Seniors Journal #1: Post before September 5
You do, too.
In your short 17 or so years on Planet Earth you have already experienced people and events that have molded your image, touched you to the core, or have changed your life.
If you try to deny this, then answer this question--are you anything remotely like the helpless, crawling, bawling, slobbering infant that lay in the crib? Someone encouraged you to walk, talk, and close your mouth when you ate your food. Someone, and some key events in your life, that undoubtedly involved other people, helped you to become the miracle merging of body and soul that is you.
Bet you never thought about it that way. After completing this assignment, maybe you'll understand this idea a little bit better.
Choose one of the five Common App essay prompts and respond in 250 words or more here at Schoolsville. Consider your response a warm-up to your final 650 word essay that you'll hand in to me and maybe even submit to the Common App people:
*Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn?
*Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
*Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
* Discuss a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
*Some students have a background or story that is so central to their identity that they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
*Reflect on a time when you challenged a belief or idea. What prompted you to act? Would you make the same decision again?
* Discuss a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you?
*Discuss an accomplishment or event, formal or informal, which marked your transition from childhood to adulthood within your culture, community, or family.
In sharing your experience here, you'll be participating in bettering the human race. That's right. You'll be educating the entire world community here at Schoolsville, a world that could stand to learn that no two people, let alone races, religions, or nations, are exactly alike. The world can learn from your story, or at least begin to develop some much needed emotions of empathy or sympathy. Wouldn't you be interested in reading about how some Iraqi teen, his country ravaged by foreign and civil wars, responds to the same writing prompt that you've just been given? Would his paper help you to understand his hopelessness, his fear, his distrust of foreigners?
OK, I'm only pretending that the existence of Schoolsville, or the completion of your personal essay paper, is vital to the future of the human race. But the point of my exaggeration is this: reading what others have to say is important, whether they live on the other side of the globe or in the neighboring cul-de-sac. Understanding them might help us to decide if we want to invade their country or invite them to our Labor Day barbecue.
Communication with others is the first "baby step" in learning how to get along. If we can't "walk in someone's shoes," then at least we should be willing to slip on someone's sandals and wiggle our toes for a spell. We just might learn that everyone in the world is not wearing the same 9 1/2 B's.
OK, I'm only pretending that the existence of Schoolsville, or the completion of your personal essay paper, is vital to the future of the human race. But the point of my exaggeration is this: reading what others have to say is important, whether they live on the other side of the globe or in the neighboring cul-de-sac. Understanding them might help us to decide if we want to invade their country or invite them to our Labor Day barbecue.
Communication with others is the first "baby step" in learning how to get along. If we can't "walk in someone's shoes," then at least we should be willing to slip on someone's sandals and wiggle our toes for a spell. We just might learn that everyone in the world is not wearing the same 9 1/2 B's.
Respond here before Friday, Sept. 5. I will post your responses for everyone to read early Friday morning. The final written revised product is due Sept. 11.
To get some ideas, you may review the comments given by former seniors by visiting the archived posts (see August 2012 and August 2013)for this same assignment.
posted by JTF @ 12:35 PM
77 comments
77 Comments:
There are endless reasons to how a person becomes who they are. Influences can come from family, friends, teachers, culture, even the games we play. One of the most defining traits that has created my identity is my Asian heritage. The typical Asian stereotype is something I have been aware almost my entire life. I grew up in an Asian culture surrounded by so many others who always seemed to be a “good Asian.” Trying to live up to this idea has always been a strong motivation for me, especially in my academics. I constantly compare myself to this standard and see how I match up. This helps motivate me to always try my best. I think to myself, “Of course I should be able to do well on this test I’m Asian.” So I study harder, I push myself to be better and better. But at the end of a long day, I never really quite reach that standard. I’m not dedicated or talented enough to meet that golden ideal. But in the end, it’s okay. Through the influence of family and friends I know the important thing is not to fulfill some silly stereotype, but to do my absolute best. So despite my upward gaze upon the image of a “good Asian” I am content to never touch. Stereotypes are never true anyway.
A lot of kids go to summer camp in their youth, spending the day in the sun playing games like tag, doing arts and crafts, or splashing around in the water. I am one of those kids, but I can guarantee you that my camp is a little different than most. For starters, it is up north in Canada--so far up north that almost no one in the United States knows where it is. It is called Camp Akomak and it is an all-girls’ sports camp. Akomak means “across the lake” in an ancient Algonquin language and it is across the lake from the original, brother camp, Camp Chikopi. I have been going up there ever since I was eight years old and, although I absolutely hated it my first three years, I have gone back every year and have since fallen in love with it. I go up there for seven weeks every summer and participate in all kinds of things from a nine mile swim race to archery lessons, but absolutely NOT arts and crafts. Camp is the only place where I am perfectly content, blissfully happy. I can truly be myself there without being judged, and the sense of community there is unlike any other. I consider all the girls there sisters and I know that if I ever need any support or even just someone to talk to, they are all there for me. There are many places that I especially love at camp, many spots where I feel free and peaceful, but my favorite would have to be in one of our green and orange canoes out on the lake on a calm, sunny day. The sense of peace that encompasses you as you sit there and paddle easily, the warm sun beating down on you, the cool water at your fingertips. The smooth rocking feeling as the boat glides through the water could lull you to sleep. There’s just nothing better than that. And although I have to wait a whole year until I can sit in my happy place again, I look forward to it all year. In my times of trouble, I let that calm, peaceful feeling wash over me. And when I think that I can’t take any more stress, or when I think that it’s too much, I think of camp.
Some of my earliest childhood memories include walking down a Southwest Airlines jetway holding the hand of a flight attendant as I flew as an unaccompanied minor from my house in St. Louis to my dad’s house in Chicago. For as long as I can remember, my parents have been divorced and I was raised by a single mother.
According to so called experts on one parent families, children from disrupted families are 20 percent more unlikely to attend college, tend to do worse in school, are prone to depression, and achieve less than those children who come from in tact families. According to my background; however, that could not be farther from the truth. My background of coming from a single parent home has made me more resilient and able to adapt to new situations.
Resilience is defined as, “the ability to cope with threatening or stressful situations.” Resilience is a trait that is necessary when making a major transition in life. It can help one grow in many ways and develop skills that are needed to thrive in a new environment. For me, this development of my resilience has allowed me to be confident when dealing with change and has helped me realize that it is okay to ask for help. Although the statistics would indicate that I am not as likely to be as successful as some of my peers, the resiliency skills that have been fostered within me are a direct result of being raised by a single mother.
Have you ever experienced that feeling of total tranquility? I have. Whenever i am at the beach I always feel at peace and most importantly free. It is the only place where I can just sit and relax, and listen to the ocean and the seagulls while at the same time smelling the salty air as it brushes against my warm skin that has been colored by the sun. If I had to pick one place I could spend the rest of my life it would be the beach. As a kid my family would always take trips to the beach because my grandmother had a beach house in Fenwick Island. I loved going there when I was little, because my grandmothers neighborhood had a HUGE sandbox in the middle of it and me and my brother would play together. My favorite thing to do was my brother and I would try to out do each other and make the coolest sand castles. We got really competitive. Whenever i got into the water i would try to convince my mom i was a mermaid, because my 5 year old self was really obsessed with mermaid and I had to be Ariel the Little Mermaid every year for halloween. She of course as any good mother would do played along and said "Wow look at that tail!".....oh mom. It makes me sad to think about now because the beach house was sold a few years ago and my brother and I aren't little kids anymore, but whenever I have the chance to go to the beach I pack my bags and I spend an entire weekend there. I like to use the term "returning" to the beach instead of going to the beach. I say this because to me it is my second home. I get that feeling when i "return" the beach the feeling you get when you return home after a long vacation...peaceful and happy.
As I walked onto the court, adrenaline rushed through my body. This was one of the best teams we would play all season, so I knew I had to play my best game. Just before the referee blew the whistle to start the game, I looked up into the stands and saw a crowd of people for the first time. The ball was tossed up and right away we got back on defense. Everyone on the court was playing hard “help defense” and made sure the star point guard wouldn’t get a shot off. Our opponents were on fire that night; they shot the lights out. No one of their team missed a shot. Quickly we were down by 10, but I wasn’t ready to give up. I couldn’t let my team down. Feeling exhausted already, I looked up at the clock and noticed only 3:30 seconds went by. My teammate threw the ball in from out of bounds and I dribbled up the court. Everyones eyes were on me. My defender was up close playing hard man-to-man defense. All I could think was I need to blow by my defender and take it to the basket. With that thought in my mind I quickly tried to shake my defender with a couple cross overs. As I took my finally step past the defender I heard a horrifying pop and my knee gave out. The pain was unbearable. Only after 4 minutes of an important game of the season was I not only hurt, but unsure if my season was over. Only a few days later I found out I tore my ACL and would be out for the rest of the season. I not only felt like I was letting myself down, but teammates. Sports have been a big part of my life and I was not ready to let them go. Even after 6 long months of physical therapy, my knee has still not regained its full strength. Having to give up half a basketball season and a soccer and field hockey season, I have learned to never take anything for granted because you never know when it will be taken from you. As I start to come to the end of this long recovery, I realize how much sports have made an impact on my life and how much time and effort I put into them to become the athlete I am.
Not everyone in life can have the pleasure of experiencing something that changes his or her life forever. I am one of the lucky few that has. Four summers ago I went on a trip to Ohio with my parish. It was a work camp for Catholic teens from all over the country. Different schools came together in one place all with the same mindset - to help those in need. On the first day we were assigned to groups that were made up with other teens from all the different schools. The group was then given the location that they would go for the week of their service. My group was sent to a Catholic spiritual center that was under construction. We had to renovate the outside as well as the third floor of the building so that it could later be opened up for residents. From painting the walls to planting flowers we were very busy with work. At lunchtime our group would gather together in the kitchen where we would end up sharing stories about ourselves. Some days were funny stories while other days were the deep stories that had impacted our lives the most. Even though everyone in my group had just met each other at the beginning of the week, by the end of the week we knew more about each other than some of our friends back home. It’s crazy how much someone has gone through in their life yet they don’t dwell over it. Being with these people everyday for a whole week changed my life dramatically. It made me realize how everyone can put aside their own problems and come together to be able to help those who need it the most. It’s been four years since I have seen those people in person but somehow we have still managed to keep in touch. Each of us has seen each other grow up through high school and some have even started college. When living in the moment it’s hard to realize that such little things can be meaningful to you later in life. Work camp helped develop me spiritually, emotionally, and physically into my present day self. I have learned that people are more than what they seem on the outside and everyone has their own story. Without this experience I wouldn’t be the person I am today.
I believe at one point in every human’s life they have challenged something they believed in. At one point in my life, I seriously challenged my faith. I was raised with a strong Catholic faith based background. I have attended Catholic school for ten years of my life. I was always taught that in tough times or times of question, turn to God and he will guide us to the answer. There was just no questioning that saying. However, last year I seriously questioned this aspect of my life. My brother is twenty-six years old. In his short time frame here on earth, he has faced a brain tumor,battling cancer, and other personal issues. When my brother was diagnosed with stage III melanoma in April of 2013, I was furious. I asked myself “Why does God make people go through such bad things in life at such young ages?” My brother was twenty-five at the time and just began living life as a true adult when this happened to him. He battled a brain tumor when he was a child. I thought he really didn’t have to go through something like that again. However, about three months after he was diagnosed with cancer and started chemo, I realized him having cancer was kind of like a blessing in disguise. My family and I saw underlying issues in his life that we hadn’t noticed if it weren’t for him having cancer and being on chemo. I truly believe that if it weren’t for this event in his life, he may have died from other things.Therefore, I learned to never challenge my faith and my relationship with God. My biggest lesson I learned was that everything truly does happen for a reason no matter what anyone says. Times may get hard in life but if you stay strong in your faith and learn that people are around to help you, you will come out so much stronger than what you were in the beginning. Nevertheless, I am thankful to say my brother successfully finished chemo a few months ago and is doing well. I would have never made it through that difficult time if it weren't for all of my amazing friends and me never giving up on my faith.
If you stop and think about your school day and what challenges you encountered that day you probably would first think of a hard test you took, a lab you performed, or maybe a lesson in class that was particularly perplexing. These are all things that I find challenging in my day too, but walking around and sitting in class for 7 hours is the most challenging for me.
March 3rd, 2013 I was finishing up my last day of soccer tryouts. We were just about to finish up for the day when our couch decided to end the tryout by taking penalty kicks into the goal. I was aiming for the upper right corner of the goal and was feeling confident. I was always good at penalty kicks. I took my shot and instantly fell to the ground in pain. I was having back pains all 3 days of tryouts but ignored them because I knew how important these tryouts were. I had been playing soccer since I was 5 years old and there was no way I was letting what I thought was a little back pain get in my way. The next few days of school were agonizing, I limped around having regular back spasms and barely being able to walk the hallways without cringing, but the worst part was not knowing. I went to the doctor a few days later and found out I had bulging disks in my spine that were causing the spasms, the kick had caused me to sprain my SI joint and my lumbar spine and pelvis were misaligned. Unlike a normal injury this was not something that had a “recovery time”, I was stuck with this for life. The only solution was a surgery that could be performed on me until I was older, along with endless physical therapy in the hopes of not fixing the problem but making it a little more bearable. I was given false hope that I may be able to return to soccer next season. Turns out the injuries were more extensive than they imagined and to this day I am told that playing soccer would be an “irresponsible act that can only make things worse for me”. I was not only out for the season but I was out for good. I was so devastated, after all, soccer was my escape and the field was were I was mentally at peace and that was instantaneously taken from me. I felt as if I had let my team down, I had failed them just as my back had failed me.
Now on a daily basis if I sit for too long..pain, stand for too long..pain, walk for too long of a distance..pain, and don’t even get me started on running. These simple things that I took for granted before my injury are now some of the most challenging parts of my day. I have come a long way from what I felt was not just an injury but a failure. Even though I know I can never get back to soccer I work hard at therapy to be able to still enjoy typical daily activities. I recognize that someday it is very likely that I will need surgery repair my back but I have come to terms with this and realize that I cannot dwell on my back pain when there is so much more I am looking to accomplish in life. I joined new clubs to try to replace soccer, I got more involved in my community and I no longer take anything for granted. I am proud to say that even though I have not physically overcome my injury, I have emotionally conquered it.
“Everything happens for a reason." Most people have been on the receiving end of this message at least once in their lifetime; whether it was because they weren’t chosen as a starter for sports or they didn't get into the program of their dreams. In life opportunity comes and opportunity goes and what makes people different is how they handle the rejection. Growing up, watching my brother continue to make my parents proud, I wanted to do the same. Being a young 13 year old with very limited knowledge, my goal had been to attend the Charter School of Wilmington just as my brother hd. Studying hard to achieve my goal I took the admissions test but sadly my weakness of standardized test set in and I failed to show my potential and was not accepted. As a result, I took it into my own hands to make the best of the other opportunities around me, in this case, attending St. Marks High School where I now strive in the honors program. At the end of the day it has taught me to make the best of every experience and that ironically getting rejected from the Charter School of Wilmington truly was the start of my academic growth and the guidance down the right path. In life opportunity comes and opportunity goes, but in this case a better opportunity presented itself due to the rejection. The positive outlook I gained and still continue to embrace due to the rejection always will allow me to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Everyone has that one moment when they become an adult like driving for the first time or graduating high school; but mine, mine was much earlier than that. In 2006, my dad had quadruple bypass surgery on his heart because of blockages in his arteries. Almost all of them were blocked so he was too close to having a heart attack. As a young boy, I never really realized what I had or what I took for granted. I never knew that life was unfair and that one day, mom and dad would not be there to protect me. Seeing my dad for possibly the last time going into the hospital, I did not know what to feel, all I could think of is, “what if”; what if this happened or what if that happened. I was not sure of anything. Only being nine at the time, what should I feel? I did not know that I would never have a father to come to my sports games or to talk to everyday after school, or even be my best friend for my teenage years and on. Being one of the two males, the other being my dad, in the house I knew I had to be strong and help my family through this hard time. I matured, took on responsibilities, and really became an adult that I needed to be. Every day I went to see my dad in the hospital was another step to knowing what if this or that happened. I finally knew what was going to happen. My dad would be alright and better than ever, cheering me on in sports and being there every day for me.
Some people might say that their favorite place to be in the world is on the hot, sandy beaches of Bermuda. Some may say it is at a mountaintop for its crisp air and nature’s beautiful scenery. The place I feel perfectly content, however, is neither a luxurious summer getaway nor a peaceful day in the woods. My absolute favorite place to be is my grandparents’ house. Although the atmosphere at my grandparents’ is sometimes intense, it is the place where my big Italian family can get together and simply enjoy one another’s company.
When I arrive at my grandparents’ house, I am always greeted with open arms and, most of the time, a rather large cake to celebrate my visit. My grandmother in particular is determined to make me eat as much as humanly possible, despite the duration of my visit. My visit could last for an hour and she would put a Thanksgiving feast in front of me and pester me until I agreed to bring the rest home.
Another reason why I love my grandparents’ house is I feel such comfort knowing that I am walking around the very same hallways that my mom did when she was my age. It is so surreal to think about what the house was like when she was younger.
The final and most important reason why I am perfectly content at my grandparents’ house is that there is an overwhelming feeling of unconditional love. My parents provide unconditional love, too, of course, but something about the random hugs and deep conversations with my grandparents makes me feel complete. I cannot even begin to fathom how much I love and appreciate my grandparents and everything they do for me.
As a freshman and sophomore in high school, I was not dedicated to running enough.
I only did it to stay in shape and be with friends. I did not train over the summer to be in shape for the following fall season and had mediocre seasons those two years. But at the last meet of my sophomore year, when I did not hit the time I had been training to get, I got a wake up call. I has a hunger for success and I needed to feed it.
What really made me want to feed this hunger was my coach. After the final race he told me that I should not be upset because there was always next year. But that was not good enough for me. He told me that there was a simple solution to shaving off those five seconds from my time. The answer was summer training. I needed to recommit to cross country completely. So I did. The summer before my junior year, I ran every single day and I could feel myself getting better. I realized that summer training helped me with everything in my life, not just my running
Once school began, I noticed a change in the way I acted around school and in the classroom. I achieved better grades on tests and quizzes. I dedicated more time to my homework and studies. I surrounded myself with like-minded, goal-oriented people. School became my first priority. My involvement in and around school changed. I became more involved in z-club. I embraced more leadership roles within it. I also became more involved in blue-gold. I joined a buddy group with my friends and helped organize times we could meet with her. I began volunteering out of school more often. I joined the volunteen program at Christiana Care Hospital the summer before my junior year and participated in a summer mission trip with my school to Marydale Retirement Village.
My ambition to run has also helped me in my searches for colleges and my determination to get into every school I choose to apply to. I have never been the best at standardized tests, so to help me get ready for the SAT, I took a prep class with Kaplan. I waited to take the SATs until May, so I would have taken the entire class and been more prepared for the SAT. But since I did not get the score I was hoping for, I hired a private tutor to help me during the summer. I do all of the work she assigns me and I want to understand every problem that I can be given.
I want to be the best version of myself that I can be and I am sure that my recommitment to cross country had launched me to achieving my best self. As I started to prepare for my running success, I also initiated the run for my life and for my nursing career. Running gave me the strength and the stamina to succeed in all aspects of my life no matter what obstacles may lie ahead.
Throughout my life, I have failed at numerous tasks, and I admittedly had a bad habit of giving up when I was younger. Sometimes I still feel tempted to take the shortcuts by quitting, but that is not something I would be proud of. Furthermore, sometimes there are no shortcuts. Getting my driver’s license is one of these instances. Ever since I was younger, I dreamt of my license, and by the day of my driving test, it had felt like an eternity. To prepare I had practiced the parking maneuvers for hours, for I was convinced I would nail the test. With my confidence high, I began smoothly, right up until the parallel parking portion where my nerves eroded my calm. After positioning my car and putting it in reverse, I had barely pressed the gas pedal when the test administrator instructed me to stop, put the car in park, and switch seats with her. I was momentarily stunned until defeat washed over me until I realized what had happened. I had failed, and I was crushed. I was so disappointed in myself that I avoiding all conversation of it, until the next day when my grandfather pried it out of me. After hearing my loss of hope, he convinced me to practice with him. I did not want to be helped because I foolishly thought it was all upon myself, but regardless, I agreed. That next day we practiced parallel parking for at least two hours until my confidence had finally resurfaced. One week later, I faced the MVA once more, feeling more determined than before. This time as I carefully parallel parked, the administrator did not stop me, and a squeal escaped me as soon as I finished. Freedom was unbearably close. All I had to do was finish the road test, and I did. That moment was the proudest moment of my life. All my hard work had paid off, and I had finally earned the illusive driver’s license. Although I still would have preferred not to fail, I realize that the lesson I learned by failing is more valuable than my driver’s license. I learned that accepting help is of nothing to be ashamed, and similar to my license, that lesson is something I now always carry with me.
I am the type of person that always has a desire to help others. This is one of my strongest attributes and part of the reason why I chose to pursue a career in the health field. I find myself drawn to situations in which I can assist someone no matter if it is physically or mentally. I believe that each person regardless of their ethnicity, age, and personal setbacks deserves a chance to be the be the best 'self' that they can and we all know that sometimes along the way everyone needs a helping hand. I want to play an integral part in why someone chooses to smile again.
To be a health care professional, one must be fully prepared to encounter all types of people and situations. One of the events that I believe has helped me make my transition into adulthood happened over this past summer. It was not an extremely dramatic event, rather a very simple exchange that happened in a school nurses office. I was lucky enough to be able to volunteer in a school that is specifically for hearing and visually impaired children and to gain hands on experience I was observing the nurse and her daily interactions with the students. On one of the days an 18 month old child came into the office after becoming sick in the bus. The student happened to be hard of hearing and bilingual. He was in a class that helped introduce him to English but also used his native language of Spanish. The nurse that was present that day was not proficient in speaking Spanish. I have studied Spanish since I was in fourth grade, and while I would not consider myself fluent, I am able to speak and understand Spanish well. So I offered to intervene in the conversation and see if I could be of any assistance. So after many failed attempts to understand the students symptoms, I asked him in Spanish and his face lit up because he could finally understand. So he communicated back as well as any child his age would be able to. He finally said, "Dolor de estomago!" which translates to 'pain of the stomach'. The treatment plan was then created. He laid down on one of the beds in the office and to calm him down I grabbed a book off of the shelf and translated it into Spanish so he could understand. In no time he was smiling and laughing at the silly little fish on the pages. When his mom arrived to pick him up he turned around to find me and gave the biggest smile.
There haven’t been too many times in my life where I was seriously compelled to defend something I believed in. Thankfully I have been surrounded by people and places that are quite accepting of different ideas, opinions, and cultures. However, one event in which I felt called to take a stand and fight for something I strongly believed in was the march for life. In January of sophomore year, some fellow students and I bundled up in our warmest coats, hats, scarves, and every bit of determination we could muster and set out to Washington DC. The wind was unforgivingly brutal and the bitter cold bit the skin like a thousand needles! Why would anyone want to spend the whole day outside on such a miserably frigid day? There was simply the sole purpose of fighting for the lives of millions of unborn children to whom life is not guaranteed! Thousands of Catholics and Christians alike stormed the streets of inner city DC sporting signs and posters demanding the government’s attention! Our mission was to show that we would not sit quietly as long as abortion remained legal. I felt as though I was part of something bigger than myself, and although I was just one person, together we could make a difference. If the legality of abortion never changes, if millions of babies continue to be killed before they are born every year, if life is continued to be discarded, I would not change being a part of the march for anything.
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When I ponder the place where I feel most content, I do not think of one specific location but the multitudes of different worlds that I have discovered through books. Usually when putting their child to bed, parents might say, “Lights out in five minutes.” However, with me, it was always, “Lights out in five pages.” I have always been a voracious reader, hungering to get my hands on new words. I remember points where I would literally take a book everywhere, even bringing them to restaurants and down to breakfast in the morning before school, greedily flipping through the pages before I would be told to pay attention. What I have always loved about books is their ability to draw you in and capture your attention wholly in a way that a movie or a television show never has. It is amazing to be able to immerse myself so completely in a different world, coming to care for the characters as if they are my closet friends or family. Maybe what awes me most about literature is the ability to see aspects of my own life in it, no matter what story or time period. I see my friend in a character’s gesture of kindness or laughter; I see my parents in the love and support from parental figures; and most of all I am able to see myself, whether it is in a character’s swell of love or in a moment of frantic indecision. No matter whether a book is set in the past, the present, or the future, it shares that same bond to get under a person’s skin, to make a person ponder its plot and ideas for months even years after. And although we might all relate to different characters or different emotions, we are all tied together by this ability to feel. Our hearts yearn as one. And this passion to think and to feel not only makes me feel at home but urges me to do everything in my life with the same passion and awe.
Imagine a place where you can get away from the ruckus of your daily life, be yourself, share stories, be happy, free, and at peace. For me, I can reach this place everyday of my life, no matter where I am. All it takes is a pencil, paper, imagination, and a handful of passion. For some, writing may be a chore. For others, it may just be an assignment. However, for me, writing is more than just words on a paper. Writing expresses who I am.
As soon as I have a pencil in my hand my brain kick-starts into an imagination only I can see. Isn’t that neat? You know about something no one else knows about. It exists only in your imagination, and sooner or later, it will exist on that paper sitting in front of you. It’s a beautiful feeling. Letting go of all worries and letting your brain exhale a huge breath filled with all the problems you have built up inside from your daily life. Your brain, intoxicated by the awful and miserable things that you experience everyday, can be let free. Freed, simply, by the freedom to write.
Just like most things in life, people may not understand why I write. They don’t see the beauty in it, the purpose of it, the joy it brings to me, or the effect it has on my soul. I know that it may be strange for them to think that I enjoy spending time alone with a pencil and paper after a long week of school. No one needs to understand it, and very few will. As pointless as it may seem to some, writing is a part of my life that nothing could replace. Every person has found a way, or is possibly still finding a way, to express themselves. This is mine.
America is often referred to as a melting pot or a salad bowl, made up of people from all over the world, with different cultures and customs. These individuals venture out to this country in hopes of achieving the American dream and providing a better life for themselves and for their families. My parents are no different from these courageous individuals who strive for better. My parents left their family, friends, and comfort zone in the small country of Vietnam in hopes of giving my siblings and me a better opportunity in the future. I was a mere 8 months old when this life changing decision became an action.
We are now proud citizens of the Unites States of America but this does not mean that I have forgotten where I came from, and the sacrifices that my parents made in order for me to be where I am today. Whenever I am stressing out about the little things in life, like an upcoming Calculus test, I think of how nerve racking it must have been for my mother and father to start a new life in a completely different country. Their decision, sacrifices, and courageousness have shaped me to be the person I am currently. If it weren’t for my parents, my backbone, I would not have the education I have today and the courage to take on my dream endeavors. This helps me to be a strong person and to continue persevering because I know the blood, sweat, and tears that it took to get me to this point in my life, where I have a canvas of dreams that I am able to choose from. I will never give up, no matter how big or small the obstacle because I am not only striving to succeed for myself, but also for the people back in my native country who were not lucky enough to embark on this beautiful journey to the new world.
America is often referred to as a melting pot or a salad bowl, made up of people from all over the world, with different cultures and customs. These individuals venture out to this country in hopes of achieving the American dream and providing a better life for themselves and for their families. My parents are no different from these courageous individuals who strive for better. My parents left their family, friends, and comfort zone in the small country of Vietnam in hopes of giving my siblings and me a better opportunity in the future. I was a mere 8 months old when this life changing decision became an action.
We are now proud citizens of the Unites States of America but this does not mean that I have forgotten where I came from, and the sacrifices that my parents made in order for me to be where I am today. Whenever I am stressing out about the little things in life, like an upcoming Calculus test, I think of how nerve racking it must have been for my mother and father to start a new life in a completely different country. Their decision, sacrifices, and courageousness have shaped me to be the person I am currently. If it weren’t for my parents, my backbone, I would not have the education I have today and the courage to take on my dream endeavors. This helps me to be a strong person and to continue persevering because I know the blood, sweat, and tears that it took to get me to this point in my life, where I have a canvas of dreams that I am able to choose from. I will never give up, no matter how big or small the obstacle because I am not only striving to succeed for myself, but also for the people back in my native country who were not lucky enough to embark on this beautiful journey to the new world.
“Lauren, stop thinking, just let go. What do you do when you get in a car? Do you deliberately think about keeping your foot on the brake as you turn the key?”
“Um yes...”
“Do you really? Well, there goes that analogy! Just feel it. Don't let your head get in the way.”
Normally, a trainer does not implore a runner to stop thinking while making those last strides towards the finish line, but it’s the routine with me. My trainer’s constant shouts transform me. That's why the cross country course is my home.
It's my weekly therapy session. It's my release. Once I discard that analytical mindset, I can finally feel free. It's the one place where I have that sense of connection to a different side of me—the one that does not think. The course is one of the few places where I succeed by not thinking. It seems counterintuitive, but, I guess, I should not overanalyze that too.
My release begins with a one mile warm-up filled with anticipated nerves and the exhilarating, yet calming music coming from my old-fashioned iPod. I gradually become the other me as I prepare for the grueling task in which I willingly partake: the five kilometer race. This me is the one who races for not only myself, but something bigger than myself: the team. When the finish line seems too out of reach, am I going to let my team down and quit? When my mind wants me to run further and faster than my legs wish me to, whom am I going to let win that internal battle? One can distinguish between a good and a great runner based on how he or she answers the call of pain during the race.
The lessons I learned on the course shaped my mind set: if you yearn for success, then you must follow through with the perspective steps to achieve that goal because no one can do it for you. Always prepare for anything to change in a split second; injuries can happen when you least expect them. From my multiple injuries, I have learned patience, perseverance, and positivity.
As I explore the terrain of the course during the race, my father reminds me to set myself up for the next obstacle. I hear him trailing behind as he tries to follow the pack of runners, “Be smart, manage!” That word, manage, means more to me than strategically preparing for the last half of the race. It means managing my life, not over thinking, just managing what I can, and taking each challenge one stride at a time. If I perfect every stride, then I can flawlessly complete the course. This strategy defines how as a perfectionist, I learned to cope with my not so slight attention for detail. The strides became my focus, because, if I do not enjoy the ride, then the outcome really was not worth it. While the results are important, the lessons learned on the course are paramount to the personal record that was earned even if the runner is unaware of them at the time.
Some things just happen in an instant, when you least expect it. Sometimes these things can impact and change your life forever. During the summer of my eleventh year, sixth grade only weeks away, I had never thought about what I wanted to be when I grew up. My Family and I were in North Carolina on vacation when at one moment we were all caught up in summer fun and the next found ourselves frantic in a 911 emergency. My brother Jonny was thirteen at the time. We were practically attached at the hip. Everywhere Jonny went I went and everywhere I went Jonny went. Without him, I was lost. Without him, I had no best friend. Without him, life would not be right. Chaos echoed throughout the beach house as Jonny suddenly had a severe seizure. Violent physical shaking and eyes rolling in the back of his head with feverish sweat was taking place before my eyes. My father ran and placed him in a cold tub upon the advice of the 911 operator while the ambulance made its way up the many levels of ocean front decks and stairways. In the hospital we were told that he had critical brain swelling that could be fatal. Medication reduced the swelling and he rested for several days. All I wanted to do was help him. I wanted to know what could be done to heal my brother. Since that day, I have gravitated towards medical programs, articles, documentaries, and television shows. I have since learned that his type of grand mall seizure would only be treated if he had another one within a year. He is seizure free and healthy. Medical doctors offered many possible explanations but nothing definitive. The human body and medicine is fascinating to me and as I have grown from that eleven year old boy to a senior in high school. I know my future career will be in the medical field. Some things just happen in an instant but can change the course of a life forever.
“Be careful, make sure you look both way, and always pay attention to your surroundings!” Those are the words I heard my Dad yell as I pulled slowly out of the garage. Even though I know he would never admit it I saw a couple tears roll down his face. After years and years of waiting for the feeling of independence it was finally here. I could drive by myself, which in my eyes made me a responsible adult. Where else is a girl to go when she gains that independence, but to the mall. I parked at the mall, twice because parking was not my strong point. As I walked to the doors I saw my mom and sisters waiting for me, and slowly I began to feel my independent feeling drop. My mom hugged me and kissed me in front of mall and the independent feeling dropped even more. I did not want to be rude so I walked around with my mom and sisters for an hour, which did not seem as a bad as I thought it was going to be, but then it was finally time to leave. We all went to our respected cars, and I slowly began to follow my mom home, but instead of going home I went to another store that was five minutes away from the mall. I parked the car twice, once more and went into Five Below. The independence feeling was back again, but it was accompanied by fear. I had never purchased anything by myself or gone into a store by myself for that matter. Instead of turning around to the car I walked as confidently as I could into the store and bought one tiny thing, a phone case, and proceeded back to the car. When I finally returned to the car I realized that it wasn’t necessarily driving that gave me my adulthood feeling it was being able to take care of yourself inside and out of the car.
Waves roll in and crash on shore one after another. The smell of saltwater fills my nostrils. All of the bones in my body are relaxed as I lay motionless on my towel under the hot sun. I look around, taking it all in. I am engulfed in the blue, cloudless sky that seems to go on for eternity. The beach is crowded with families, children, tourists, and groups of friends all scattered throughout the miles of sand. I can hear music faintly in the background that seems to be coming from a few umbrellas away. Plenty of adults are lying on their floats a couple feet out, swaying back and forth following the rhythm of the ocean. The children stand right where the waves break and run away before the water can reach them. The sound of their laughter makes me beam, recognizing how the littlest of things make children happy. Next to me is my brother who is also catching some rays on our day at the beach. Wedged between my fingers is a sappy romance novel that I am trying to read amidst all the activity happening around me. Occasionally I am interrupted by cheers coming from the beach volleyball net that is set up behind me. I have a cold water propped up in the sand next to me for when the warm sun starts to dry my mouth. The temperature reads 85 degrees, the perfect temperature with the perfect conditions. At this very moment, I am perfectly content.
As an athlete, when you become injured it can crush all the goals you have for the season. When I was a sophomore, I had a season ending injury. While I was practicing for hurdles at track practice I severely injured my hip muscle. The doctor told me that I probably wouldn’t be able to continue the season. It was absolutely devastating. A few months earlier, I qualified for states in high jump for the first time, so it was exciting for me to be able to compete, and now all that excitement was gone. But, my mom told me that I can push through and strengthen my hip so I could compete. I was a little hesitant at first because it seemed like a lost cause. But I realized if I really wanted to compete I would do whatever it takes to make that possible. I started doing cross training every day to try to strengthen my hip muscle. It took a while but eventually my hip became strong enough to compete. Although I was able to compete, I was nowhere near the level of skill I was at when I qualified. All of the girls I was competing against had been training every day when I wasn’t. I had to push myself harder than I ever had to in order to regain everything I lost. I stayed later at practices until I was better at my jumps. The state meet finally came around and I felt excited and hopefully that I would do ok against my competition. I did better than I thought by coming in 4th place in the state of Delaware. It was such an achievement. It proved that I could overcome anything even if it seems impossible. Never give up on something if others don’t think you can succeed. People who succeed are the ones that look failure in the face and say, “I can do this.”
Being born with two holes in my heart has shaped much of who I am today. Growing up with regular hospital visits to numerous different departments and taking multiple tests every time was normal for me. Doctors I had never met from around the hospital would come to my room, asking if they could listen to my heart. I was never afraid of the hospital as a lot of young children seem to be, and I even thought it was fun sometimes. All of the attention made me feel special. It made me feel special right up until the day I learned that I needed open heart surgery. Suddenly, everything felt different. I quickly realized how serious the issue actually was and began to feel afraid about what would happen to me. People told me not to worry about it, but I couldn’t help it. Waking up a few days after that surgery changed my perspective about life forever. Realizing the fact that I was alive and okay gave me a whole new mindset that I have always kept with me. I knew that no obstacle from that day on would ever be harder than what I had already accomplished. I knew that I would never have to be afraid of something being too big for me to handle. Above all, I knew that the support I received from my school, friends, and especially my family would be a force that I will be able to draw from for the rest of my life. Today I have my scar as a constant reminder that I do have the strength to get through every hardship I will inevitably face.
Growing up, my family always applauded and complemented me on how responsible and mature I was. Naturally, I felt as if I was a mini adult and more prepared than other adolescents to truly become an adult. My entire junior year of high school taught me that I was far from being an adult but as junior year concluded, I believe I matured and became the young adult that I am today. Although I’m not the legal adult of age eighteen yet, I went through a larger emotional struggle and more stress than many adults. I realize that other individuals consider my struggle to be small because they are going through other hardships that are worse than mine but for me, junior year was an overwhelming experience. My one and only sibling is a recovering drug addict. Currently my brother has been clean for many months and lives in Florida to keep himself away from temptation and no good friends. During my junior year he heavily depended on drugs. I know for a fact that he used them in the bedroom just below mine. As a sixteen/seventeen year old girl, accepting this was very difficult. Along with a difficult home situation, I was juggling school, dance, a part time job and volunteer work within my youth ministry but I made it through. I ended junior year with a 3.6 grade point average, maintained my job, continued my dance classes, and became even more involved at my church. This accomplishment was huge for me and I feel as if it marked my transition from childhood to adulthood
I am running down the field, the ball is making a tap, tap, tap sound with every touch of my stick; I am unstoppable. This is my place, this is where I feel most at ease. On the field hockey field I am able to control what goes on around me, I am able to control the outcome of the game. In life more times then not the end result of the game of life, so to speak, is out of my hands. There are always so many things going on in the world around me, whether it be school, my friends, my family, or a combination of the three. At times it can seem to be overwhelming, but when I walk onto that field everyday I know what is going to happen next. As long as I am on that field I am able to control how I play, how I move and cut across the field, how I can make myself better. As I cut across the field, as I am watching the ball waiting for the exact moment my opponent will let her stick off it giving me the opportunity to steal it and regain possession I am on a high. The support of my coaches, the crowd, and my teammates out there on the field with me encourage me to push through any weakness. On the field I feel as if nothing could possibly stand in my way or slow me down.
Some may find a sport’s field a stressful place, but for me the field is a second home. I know how the ball moves over the short, freshly cut blades of grass. I yearn for the feeling of vibrations leading up my stick when I get the perfect hit at the top of the circle. During a game I am completely consumed by one thing, success. I am willing to give all that I have for my team, for the soothing feeling of knowing that when that final buzzer sounds with the conclusion of the game I gave it all I had. I left it all on the field.
We all have failed at something in life that we are all not truly proud of talking about, but that is what makes us all different. The best of the best have all failed at something and that is what got them to the place at which they are today in the world. Either famous, rich, popular you name it they have all failed as well, but what they did was take the failure as a life lesson like we all should and turn it into a success for their life’s. If you know me you know that when it comes to bragging that is something that I am not too fond of doing I was not always like this though. Back in middle school since I was the fastest kid, and one of the very few athletic kids that excelled at sports I would always be picked first for teams and would always brag about my talent with most of my other athletic friends. In middle school the only sport that I played for the school was basketball, and in this sport I always started for the JV team. Then one year the varsity coach decided to mend the rules and allow kids that were not in 8th grade to play on the varsity team. So I tried out for the varsity team with a lot of other 7th graders and low and behold I and 2 other 7th graders were the only ones to make the team that year and the rest of the team consisted of 13 8th graders. The next year when I was an 8th grader I tried out for the varsity team again and this time I didn’t care about tryouts because I thought that I had a guaranteed spot on the team since I was one of the three 7th graders on the team last year. I was cocky and didn’t care, which came to bite me in the rear in the end because I didn’t make the team my 8th grade year. When I asked the coach he said it was because I showed no heart and was didn’t try at the tryouts. At first I was very upset but then sat down and thought it was my fault I didn’t make the team I should be blaming myself, and something that kept my spirits up was that Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school team and look at where he is today. In all at the end I changed my ways for the better and have stopped bragging about things.
When I was younger, from about age six to thirteen, it was always my dream to be a world famous actor in movies. This dream led me to sign up for a summer camp where basic acting skills were taught and then put into practice by performing a play with kids of various ages. I went into the camp thinking I was going to be the best actor there and that everyone would be shocked at how talented I was. When it came time to audition for roles in the play, naturally I wanted to try out for the lead. I thought there was no way I would not get the leading role, even though several other kids who were older and more experienced also tried out. When the cast list was put out, it came to my surprise that I did not get the lead roll. In fact, I was casted a roll I did not even try out for. It was a very small role with only a few lines and I was devastated. I went home upset and I lost all desire to be in the play. Luckily, my parents did not let me drop out and I stayed in the camp.
As practices went on, I realized that being in a play is a lot of work. Practicing for my small role wore me out and made me somewhat glad that I was not casted as the lead role. I learned that the higher the position the more work and dedication is involved. When it came time to perform the play I found myself admiring how good the lead was at performing his role. He deserved it more than I did. I learned that sometimes you must put your wants aside and do what is beneficial for the group. Everyone has to work together in order to achieve success. There is no such thing as small parts, only small actors.
I am never the one that can easily talk in front of a crowd. When I try to say something, I tend to screw it up and make myself look like a babbling idiot. This is because I struggle to get everything I want to say out and I feel a bit uncomfortable around some people. This originates to back when I was a toddler. I was very slow to mature to the point that most toddler should be at that point. I was very dependent on my parents and my close family and would be very uncomfortable when none of them where in the same room in public. To top it all off, I was unable to communicate with anyone for years. I had so much to tell my family, but I had no way to reach out to them. This forced me to become a very private person. I could only get used to my class in preschool and was never able to socialize with another class. My parents were not concerned about this because they believed that it was normal for a toddler develop at different paces. It later became very apparent to them that I was not developing normally. Fearing that I will never talk they took my to a speech therapist and I learned sign language. This was my first step in communication. My favorite sign was “I want more.” Typically I would yearn ice cream. When I was around three and a half, I finally started to talk. I started to break out of my shell but I did not make may friends. I continued to develop over the course of a few years. When I was in first grade, I was bullied because I did not connect to the rest of the class because of my poor social skills and my teacher did not care at all, even though the bullying was apparent. It was not until my parents intervined that the bullying was stopped. I was also diagnosed with a learning disability due to my lack of communication in youth. I eventually stopped therapy as I was one of those children that the speech therapist described as “has no hope in successfully pronouncing syllables correctly.” After years of practice, however, I was able to pronounce the syllables I had trouble with correctly. A few years ago, a solution to one of my problems was solved. I discovered that the frenulum of my tongue extented too close to the tip of my tongue. I had surgery to remove part of it and the surgery has helped a lot. I am now able to speak clearer and more people can understand me. Now in high school, I am still a quiet person, but I have been able to make friends with people I would never of expected to meet. My learning disability is no longer an issue because I turned out to be much smarter than other students with similar issues. I am now taking two Advanced Placement courses in my final year of high school. Even though I do sound like a babbling idiot at times, I have broken out of my shell, though still not on any social media sites.
Football does not build character, it reveals it. Some people may hate it but I cannot live without it. The only time I feel like I am free is when I have a football in my hand. Everything is free my mind, my spirit, my emotion and my body. This sport defines me. There is not a better feeling when it is a Friday night and the stadium lights come on, the fans start to pile in, the music blasting, the pads thudding, the players yelling. All of this is going on around me but I cannot hear any of it. When I am out on the field, I feel like I am all alone by myself in my back yard. Football is my identity. It is who I am. Everything I have become is because of football. Football has taught me how to become a man, how to become a leader, what to do when you are facing adversity, and what to do when no one is watching. I have been playing football all my life starting in second grade. I was the kid who always followed high school, college, and pro football. My life revolved around football. Starting in fifth grade I had a dream to start on the varsity football team at Saint Mark’s and then go on to play in college. Last year the first part of my dream came true and now that it is my senior year and starting to get emails from college coaches I can see the second part of my dream coming true already. Some people told me playing football might kill me, well not playing football would kill me.
Although some people are defined by a particular circumstance, an important person in their life, or a specific characteristic, I believe I am defined by a medical condition that I refuse to allow to define me. When I was younger, I was diagnosed with a skin condition called Morphea. Morphea, which is rather rare, causes overactive pigment which results in dark spots over a large part of my body. I was picked on and made fun of as a kid, mostly by my older brother and cousin. People often asked questions about “my spots” which caused me to be uncomfortable and sometimes embarrassed. As I got older, I realized that dark patches on my skin have nothing to do with who I am as a person. I don’t let Morphea stop me from wearing what I want to wear or doing what I want to do. Like most girls my age, I wear backless dresses and bikinis at the beach. Because my physical appearance is not perfect, I realize that it is more important to have strong character and values. Although we are all taught not to judge a book by its cover, people, especially teenagers, often make judgments based on looks. If others have a problem with the way I look, then that’s their problem, not mine. I think because of my condition, I am more focused on what’s important to me and less focused on worrying about what others think. I will not let Morphea get in way of my hopes, dreams, or goals.
When I step on the basketball court, I am untouchable. Not in the arrogant sense that i am superior to my adversaries but in the fact that nothing from the outside world can bother me. Before my games i will be stressing about which class I have the most work due the next day, what present I am going to get my best friend for his birthday in two days, or what college might accept my application, but the second I lace my shiny shoes and touch the glossy well lit gym floor, it all vanishes. The only thing I focus on for the next hour and a half is using my ability that I have spent countless hours trying to perfect. There is seldom a chance that somebody gets to do to the thing they love in front of hundreds of people, and I am lucky enough to experience it. It isn't just about the fans watching me as an individual play basketball, it is working with my brothers that I sweat and fight with all season in practice to reach a common goal. Going through struggles with friends or even teammates can create a bond that is unbreakable. Regardless of the outcome I am at my happiest and most calm in the hectic, loud, and rowdy basketball gymnasium.
Over this past summer in mid July, I ventured on a very uncharacteristic journey to Europe for two weeks. Naturally, I didn't conquer an entirely new continent alone. I went with a travel group from whom I had been previously exposed to through my older brother, Ryan. Ryan went to Costa Rica with Travel for Teens in the summer of 2013, and had from what I gathered, the time of his life. So, in efforts to have an equally eye-opening and life-changing experience, I signed up for a backpacking trip through Amsterdam, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.
My expedition began at Newark International Airport where I met up with the rest of my group; the majority around the same age as me, coming from wealthy homes from big cities all over the US such as St. Louis, Manhattan, San Francisco, etc. Contrary to their anything but modest upbringings,most of the kids I met were kind and down to earth. So, feeling a little more confident about my standing in the group, I stepped on board the aircraft, took an Ambien, and unconsciously awaited my arrival in Amsterdam.
Coming off a drug-induced mini coma, the culture shock of Holland didn't hit me until I stepped off the train in the heart of downtown Amsterdam. It was like everything modern day pop-culture made it out to be. There was a "coffee shop" on every corner, cyclists at every turn with and to top it off ,the famous "Red Light District". It was an teenage, American tourists dream. Unfortunately, we only had two days to spend in Amsterdam; but needless to say they were chock-full of sightseeing, museum visiting, and taking in all the city had to offer. I left with no regrets. After a grueling five hours of anticipation on the train to Germany, we reached our destination in Munich. The city was magnificent. Almost every building looked ancient, the city was full of life, and I was of legal age to drink their world famous beer. Aside from the culture though,what I loved most about my visit to Germany was the World Cup final. I had been looking forward to this day since Holland lost to Argentina and not even a visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp could dull my spirit. The energy of the beer hall where we watched the game was indescribable. It was packed to the brim with die-hard fans and the place was practically giving away liters of German beer. So I teamed up with a drinking buddy and made it a night to remember. Feeling slightly hungover, we left Germany that next day ready for a much needed relaxing day in Switzerland. The views were breathtaking. Our hostile, with an altitude of around 3000 ft. allowed us an incredible glimpse at the Swiss Alps and one couldn't help but feel at peace looking at them. Although we didn't drink nearly as much I was still exhausted at the end of every day. While in Switzerland, I went hiking, mountain biked at an extreme level, zip-lined and went canyoning and cliff jumping off waterfalls. Evidently, I left the country somewhat sore and in much better shape than when I arrived.
Having just lost about five pounds, I was more than ready for our last stop in Venice for some world renowned Italian food. The cuisine as promised, was amazing. On the last night we were treated with a four course meal culminating in the most amazing tiramisu I had ever tasted. After dinner with a bittersweet feeling, some friends and I decided to go out with a bang. We each got a bottle of wine, reminisced a little and stayed up all night watching Venetian Festival fireworks with our feet hanging into the canal. It was the perfect ending to a life-altering adventure. I truly believe this experience marked a key part of my transition into independent adulthood.
Each of us has that one unique attribute that makes us who we are. In my case it is my Italian heritage. I didn’t choose to be from Italian descent but it is surely a privilege to be a part of such a fascinating culture. I was raised by my parents, who are dedicated Roman Catholics, and their influence on me has sculpted me into the man I am today. My family attends church every Sunday which has made me become more mature. When I was a little boy I used to view attending church as boring but once I started to mature I realized my faith is one of the most important things I have in life. I am much more grateful and willing to help because being raised in a catholic Italian family has strengthened my values to want to become a better person. One thing that has always been important to me has been my family and the most important thing to most Italians is family. Family isn’t just relatives it is any person that makes an impact on my life. My family comes together in times of happiness or sorrow as one. One thing I look forward to is Sunday Family dinners with a home cooked pasta dinner. These are bonding experiences that are made up of good food and good memories. If I wasn’t Italian I couldn’t see myself being as good of a person that my family has raised me to be.
Everyone has that one place where they experience nothing but complete serenity, where the outside world ceases to exist and where they can let go of all their worries . For me, that is the tennis court. Tennis has been a part of my life since I was little. Growing up with a dad that played in college and two older brothers who had started playing, I decided to give it a try. For years, I had played indoor and outdoor soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse, but none of them really clicked. That was until I picked up a tennis racket. I was hooked. I would go to clinics with other new beginners and play games, but I was always wanting to play more. Soon every chance I could, I would be out on the court hitting with my parents, brothers, or just the wall. As I got older, I found myself focusing more on tennis than any other sport. I started doing more advanced clinics and practicing more and more. I would beg my brother to hit with me or ask my instructor to give me a few extra tips on my serve. Some days my mom would drop me off at the courts and I would turn my iPod on and just hit against the wall for hours. No matter how frustrating it was when a ball went over the fence, I kept going. I was determined to hit ten in a row, then twenty, and so on until I reached my goal. Even though I started playing at such a young age, tennis did not come naturally. I had to work at it diligently and I still continue to today. It is a sport that I hope to continue playing and teaching for the rest of my life. No matter how hectic this world can be, I know I can find even the smallest bit of happiness with a racket, a ball, and the court.
I believe everybody has that one special place to go and let all your heartaches and thoughts just wisp away. Some people may find this release in a quiet place like a library or maybe they like to take in nature by going for a walk. For me that one place on earth that makes me feel like the world just stops around me is where the sand is between my toes and the water meets my feet. I can forget the world and I am at peace. Whatever is going in my life whether it is dealing with school, friends, family, or stressing over if I get accepted to the college of my choice. Even if I am far away from the beach; I can sit, close my eyes, and think of the beach. The sound of the waves hitting the shore, the sounds of seagulls, and the feel of the ocean breeze on my face. This picture instantly makes me feel calm and content. When I am at the beach it lets me become that carefree kid from my childhood. I would spend endless weekends down at the beach with family and friends with not one care in the world. Just watching how each person or family reacts to the beach itself. They are filled with joy and laughter and hearing people laugh puts me at ease. The watching and waiting for the sun to set on the horizon and for sky to dance with colors is breathtaking. I can always tend to become completely unaware of my surroundings and zone out everything. This experience helps me open my eyes to new perspective on my everyday thoughts and concerns.
Although I have been very active in extracurriculars activities throughout my high school experience, there is one club which I am the most passionate about, has had the most impact on my life, and best demonstrates my strongest characteristics. I have been a member of Blue/Gold club since my freshman year of high school. As an underclassman there was never as much to do, but I always sought out any opportunity there was to volunteer and be involved. Each year that passed I became more and more involved participating in the fashion show my sophomore year and stepping up to be the captain of my buddy group my junior year. I grew to love Blue/Gold more and more as each event passed. I loved spending time with my buddy Brittany, and every time I saw her, her positive energy and amazing outlook on life was inspirational. Despite the challenges that our buddies face, they have some of the most amazing attitudes that I have seen among my peers. At the end of my junior year, I was elected by my peers to be executive of Blue/Gold club for my senior year. Although to many, this position may seem small, it is one of the biggest accomplishments in my life. I have the amazing opportunity to make positive changes this year, and I could not be more thrilled.
There is only one location on this planet where I can feel content, comfortable, and at peace, and that is within the walls of my room. My room goes by many names; it’s my “man-cave”, my little corner of the world, my kingdom, and many other titles. I feel relaxed in my room, because I become disconnected from the rest of the world and anything and everything I worry or get stressed about loses its importance. I’m able to just sit down at my desk and do whatever I want: browsing the internet for countless hours, working on some new sketches, or just trying to finish my homework while rocking out to some heavy metal. Most people like to spend their free time with friends and family, and I do too, but my favorite way to spend time is by enjoying some alone-time in my room. I’m not the most sociable person, and to me, lounging in my kingdom of solitude is wonderful compared to being in loud, crowded places. Although I’m not super social, I’m not really an introvert, either; I don’t spend all of my time locked up in my room for extended periods of time. I love spending time with my family, and quite often I’ll make the perilous journey to the mysterious place known as “outside” to hang out with my friends. Nowadays, the only time I get to spend in my room is to do my homework after getting back from an exhausting marching band or drumline practice. Walking into my room after an exhausting practice is one of the best feelings, though. I walk into my room, close the door, collapse onto my bed, and enjoy the soothing silence of my little corner of the Earth; until I remember I have fifty homework assignments due the next day, that is.
Failure is a theme that we, as human beings, are all too familiar with. We can try to spend countless hours trying to prefect any task, but failure will be met no matter what. It is not how little we fail that defines the person that we are, but how we are responsive to the failure. Not everyone can get back on their feet and better themselves based on their failures and mistakes. The people who can are the people who experience success.
I too am very familiar with failure, but I believe that my most notable failure may have come from my junior year playing soccer. I was told by the soccer coach that I was ready for a varsity level play, but that I needed to improve on my stamina. I chose to ignore that and continue the way that I had been. When tryouts rolled around I still did not have very much stamina. Ultimately, I was placed on the junior-varsity team and told to improve my stamina. By the time the next summer came around, I was determined to be a key player on varsity the next season. I began to train at the start of the summer all the way into August 15th, which was the first day of soccer. This time, I was ready and I made the team and became a key player.
Failure is a wall. We have to find a way to climb over or overcome that wall. Once we overcome this wall,that is when we can become a success.
Nature can be described as many things. From the trees we see around us, to the smallest creatures we can think of. There are so many things that make up nature that just naming a few doesn’t cut it. Nature is everything we see and hear that, as far as I’m concerned, isn’t man made or mechanical. The place where I am perfectly content with is in nature. The place in nature would be a forest. Picture sitting on a mossy rock or tree in the middle of the forest. As you do this you listening to the sounds of water drops falling from the leaves, while animals scurry around you minding their own business.
I got a chance to climb up a waterfall in the rainforest and go to the top of it. When I first got there, I looked up to see the some of the biggest spiders I have ever seen. That put me on edge for a bit. A little farther down at the bottom of the waterfall I admired how massive the waterfall was. The second I saw it I immediately thought, “How am I going to climb this?” As I walked down to the waterfall I was a bit nervous. All around me the sounds of nature calmed me down. The sounds ranged from the sound of the water falling down the rocks, to the many people screaming because of the cold temperature of the water. All of these things factored into my calmness with nature.
"So, do you play any sports?" Who could imagine that six words could cut like a knife? It was last summer and I’d just gotten cut from the Varsity Volleyball team. Trying to cheer me up, my parents took me out to dinner. After eating, the manager came over to chat, asking, "So, do you play any sports?” If he had asked me that question last week, I would have excitedly answered that I’ve been playing volleyball since fifth grade and looked forward to earning my spot on one of the most competitive teams in the state. Last week, I would have told him I was Captain of the JV team. Last week, I would have told him that volleyball is my life - my passion, my social group...my identity. But that was last week. That day, all I could mutter was "No."
This was one of most important years of my education, and I needed to set other priorities. I applied the same work ethic I had in sports to other things... I wasn't just going to be on yearbook - I became editor. I wouldn’t just participate in Blue/Gold, I took a leadership position as friendship chair. No longer satisfied with being an average student, I challenged myself academically by taking more honors classes and discovered a love for reading. What was initially an obstacle became an opportunity.
December 4, 2010 is a day I will never forget. I returned from my friend’s house and sat down to tell my mom about the pervious night’s events like I always did. This time, however, something was different. She was not engaged, which was out of character. I distinctly remember the look in her eyes; something was off. I said, “Mom, is everything okay? You seem upset.” Then came the most heart-wrenching words I have ever heard her say. “I have cancer, Kennedy. I will need to have surgery and radiation, but the doctors remain optimistic because it is a slow-growing cancer. We will all make it through this together I promise, I just need everyone’s support.” So many questions raced through my head at that moment and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I instantly started crying and thinking of the worst. “I can’t lose my mom,” I thought. “There is no way I can live without her.” I told her I was scared and that she didn’t deserve this. She responded, “God gives His toughest battles to His strongest soldiers. He knows that our family can handle this and get through this hard time together, and He knows I can beat this cancer. We have to have faith and trust that everything happens for a reason.” This was the turning point for me. I knew I needed to act like an adult and be strong so I could be there for my mom and my sisters.
I nervously slide into the water. Just up to my knees, I was already shaking from both the cold and fear. The marine biologist coaches me to go forward; and I do. Slowly, but surely I move from the safety of the stairs and into the deep end of the path. A wall to the left of me and a forty foot drop off to the right: mild anxiety kicks in. On command I pull the mask down over my face and submerge myself into another world. Once down, I see the source of my fear swim so horrifyingly close to my face. Smooth and docile they may be in the water, at the time any movement was frightening as all I focus in on is their sharp needle-like teeth. Like every other normal human I have been led to believe that these menacing creatures, sharks, are terrifying. Movies and news reports every summer report how dangerous these creatures are. People like me get conditioned to think just that. However, on that day, for those two hours I was in the water, I learned that that isn’t always the case. Once the fear faded away I saw how extraordinary these fish are and how mysterious they can truly be. Perhaps in this moment my conditioning to fear the unknown was changed, not demolished, but changed nonetheless. No doubt I am glad to have experienced that day and would gladly do it again.
When I stand on the bleachers looking over the school's soccer field, I can recall some of the greatest memories of my high school career. This is the place where I made my first friends in my high school experience. Countless hours were spent with some of the greatest people I will ever know. Here on this field I learned how to be a leader when I captained a team. I learned true perseverance, to fight through aches and pain to reach any goal. Most importantly, this field is where I mastered teamwork with 21 others. Here we practiced numerous days trying to reach a common goal, the state championship. Here is a place of true peace. There is no judgment of any means. Everyone here is a family, helping one another improve themselves both on the field and elsewhere.
Playing soccer has taken half a month away from every summer to be conditioned and tested. Some people may see this as a hassle or a nuisance, but I saw it as a chance to be with friends playing a sport I love so much. These days made every experience all the more memorable. All with those I call my family. We have endured distance runs, sprints, and long scrimmages. However I can guarantee that there is no other team that cooperates like we do on this very field. This field has driven me past my breaking point, proving what I am truly capable of. It has brought out the best and worst in me. This is the place I call home.
Everyone has that one place that they can go to and feel completely at ease with everything in their life, as if all of their troubles temporarily come to a halt. Some may go to the beach or camping for this pleasure, while others may just put on some headphones and listen to their favorite band. For me, I feel most content when I am in Ohio. Since the day I was born, Ohio has been a place filled with fun memories and childhood experiences. I know each time I travel there, I will get to see all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. This is special because no one knows me and understands me more than my family does and since they live so far away, it is great to be able to see everyone all at once. My cousins and I are together all the time when we are there, from climbing trees and scraped knees, to family barbeques and water skiing on the lake, it is my second home. Both sets of my grandparents still live in the houses my parents grew up in, so it is special to be able to share that with the whole family. Ohio is where I first learned to walk and swim, I grew up more there then I have in the three states I have lived in in my life. Although it technically is not my home, it is still the place that makes me the happiest.
Throughout my life I have gotten to experience traveling the country. Yes, there are many more impressive places to travel to, but to me traveling is not about seeing amazing things or having the most luxurious time. Traveling is the environment in which i am perfectly content. I started traveling when I was a little girl. My family and I would go to Missouri every year for Easter as far back as I can remember. Then as my younger sister and I started getting older we got to do some traveling on our own. A couple of years ago we flew to Missouri by ourselves and then took a driving trip with our grandparents around Colorado, New Mexico, and many other states in that area. That was one of the best summers of my life. It was in that very summer that I realized traveling was something I really wanted to do throughout my life. I saw so many beautiful things and got to experience once in a lifetime experiences. Traveling also helped me to learn how to be responsible and it helped me mature. When traveling, I was taken to so many places and my little sister was too, so when I was younger I felt like i was responsible for her safety and I was of course responsible for my own. While I was growing up going on road trips and plane rides, I realized that I loved everything about it. I loved the crazy airports, the waking up at 3 A.M. to catch a 6 O'Clock flight, and I loved watching the sun rise or the sunset from high above the clouds. Even though it can be stressful, I wouldn't have traded any of those trips for the world. Needless to say, I am perfectly content when I am traveling, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Growing up on Flint Hill Road ended with a huge tragedy for me. When I was in pre-school I met one of my most memorable friends. Her name was Kelly and she lived only four houses away from me. Her and I instantly became inseparable. I would always spend time over her house with her mom, stepdad, and sister. We all become extremely close that I would call them family. During my second grade year, and Kelly’s third, her mom’s back was starting to hurt. I remember coming home and telling my parents about this, but no one thought anything bad of it. Kelly’s mom, Lynn, decided to get her back checked out by a doctor. After running tests, doctors discovered cancer in her bones. When I found out the reason her back was hurting her so much was because of cancer, I was devastated. As the months went by, we knew Lynn would not make it. Nine months after she was diagnosed, Lynn died. Having someone so close to me leave the world, especially for the first time in my life, was one of the hardest events I have gone through. Lynn’s funeral was the first one I have ever attended. Being so young at age eight and seeing someone I loved in an open casket was life changing for me. I believe this changed me as a person. This event in my life made me realize how precious life is to every single person and how you should not waste a single day because you never know when your life could be over. Witnessing this made me more mature for my age at the time. I now live by cherishing every moment in my life and loving all of my friends and family to the fullest.
Most people grow up having their parents work somewhere close by so they get to see them every night, but not in my case. Ever since I was little, my father has moved around to different jobs causing him to be away from home quite often. Since it was so far away, I could only see him for two days over the weekend every few weeks. Up until recently, I thought that this had made me very mature, but I was wrong. My father decided that he no longer wants to be a part of our lives anymore and moved down South. Nothing in life can prepare you for this. Psychology books cannot even begin to describe the emotional and physical amount of stress it puts on you and your whole family. Even though he was not here a lot to begin with, it has a different feeling now since I only see him every couple of months. Living alone with my mom has caused me to mature a great amount in the past year. Having one working parent means that you have to go grocery shopping, make your own meals, and many other things you were never expected to do before while still balancing schoolwork, sports, and activities. Even though it is a sad circumstance, it has made me a much stronger person because I know that I can take care of myself when I leave next year and it has made me better at balancing my schedule and budgeting my time. Although it has been and continues to be a difficult time, it has made me a stronger individual and has opened my mind to what I want for myself in the future and it has given me the motivation I need to get me there.
Root, a term commonly defined as the lower part of a plant which digs into the soil absorbing life-sustaining nutrients and water. Root may also be used as a verb, to implant or to fix by. What many people don’t realize is that the term root can be used to also define the sound a baby is making in search of food. Many people except for me that is, but of course I know the connotation which earned me my lifelong nickname. That’s right, my family calls me Root. You can imagine my horror in AP Psychology when I finally realized that my parents had been making fun of my baby grunts for the past sixteen years. Over time the name has taken on various forms including The Root, Rootamous, Rooter, and my personal favorite Rooty Tooty. As a seventeen year old girl, Rooty Tooty isn’t a normal name to be called when your friends are over for a movie night, but that’s something everyone must know about the Baker family; we aren’t normal. Normal parents don’t let their daughter try every sport possible for a ten year old, along with drama, singing lessons, and ballet until they found one that fit. It took four years of lessons, putting runs in every pair of ballet tights I owned, numerous cans of hairspray, and sixteen routines which I never completely mastered until I finally realized that ballet wasn't for me. Singing lessons revealed that I couldn't hold a note for more than 3 seconds, I couldn't sit still at a piano long enough to learn more than Happy Birthday, and in fourth grade I was casted in the school play with only one line. Normal parents would complain about time and money wasted, but mine simply laugh at the tall blonde ballerina in home videos who spins the wrong way. Normal families don’t travel more than ten minutes to pick up their children from practice; my parents traveled an hour each way for two years to pick me up from my various sports practices without complaint. In my seventeen short years I have tried my hand at soccer, lacrosse, swimming, cross-country and even cheerleading if you consider that a sport. I was no super-star but I put my heart into every moment of playing. Although my interests varied seemingly weekly one thing remained constant; at every recital, school play, game and meet, “GO ROOTY” was boasted with pride from wherever my abnormal parents stood. I go by the name Root with great honor, marking me as a part of such an extraordinary family. Plus after all they have done for me, it is only right that I allow my parents to keep their little inside joke.
I got off the car. Everyone was wearing shrouds looking at me. It was my grandfather’s funeral. There were approximately two hundred people. I walked slowly into the yard while everyone was moving out a path for me. People taped on my shoulder saying, “Go, to your grandpa.” As I walked in, I saw a table in front of the door with my grandfather’s death picture and tributes. I was terrified to see the coffin inside the room. There come my parents putting on very fancy shrouds on me. My family comes from a very poor and traditional village. I am the only grandson in my family so I am extremely important for the family to pass on my family name. I played an obbligato part for the funeral. If I arrived late, people would delay the whole funeral just for me. I crashed when I see the coffin. It was huge and scary. Everyone in my family, uncles, aunts and brother of grandpa’s, was crying. Even my father, my hero and the unbroken man in my life, was wailing on his knees. “I cannot crash.” I told myself. The funeral lasted for the whole day with all kinds of superstitious activities. Everything was centered on me. I never ever felt I am so important for the family until the moment that I lead the coffin to the tomb while everyone was behind me and wailing to the sky. I felt I am no longer the spoiled child but a man who needs to hold up the whole family, a man who is needed for the family, and a man who must be standing when the family crashed.
Failure is unfortunately a fact of life that we as human beings must all come to terms with at some point or another. The most successful people, I find, are the people that realize failure is inevitable at a young rather than old age. That way, they more quickly use their failures as means of life lessons. When I was selected as the electric bass player for the 2014 Delaware All State Jazz Band, I was feeling pretty good about myself. In fact, I was probably too confident. I breezed by my audition without much prior preparation at all, and I didn't believe there was any musician that was better than myself. I receieved the music I was instructed to learn before we started rehearsing. As all-state musicians we have only two rehearsals then we play a show. I did not feel I needed to practice at all. I didn't even open my music folder until the first day of rehearsal two days before the show. As soon as the first number was called, I was astonished at how little I could play. As a musician, especially playing bass, I have always been known for having a relatively good ear and I can sight read at a high level. I was embarrassed in front of the best musicians in the state. I was yelled at and made fun of by the guest conductor. I not only failed myself, but I felt as if I let down Mr. Bookout and the whole music program at St. Mark's as I was representing them in this band. Little did I know how compassionate the conductor was. He noticed how deflated I was feeling and probably looking, and told me that he could see it in me that I knew I really messed up. He did not sugar coat anything still, however. He told me that now that I have failed, I must learn from this and rise to the occasion because this would be the biggest performance of my life. I practiced more than I ever had those next few days, and there were more trials and tribulations to go along with it, but I rose to the occasion and delivered the best performance of my life that night. I learned so much about what it really means to be a musician and not just a bass player those few days. I learned to be prepared and not let my ego get in the way of anything I do. I could have left that band and went home at any moment and not look back for a second, but I realized my initial failures and did myself a favor by rising to the occasion and being the best I could be in that situation.
Everyone always talks about you becoming an adult when you reach the age of eight-teen, because at that age you can legally vote, and go live off on your own. I have yet to turn eight-teen and I already feel that I have crossed the bridge from childhood to adulthood. There have been many moments where I have felt that I had to grow up quickly. The one moment where I had to be an adult, was the summer before my freshman year when I went on a trip to England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. There were many places throughout this experience, where I had to par-take in adult activities. Such as going to one of my first interviews and meeting and talking to new people and making decisions on my own. The most important moment was when I left my parents, friends, and family for three weeks.
People always say “Everything happens for a reason” and I never fully understood what it meant until the end of my freshman year of high school. I was sitting in my Spanish class with my head down one day and when I went to go lift it, I could not. Then when I went to walk out of class, I realized I could not move my left side and I walked with a limp. I let it go for 3 days until I realized the limp did not get any better. I asked my parents what could be wrong as they drove me to the hospital “a pinched nerve” my parents said, “what else could it be”. I got worried, “what if I can’t play in the state cup finals for soccer?” When we arrived at the hospital, all of my fears went away and we went in and got taken back immediately. As I sat in the examination room with my parents, a series of 6 doctors went through my room. They all asked the same questions and they all left with no answers. Even a paramedic came in and said “I’ve heard a lot about you, apparently you have them all stumped and I just want to see what all of the excitement is about”. He tested all of the same things and he too left puzzled. Then the final doctor came in. He told me he wanted to do one last precautionary thing until he released me; I had to get a CT scan on my head. When I got back to the room after the CT scan they said they needed time to read the results. Five minutes later they came in and asked to talk to my parents. I sat alone in the examination room with no parents and a clearly worried doctor. Then when everyone came back in, I realized my parents had been crying. The doctor looked at me and said “I’m sorry to tell you, but it appears you have a brain tumor and you need immediate surgery and could quite possibly die”. I sat there for a couple of minutes thinking of what he had just told me, and then it hit me as they were carting me up to the intensive care unit. I had a tumor and I could die. As I was in the intensive care unit almost every nurse helped to prepare me for surgery. Once the preparation was over, the doctor came in and said “we decided to let the surgeon sleep so he can do his best work, it is 4 a.m.” I laid there sleepless until 8 a.m., and then the surgeon came in. He said that he did not think that I had a tumor and that he wanted to start with a different kind of surgery. Then when I got out of the surgery I got the best and worst news of my life. The surgeon said that I had a massive stroke due to an arteriovenous malformation and not a tumor. My parents cried and that was when I realized something, I was the grown-up in this situation. I looked at them and said “Everything happens for a reason.” They looked at me as if I had no idea that I just had a massive stroke, but I knew. This is when I realized, I’m an adult, I have the power to do great things, and life is precious. At one moment everything could be fine and then you could die, or you can lose the person you love. After this moment I decided to live each day like it was my last. So I spent 3 months in rehabilitation and worked as hard as I could. I got all of my movement back and went from being a boy to a man. Now when people say “Everything happens for a reason” I just look at them and say “They sure do.”
Life is unpredictable – you never know what is going to happen next. Your life can change in the blink of an eye, and somehow you have to cope with these changes. Never in a million years did I think that I would lose my uncle, who was also my best friend. On March 7, 2005, I received the worst news possible. My uncle had passed away due to cirrhosis of the liver, and I never got the chance to say goodbye to him. Dealing with the loss of a loved one is never easy, but I’ve realized that you cannot let it take over your life. As cliché as it might sound, “everything gets better with time” is a phrase that is completely true. After my uncle died I would mope around everywhere because I was constantly thinking about him. Now, about nine years later, I try my best to be a very positive person. I obviously miss my uncle more than anything, but I don’t let his death stop me from living a happy life. My family may have decreased in size, but we are closer than ever. We are all dependent on one another and my family is my biggest support system by far. My friends have told me countless times that I am one of the strongest people they know, and that means a lot to me. I never want to be one of those people that always focus on all of the negativity in the world. I think it is extremely important to appreciate the little things in life and make the best of what life has to offer you. My experiences with death have certainly changed my outlook on life and shaped who I am as a person.
There may not be many people that would openly talk about their failures, but there is one failure of mine that I would like to talk about. Through middle school and freshman year of high school I was able to cruise through classes without much need of studying or hard work. I could usually get pretty good grades without much of the effort. However during my sophomore year I started to struggle but continued to keep up my same routine. That routine of lack of effort only ended up with me getting poor grades in a handful of classes. I was disappointed failing to perform well even though I’m mostly a phase five student. However that year did teach me some lessons. The main lessons I learned were that I can no longer coast and get the good grades I used to get and that it will require lots of hard work and no more slacking if I wanted to stay in the high level classes that I was in. So through the failure to succeed I learned important lessons to accomplish more. My failure led me to work harder and improve my studies so that I could do well and no longer struggle. I’m glad I had that serious realization early enough in my high school years so I could change my ways of working and studying. Now I make sure that I don’t start slacking like I did that year. I may procrastinate like everyone else here or there, but I will get everything done and do my best in my upcoming years.
Have you ever tried to change somebody’s sentiment about a certain belief or issue? What about trying to guide somebody to a different lifestyle? Maybe you tried something simple like convincing your parents to allow you to stay out later on the weekends, or maybe you argued about switching to a healthier lifestyle that is more ecological and beneficial, like veganism. In order to have success in any discussion in opposition to somebody else, you must find out the facts first without making any assumptions about the other person’s point of view. Now let me ask you, how many times have you won a discussion contrary to someone else? If you have, this would mean that they changed their mind 100% and went into complete harmony with what you were thinking. Chances are it has not happened. When we attack people and say their beliefs are wrong, we attack their ego and their intellect. When your ego is attacked, you close down, become defensive and immediately fight back. Even if a person knows intellectually that you are the correct one, they will not admit it because you have already demolished that person’s ego. When we tell someone that they are doing something wrong and shouldn’t do something, they will only resist. So it just doesn’t work that way. But what does work is by being the lighthouse rather than the lifeboat! In other words, lead by example. Be the exemplification. By being the lighthouse rather than the lifeboat, life becomes so much easier. The only person you can change is yourself and the only way you can change someone else is by setting a positive example. You have the ability to tell people how they can alter their lives, though nothing will happen unless people truly want to change for themselves. The point I am making here is to be there when people do come to you and are in harmony with your beliefs. It will happen and your job is to be helpful and transparent with others. This is the idea and truth that both challenged and inspired me, knowing that I do not have the power to change people. I only have the power to change who I am and what I decide to do.
"Ellen, I cancelled your tutor session today. Let's go."
I was merely a ten-year-old and I thought those words were the most heavenly words muttered from my moms lips. I smiled from ear to ear because the thought of canceling two hours of dreadful learning was marvelous. But suddenly, my mom hurried my little sister and I into the car. As tears stroked down her cheeks, she mumbled, "Ellen, daddy's in the hospital. His store was on fire."
I was merely a ten-year-old and I thought those words were the most heart-wrenching words muttered from my moms lips. My dad worked in Elkton, Maryland and the hour car ride was completely dismal. When we arrived at the store, there were helicopters, ambulances, and far too many policemen. My mom ran towards the store and my dad was already taken to the Johns Hopkins Hospital. For about one month, my mom took care of him while I was with my grandparents. My mom refused to let me see my dad because she did not want me to see the gruesome injuries on his body. Finally, after several surgeries and treatments, my dad recovered and became a stronger man. And from that day on, I also wanted to become stronger. Winston Churchill once said," Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it." This incident six years ago has waken me up and now, I strive to become a doctor. I want to help patients just like how the doctors at Johns Hopkins helped my dad. I want to be a person that can save lives and bring peace to those who are distressed because of friends or family that are ill. I want to be an inspiration to those who need to stop dreaming and wake up.
I had always worried that I would not experience anything notable or achieve anything significant enough to write about in my college essays. Drifting through my school years without doing anything that was not outlined in a course syllabus, I had not been involved in any extracurricular activities and had no valuable experiences to shape or build my character. Freshmen year of high school I was just a backgrounder who wasn’t very outgoing, socially developed, or involved whatsoever. This period of insignificance and negligible existence continued until mid-sophomore year when I discovered something that first seemed minor, but later revealed an entire new reality to me and positively reconditioned me as a person. What changed my life was a simple high school club; Key Club. At least, that’s what I thought it was at first. I quickly realized how wrong I was after I started quickly getting involved and soon after became the president of the club. Holding this leadership position had already broken me so much out of my shell, but I still hadn’t learned what Key Club truly was. In the summer I attended the Key Club International Convention without even knowing what Key club International was. When I went to this convention, I was greeted by hundreds of outgoing kids. I had never met anyone like them. They were open, cheerful, outgoing, and all mature leaders with a strong passion for service. I made lifelong friends at this event that I continued surrounding myself with. These new friends shaped my character and helped me grow as a leader. Everything about me changed. I quickly started getting involved in other extra-curriculars, challenged myself more with school work, became more outgoing, made more friends, and all around became a better person. Today, I am the Lt. Governor of Division 6A Capital Key Club, meaning I manage the clubs in northern Delaware and northeastern Maryland in the Capital District of Key Club International. I am constantly involved with other Key Clubbers now as this is basically a full time job that requires hours of work a day. I have amazing people surrounding and supporting me that are still supporting and changing me today! While Key Club at first doesn’t seem like it could really make that much of an impact on someone, it is certainly something that I could never take for granted. Key Club showed me what it’s like to be passionate about something and it showed me what kind of person I could actually be. It’s had such an impact on me that I consider it important enough to call “my story” and write about it in a college essay.
In my short seventeen years on the planet I have done as much as I possibly could to avoid failure and improve myself. However, as I grew older and came to realize that failure was a necessary part of everyday life, because it is through failure that we can learn from our mistakes and truly advance. One example of failure in my life comes from football. This season will be my tenth year playing football however; I have only ever reached one championship game. This game, as one could assume was and still is one of the biggest moments of my life. For me this game was full of everything from excitement to tears, unfortunately in the end my team had lost this game. At the time I saw nothing but the bad side of losing, the sadness, the disappointment, and the feeling of not accomplishing a dream, but now I can look back and see that it was not completely bad. Losing this game helped me to realize that winning is not everything and that you can learn more from losing sometimes than from winning. After this game, not only myself but also everyone on that team returned with an even bigger desire for victory, this loss showed me that I am not going to win every game but I can come back better and smarter in hopes of succeeding not only in football but also in life. I now know that I can move forward in my life able to accept failure and grow from it, that it does not have to a source of weakness but can be the foundation for your strength as well.
Life is full of opportunities. The way I see it there are two ways I could live my life. I could either go through life regretting on risks I didn't take, or I could take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself to me. It so happens that one of these opportunities I took changed my life forever. Nearing the end of my sophomore year, an event that I am proud to say I partook in with my Junior Varsity baseball team single handedly marked my transition from childhood to adulthood. Our coach told us one day that we were going to volunteer at an elementary school for kids with disabilities. At first I was weary because I have never really interacted with children who were diagnosed with Down Syndrome, autism, etc. Even though I was a bit hesitant, I took a chance. As our school bus approached the school I was hit with a sudden wave of angst. We exited the bus and walked through the double doors of the school. My team and I entered a loud room with children of all sorts of ages and sizes. These kids were accompanied by their parents as well. After the introduction from the school principal, we broke off into groups with the children and played different games with them. The nerves began to fade and a sudden sense of warmth and comfort entered my body. These kids, who society and the human race see as different, were anything but different. They are special and unique in their own way just as everyone else in the world. After working with them for a few hours, everyone was called to the gym to have an award ceremony for the kids. As I stand in the back of the room watching all the kids line up on the stage with smiles from cheek to cheek preparing to receive their medals, I feel a sensation that I have never felt before in my life. In that very moment everything stopped and it was just me and my thoughts. In this pause, I realize right there, that I was ready to take on responsibilities of new heights. I looked in those proud parents eyes and realized that one day that will be me. I am a long way from that experience, but the love I could feel from those mothers and fathers for their children was something I will never forget. I realized that this moment right here would change me forever. The look on the parents' faces, the gleaming eyes, the love-filled smiles; this was what life was about. I knew then from that moment that I was ready to become an adult.
In today’s world with a new generation of technology, introducing more stress, anxiety, and less time to sit down without a phone in your hand and relax. Everyone is so busy with day-to-day life. Sometimes, including myself we all get caught up in this crazy world, leaving us blind of a lot of the amazing things we are all blessed with. Sometimes when we finally have a moment to relax, we quickly hear our phone ring, or get a new email, where as here we get caught up again. I believe everyone has that one get away place to let him or her “be in their own world” and enjoy the things that make them relaxed and bring them peace. For me, it’s the soft sound of hearing the waves form right before they crash, or the ocean view looking out as far as you can and seeing the horizon as a never ending beautiful body of water. I think when I get in front of the ocean; it makes me realize how something so big and beautiful we take for granted. When I’m on the beach I find my favorite time when everyone is off the beach and its just the ocean, the sand, and I. Just the powerful water, and beautiful view make me perfectly content. Those moments on the beach that not only relax me but make me not be so blind sided about all the opportunity’s and little simple things we forget to enjoy the most in everyday life. As I sit on the beach and look out, my stress, worry, and all negative emotions seem to be lifted by the wind, along with the call of seagulls in union with the wind, in which all seem to slightly fade away. The beaches will always be to me, a place to go and clear my mind, able to breath calm, smile, and truly relax. It’s those times where my grandmother used to say it’s an appreciation view. She meant, even though you do appreciate the ocean being in that state of mind brings out a different feeling of appreciation for the little things.
Jeff Pala
Nothing is more humbling than being in the midst of the wilderness. Between all the goals that I have accomplished, the sports I am involved in, and the clubs I am a member of I sometimes get ahead of myself and forget who I truly am as a person. With phones always buzzing and social media being a priority in our generation we tend to get caught up in showing others what we are doing rather than enjoying the moment. However, once I take a step into the ice cold water of the Youghiogheny River; I cannot help but appreciate where I am. Between being surrounded by towering mountains, feeling the water brush around my legs, hearing the water struggle to get over and around rocks, and seeing my family and my best friends alongside myself it is impossible to not get caught up in the moment. Even if one did try to check who called them or who uploaded a new Instagram picture it would be impossible because there is absolutely no signal. No signal means no stress, no worries, and no more attention.
Where I feel the most relaxed, the most free, and the most like myself is fishing in a river in Confluence, PA. Confluence is home of no more than about seven hundred people and the town consists mostly of farm lands and people with very modest incomes. The towns people live a different lifestyle here that is very different than your average urban neighborhood. They decide to rather than stress about money and the things they do not have, they learn to appreciate the things they do have and strive to do better through hard work. Confluence is the one place where I feel like I can truly be myself. I can say whatever I want, think whatever I want, and do whatever I want without being judged because there is simply no one around to judge me. Also, Confluence is the only place where I can truly think. I have sat in a chair by a bonfire for hours just thinking about my future goals, plans, ideas, and current events. I think about things as serious as where I want to go to college and as small as what shirt I am going to wear tomorrow. Having experienced God’s true natural beauty all in one place I realized that there is more to life than social media and attention. Going to Confluence a few times per year is a very humbling experience. Not only because I realize how small I am compared to nature and the world, but that things that I stress over now such as a future homecoming date or lacrosse tryouts do not really mean anything in the long run. I learned that to be happy all you need is a strong family support system and time to be yourself. Confluence enables me to have all that I need, and I realized that is all I want.
As I have learned throughout my years of high school I have been embedded with the concept that everyone is different and special in their own way and that God has made humans this way on purpose. Well I feel like I am an exception to this notion. My mom was pregnant and was one of those few lucky people that got told by the doctor that you are having twins. So from the beginning of my life this concept that I learned would never be fully understood because I have an identical twin. My twin is a huge apart of my identity that I thought I must share. No one will ever understand what its like to wake up every morning and find yourself talking to someone that is just like you in almost every way. The bond that I have with my sister is something I take for granite everyday. I always hear other teenagers talking about how they hate their brother’s and sisters and never speak to them. Hearing this makes me feel lucky because I have someone that will always be there for me and understand my feelings. Freshmen year in high school I wanted to start fresh and try to breakaway from this double personality and see if I could become separate and independent for awhile. But over the years, I have lost friends, been cut from a sports team, and received bad grades. The thing that I didn’t realize then but do now is that my sister experienced all these let downs with me. I never thought I could be as close with someone as I am with my sister. I know that I will always have one true friend and that is she. I didn’t choose to be born with an identical twin; this lifestyle was given to me. The quote by Truth Devour says, “You have to appreciate where you have come from to know who you are in the present and whom you would like to be in the future.” This means a lot to me because I believe that this is how I will find my future.
Everyday, no matter where I am, or what I am doing I'm thinking of the outdoors. The one place in my life where I can escape any situation or problem is nature. When I am in the great outdoors, I see myself for who I truly am and not what others perceive me to be. I realize how small of a person I am in such a enormous world; allowing myself to escape from this hectic world that surrounds us. Americans have lost sight of what's most important in life, which is living life for all it's worth, but instead they tend to stress themselves out and don't take time to step back and relax in this beautiful world. When I step into nature I'm stepping out of this chaotic place I call my life.
I cherish the idea of being able to step away from social media and the internet to enjoy myself while at he same time being able to reflect on everything. When I say reflect I mean that I look at all my actions and critique them, deciding how I could handle the situation better the next time around. I do this so that I can constantly try to learn from my past and make more progress in the future with less failure. It is actually ironic because I go to nature as an escape from my life but at he same time I drag myself right back in it when I go back to correct my past actions.
It wasn’t always such a nice place though. When I first received the tank, I had no idea what I was doing.. I’m talking about literally nothing. The tank had bare glass bottoms, no props, and no heater. It was also at this stage when I had no concept of the deleterious effects of chlorine on the piscine anatomy and the importance of cycling out the fish tank and establishing a healthy bacteria culture. This was the first of the piscine holocausts. After that colossal failure, I brushed up on my marine biology and began Phase II of renovations. This time, things went a lot more smoothly. I actually had gravel on the bottom on the tank with some plants (to the delight of the plecostomus, he delighted in new growth in my ferns) . In fact, some of my fish began to breed! As time went on, genetics took its course. Not realizing the effects of inbreeding at the time, I let the fish go on with their thing effectively homogenizing the gene pool. The bottleneck effect didn’t help either. In a desperate attempt to make the population more aesthetically pleasing, I decided to introduce a few handsome breeding partners to inject some spice into the gene pool. Sadly, at this point I wasn’t very aware of the diseases store bought fish carried. To this day I still have no idea what happened, although I’m pretty sure that it was a fungal infection. I was only able to salvage a few plants (it still has a place in my tank to this day!). Thus ended the Second Piscine Holocaust. This was yet another lesson to me. I redoubled my efforts to making the tank work again. I did my research and I completely started from scratch. I put my sweat, tears, and in one unfortunate case, blood, into my project. I did thorough research on the requirements of each species, the nitrogen cycle, the ammonia cycle, and the effective quarantine of new specimens. On the more aesthetic side, I did some research on what makes things “pretty.” Perspective and all that. This tank represents my dedication and all of my hard work. Sitting in front of it and peering inside makes me content because I know that this was the product of my work.
My first name, Heng, means consistent in Chinese. My parents hope I can be a person with perseverance, and I have been always trying hard to reach my goals no matter in school or in other life fields. The example of my career in learning Chinese calligraphy can best describes this trait of mine.Although it may sound not that familiar to American people, Chinese calligraphy, like many other kinds of arts, requires years of learning and practicing. I've spent all 7 years of hard work to master this art. During those years, I had lost interest in this hobby for some times and had thought about giving up. But everytime when I was close to quit, I reminded myself the important meaning behind my name. That really motivated me to move on. Also, the support from my family was a main factor that helped me through all those hard times. I am really gald that I finally become proficient at this art and I enjoyed the aesthetic feeling in this art so much. After those 7 years learning of calligraphy, I built the character of not saying give up whenever I meet a difficulty. I realized that great achievement can never result without great effort and perseverance.
The people I see around me have a sense of who they are and what they want to be. A lot of them have known for a long time what they’ve wanted from their lives. Throughout my life I’ve always questioned what I wanted to be when I grew up. Every year when someone asked me this question my answer would always be different. I had no idea what I wanted to be. I like to do so many things that I couldn’t see how I could choose only one thing to do for the rest of my life. I still have trouble seeing how at the age of seventeen I will make a decision that impacts the rest of my life. Then recently I looked at that question again. I thought that maybe I was asking myself the wrong question. Rather than asking myself what do I want to be when I grow up, I asked myself who do I want to be when I grow up? I needed to find myself, and I continue to, so that I can better understand what I want from my life. I’ve learned to find inspiration from everything that I like such as an author, an architect, or a musician. I look around me and I see who I want to become and everyday I work to becoming that person so that I can do anything I want to do. I see that I truly can accomplish anything I set my mind to and that I have that power. Everything that I’ve ever done in my life has made me who I am. It’s the failures and the successes; the things around me that lead me to become the person I am today.
As I have been living my entire life with a disabled father, I never fully understood at four years old, 10, 13 or even as I entered high school, what I realize now: a burden can have a positive impact on me and those in my life. My Dad never wanted to be recognized as disabled, never wanted attention drawn to him nor ask for any special assistance. He suffers quietly, thus making it harder for me to learn what I now realize. My Dad didn't want my life, my Mom’s or anyone in his, to be affected by this disease. As he suffered through numerous surgeries and other health effects, he wanted me to grow and experience a positive life. I now realize as I say this, it sounds contradictory but, in fact, the disability has been a blessing as many times it has been a curse to me and our family. Over the years, I have heard stories from our family, his friends, even co-workers I don’t know, telling me of the great person my Dad was to them. Telling me stories of how he would come to their aide be it at work on a job, repairing things on their homes, giving them appliances even money during tough a times. Through this disease, it has humbled my Dad and taught me how to be there for others the way my Dad was. When I was young I always heard how I was the image of my Dad. As I have grown through the years, I now hear how I look like my Dad and have his mannerisms as well. I never understood this at first, but now I pride myself when folks say I am a reflection of my father.
My first name, Heng, means consistent in Chinese. My parents hope I can be a person with perseverance, and I have been always trying hard to reach my goals no matter in school or in other life fields. The example of my career in learning Chinese calligraphy can best describes this trait of mine.Although it may sound not that familiar to American people, Chinese calligraphy, like many other kinds of arts, requires years of learning and practicing. I've spent all 7 years of hard work to master this art. During those years, I had lost interest in this hobby for some times and had thought about giving up. But everytime when I was close to quit, I reminded myself the important meaning behind my name. That really motivated me to move on. Also, the support from my family was a main factor that helped me through all those hard times. I am really gald that I finally become proficient at this art and I enjoyed the aesthetic feeling in this art so much.Moreover,my experience of learning calligraphy built me the character of not giving up, which helped passed so many difficulties after I started to live and study in America all by myself. I realized that, without perservence and consistency, great goals could never be achieved.
Women carefully carry heavy baskets on their heads, but make it appear as if anyone could accomplish this arduous task. Cars and motorcycles speed by, endlessly beeping to warn others of their presence, but children continue to play fútbol through the traffic. The stench of burning trash taints the air, but children still smile and wave making me feel welcome in a place where I stand out, but in which I feel perfectly content. In the country of Haiti, the spirit of its citizens is present during earthquakes, hurricanes, epidemics, and in the impoverished and underprivileged lives which I attempt to improve through my service. For these reasons, I can’t seem to suppress my unwavering desire to travel to this place.
I have traveled to Haiti two times on medical mission trips through the Notre Dame Haiti Program. Both times, I worked with a team of ten to fifteen people who were doctors, nurses, or students. We set up and ran medical clinics that provided medical exams and medications to patients. During my first trip in June of 2012, I was nervous yet excited to be there. When I returned home after a short week, all I thought about was returning because I enjoyed the beautiful country of Haiti so much. In June of 2014, I was privileged enough to travel to Haiti again on another medical mission trip. Although this trip had the same purpose and routine of the previous one, I felt more confident in what to expect. I experienced many feelings during that week such as joy after helping many sick people, happiness after helping someone with medicine, and sorrow after leaving. The most difficult part of returning home was not knowing what was going to happen after I left. I didn't know if the elderly woman with tuberculosis and limited medical care would survive another day or if the malnourished orphan I made a special connection with would live to the age of seven. Although this was one of the hardest parts of the trip, it is the reason I hope to return to continue my work. I hope I never lose this desire to immerse myself in the Haitian culture and experience the spirit of the people in the place where I feel perfectly content.
Throughout my entire life I have always felt protected and shielded from most things by my parents. However, one little event this past summer helped change that feeling for me. I've always spent time grumbling and complaining to my mom and dad about how they never let me be independent. So to challenge me,they decided to send my fourteen year old sister and I on a little adventure. They bought us a plane ticket and told us that we would be going to England to spend the summer with my aunt,uncle and cousins. Of course when I got the news I was ecstatic to go. I was finally going to be free from the constant guidance of my parents for a little bit. I spent months preparing and when the day finally came I was ready to go. It was a little sad saying goodbye to my mom and dad but I was still super excited for the journey that lay ahead for the two of us. As soon as we passed through those gates and head for security it was just my sister and I. It was weird because I suddenly felt like the adult in the situation. I was responsible for watching out for her,just like the way my parents do for me. It was my job to keep her protected from any harm that may have come her way. Being her guardian on that trip made me realize that my parents don't shelter me because they hate me,they do it all out of love. In that moment I really felt myself transition from the mindset of a child and into the mindset of an adult.
I don’t like clichés. I have never liked clichés. Some writers embrace them, use them to their advantage, make them work in their favor—not me. I shy away from them, perhaps to a fault, and strive to find the best way to delve into the unconventional. This is a huge part of who I am, not only as a writer, but as a person. It’s led me to a lot of failures and many great discoveries. As a small child, I wanted to be the first female professional football player—until I discovered I’m not any good at sports. I wanted to be the youngest successful signer—until I realized I couldn’t sing. As I got older, I stopped deciding I wanted to be the first person to do something; I decided the best way to experience the unconventional was to always be willing to try something. With this mindset, I took up archery—I still have two crossbows in my basement. I gave marching band a shot, even though I couldn’t read music. I picked up the cymbals and taught myself to read sheet music. I’m still in the band today. I auditioned for a play, despite my horrible stage fright. To this day, theatre is one of my favorite extracurriculars. I may be dyslexic and, truthfully, horrid at spelling, but I continue to write. It is, at this point in my life, my biggest passion. I refuse to let my fears, lack of skill, or anything else keep me from trying new things and following my dreams. I refuse to be just a cliché.
The song of birds chirping awakens me on an early morning. I take a few steps out onto the porch and absorb the bright sun's rays. The sweet smell of fresh air floods my nostrils. The breeze coming down from the mountains rushes over the water and chills my skin. I'm in my so called "happy place". Any worries from back home have vanished. The word stress doesn't even cross my mind. I'm relaxing at my Grandparents lake house in the small town of Branchville, New Jersey. It's a private getaway from the hectic lives we all live on a daily basis. Being here is a form of therapy for me, fully rejuvenated by the sound of silence. After a few hours, the hum of boat engines starting up can be heard from one end of the lake to the next. One boat after another goes by trailing a tube or a skier. Laughter fills the air due to wipeouts out on the water. These sights and sounds bring a smile to my face and cause me to laugh a little for I too know their pain. As the sun starts to make its way down, my family heads to the top of a small mountain nearby. I walk out onto the trail that leads to the very top and see the streaks of red, orange, and yellow illuminate the sky. The sun slowly slips underneath the horizon. I look out over the beautiful landscape and am just so thankful for having such a place like this. My Great Grandfather bought the home when he had gotten married and it's been passed on by generation to generation ever since. As I get my last glimpse of this great place before heading home, I wonder what it will be like in the future taking ownership of the house and then someday turning it over to my son like it has been done for generations.
One of the major things that has affected me as an individual was the family that I was born into, my parents were born into poor families. I remember my mother always telling me how her and my father would always be wearing clothing with patches of various colors because their clothes would get a hole and so it would be sewed up using other garments. When my parents met they were both still living in a some what unhappy situation. They decided to move to the United States when I was about 5. I started to grow and develop in America. I learned to speak english and started to assimilate the American culture, but always remembering where my parents came from. Each and every day I am encouraged to do my best in school. My parents know too well what they had to go through and what my dad is in fact still going through today. These past two summers I was able to experience for myself what my dad has gone through and continues to go through today. I now understood what my dad would go through, he would work long hours for very little pay. There were days in which he would leave home at 4:30am and not arrive until it was getting dark. In my experience with him I realized that I did not want to be doing this for the rest of my life. Ever since that experience I have been encouraged and motivated because I did not want to do what my dad was doing.
It happened September 22, 2012 on a Saturday afternoon within a matter of seconds. It was a typical saturday afternoon, my sister and I were hanging out and we decided to take a trip to the Christiana mall. On our way there we were singing along to our favorite songs and having a blast until I looked over to my right and a car t-boned the passenger side where I was sitting. My car spun around a few times into the other lane, the airbags deployed, glass shattered everywhere, and I could smell the smokey fumes. In that moment I became unconscious and in just that split second I could have taken my last breath on Earth. My sister made the call to our parents, a call that no parent wants to receive. Cops arrived and people were surrounding the scene. We were in shock. Tears ran down our face. I could see the fear in my sisters eyes, it was an image I will never forget. My dad came as fast as he could and rushed my sister and I to the hospital. I sat in the waiting room with such fear and agony. I appeared to be fine to the doctor besides a little slash on my face and a black eye. Early the next week I found it extremely hard to concentrate on school work, friends, family, anything. It was just a constant recurring image of the accident. I wasn't feeling like myself, my head was spinning. It was a monday morning and I had to get out of school. I went to Mr. Sibley, a physical trainer, he diagnosed me with a severe concussion. It also happened to be the day of my sixteenth birthday, september twenty-fourth, a day that was supposed to be exciting. I was far from excited that day. I could no longer receive my driving privileges until I was cleared, not like I cared. I was terrified of driving. I had absolutely no interest in it at all. In fact, it was the last thing I wanted to do. All I felt like doing was curling up into a ball and sleeping. I lost interest in a lot of activities after this incident, such as school work and my social life. My grades began to suffer. This event traumatized me. I went from having no anxiety to not being able to leave the house it was so bad. The hardest part was admitting I had a problem. I did not want to hear those words come out of my mouth. No one wants to go through anxiety or depression or should have to. But knowing how happy I used to be and how I felt then was an unsatisfying feeling. I knew I couldn't live life like this anymore. I started taking therapy sessions every week and after awhile I saw improvement. I would say my parents and therapist motivated me the most and helped me through recovery phases. They were the people who kept me optimistic. It took me a whole year to start feeling comfortable behind the wheel again. The worrying still hasn't stopped. The pain and suffering inattentive, careless drivers can cause is horrendous. But in a way I can view this situation in a positive manner. I will never take my life for granted or the life of others because you never know when your last day will be.
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