journey. I have friends, experience, and pride on my side.

Bliss.