Chapter 1- 28.2282° N, 112.9388° E- Changsha, China
For my entire life, I’ve known I was adopted. I never had a long talk with my parents about it. Of course, they tell me stories and show me pictures, but I have had a talk with my family about why they decided to adopt and the process of it. My family while adopting me traveled with other families from the US looking to adopt. Growing up, I began thinking more and more about where I come from. I have always wondered how much of my temperament is genetic and how much has been influenced by my family. …show more content…
After sitting down and filling out a form for about 45 minutes I finally began the test. I began reading and got extremely bored. I couldn’t focus on the passages or even begin to try and understand the math problems. I left feeling unsatisfied and stressed out. When I got my first test score back I did not do well at all. I was embarrassed that all my friends scored higher than me and I hid what my results were from my friends and family. I pushed the fact that I would one day need to conquer this test in the back of my brain and I ignored it for a year. The next year as a junior I took the PSAT again. My score went up one-hundred points but I was still sub-par. After receiving my score and comparing it to friends I bawled my eyes out. I quickly realized that some people are simply better test takers. Yet I couldn’t shake the feeling that my acceptance into colleges was on the line because I didn’t perform as well as my peers. I quickly realized I needed to start prepping for this test. I took an SAT class and in it seemed to be many students similar to me that were struggling with the test. I learned many tips and tricks to hack the test. But ultimately my score only improved by twenty points after the class. I began to feel hopeless. I got to a point where I felt so defeated that I found schools that were test-optional or accepted a very low score. The test seemed so pointless. How would this help me …show more content…
I did it!” My exhausted parents hugged me tight and told me they were proud of me. I proceeded to tell my good news to my family and friends ecstatic that I finally got my dream score.
Chapter 5- 41° 8' 3.5196'' N73° 48' 44.6724'' W- Briarcliff High School
7:00am. Hair up, knee pads on, shoes on. Walking into my high school gym I was not nervous at all for volleyball tryouts. I had been on JV for 2 years and now as a junior, it is almost a right of passage to move up to varsity. We went through the week running a mile at the beginning of the day and running many drills. On the last day, we had a private talk with the coach about our position on the team. “Pearl!” It was my turn. I walked over with confidence and sat before the coach. “Pearl, after this week you’ve shown potential and think you would be a great asset to the team, as a practice player.” My smile quickly turned to a confused face. Practice player? Did I hear that