Kayleigh Underwood All throughout my life, I have faced many challenges. Some were more difficult than others, but I believe all of them have shaped me into who I am today. If I could take one lesson I learned in high school and never forget it, it would be that my challenges and the outcomes to these challenges do not define me. What defines me is how I respond to these challenges.…
I was 10 years old. I looked from the edge of the mat, unaware about the endeavor I was about to take the moment my foot touched that mat. I finally decided to walk on, like they had taught me by bowing, it was the first of a near million times I was going to do this. I was a white belt, at the best taekwondo centers in the area. All the kids, stood to the side eerily silent, waiting for instructions.…
I was born in 1984 and started school in 1989. Watching the movie The Bottom Line in Education 1980 to the Present, gave me a perspective of the Education system while I was growing up. I didn’t realize what my teachers and educators were subjected to. As a child I was very naive, which is what I was supposed to be. I never thought that my school was overcrowded or operating below any standards.…
“Congratulations!!” read one post on a friend’s Facebook wall, the day after she landed an office job in her field. “So amazing!” read another. “Are you ready for your big-girl job?” asked a third well-wisher, accompanied by a GIF of Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope. “I can’t believe I finally have a real job” was the text she sent me a few days later, from the comfort of her desk, where she had been hired to do operations work for an organization she had once, a few years prior, interned for.…
In choosing this topic for my Take the Challenge project, I didn’t realize how much I would experience my topic. I’m Michaela La Vonne Dimick. I am 16 years old, and I have depression. If anyone has looked at a brightly colored image, and then looked at a black-and-white version of that image, then he or she would notice that he or she observes more detail in the black and white photo. Depression is like this.…
A couple days before poms annual summer camp. My coach gets that look in her eyes that everybody despises. I knew what was coming and I was totally terrified. She got out her notebook and pencil.…
Summer Session I already came to an end. This class flew by so quickly. Since my last class participation assessment, I think I continued to show good work. I tried my best in class. Although all the reading in Mosaic I was amazing, Unit 2 was my favorite.…
I remember when I was 5, the first time I went to a building daily for 8 hours. I sat down on the cold blue chair. In front of me was a bin of crayons, all the colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple. I remember sitting in the cold room and having the freedom to draw marks on my blank sheet of paper. The dye scratching against the table, colors spreading across the canvas like the sun, rising in the early morning.…
Lessons From Obstacles Throughout every step of life, challenges present themselves causing problems. Some are more serious than others. Others can leave lifelong pain. My life is no different from anyone else's.…
People sometimes forget that not everyone is capable of being in a high school environment. People are so focused on succeeding, that they forget it is okay to fail. Moving in with my mother was a choice I needed to make. A new house, life, and beginning, was exactly what I needed. Moving meant a change in schools.…
When someone asks me what is the biggest obstacle I’ve overcome I always answer saying, learning English, but deeply in my heart I know that I haven’t overcome my true obstacle because my real obstacle is trying to make a future in this country. As a Hispanic migrant and undocumented, I face hardships every day. One of them is that even though I meet all the requirements, I am restricted to apply only to certain colleges and scholarships because of my citizenship status. This situation makes me feel as if only people considered “real” Americans can get the best opportunities, colleges, and aid while people like me get the leftovers and are even targets of hate. No one has put up a poster in front of a restroom saying “Americans Only,” but…
The biggest lessons I've learned in high school is to never give up and accepting failure. As a kid in middle school I played basketball. I was always one of the best players. I was always in the starting lineup. I was always shooting three-pointers and averaging 23 points per game.…
This past March, I was choosing my classes for my freshman year of high school. My mother and I were looking over the courses offered for first-year students at the high school, when we saw that all students are required to complete a writing course while they attended Bedford High School. There were three options for how I could attend the course. I could take the course; in school during the summer, in school during the school year, or online during the summer. After talking to current high school students and hearing a presentation from guidance counselors, I knew that I should take the class in the summer, so I could take an extra elective and not be stuck with as much homework during the school year.…
Throughout my entire life, I have encountered, had conversations with, and have been given advice by many great people. The best advice given to me although was by my dad when I was in the tenth grade, be yourself. I was being bullied in school because I was not like everyone else. I didn't skip class with the "cool kids", talk disrespectfully to any adults, I was smaller than all of the other freshman and football players, and I was never getting into trouble like everyone else. After my entire freshman year of being bullied, I brought it upon myself in the tenth grade to try and change some things about myself.…
A Lesson Learned When I was younger, a lot of people took time out of their day to ruin mine. The only thing is, I was in fourth grade when I discovered writing. It was hard to imagine me not writing. My mind had been opened to this beautiful, fictional reality.…