Personal Narrative: My Failure In High School

Failure certainly is not nice, and nobody is proud of a failure. I dreamed of attending the University of Texas at Austin, but I did not realize the work that contributed to achieving that goal. If I knew back then what I know now, I would go back and repair that bad grade, however making that bad grade was a turning point in my life that changed me for the better. I was a freshman when I first learned what failure certainly was.

I was careless and not very concerned about my grades, because I was a freshman. New school, new people, and more excitement, not to mention more homework. The football season is always exciting, especially because I was a part of the Friday night light experience. I was on the Drill Team and I was a member of the marching band. Because the study habits I had were horrible, an abundant amount of my tests and quizzes I failed. When I did my work I would wait until the absolute last minute, meaning my work possessed extremely low quality. I knew

that because of the organizations I was in, I did have to have decent grades, but I thought failing a class could never happen to me. I thought failing a class was impossible, and then I received my report card.
The moment I received my report card, I was ashamed.

I had an intense practice Monday afternoon, therefore I got home tired. I thought I was going to be able to just take a shower, eat dinner, and then go to bed. Then I glanced at the kitchen table, and saw my report card. I had known that my grade for my world geography was not going to be great, but I hoped I did not fail. I opened the envelope and unfolded my report card and spotted the grade. The grade was a sixty nine. My heart dropped and my eyes watered. And when I did not think the situation could get any worse, my parents wanted to see my report card. Just by their facial expressions I could tell, they were disappointed. I started to cry and realize that I had done wrong. Failures don’t go anywhere, was all I could think while I was receiving an hour long lecture about how this failing grade will affect my chances of getting into college. But I realized that I can recover, that this is just one of the many obstacles that I can

overcome.
Remembering that one bad grade motivates me to do better. I can remember the day as if it happened yesterday, and the shame that I felt. I started to study more for tests, get my work done as soon as the work was given to me, and hand in my work when my work was due. I knew that if I did not change my study habits and work ethics that my grades would not get better. I knew that if I did not make better grades I would not get to where I want to be. After that one bad grade I pushed myself to make all A’s for the rest of the year, and two years later I was chosen to be inducted into the National Honor Society, and I am currently ten out of one hundred fifty three in my senior class. This learning experience showed me that there is a recovery. I did not favor the fact that I had to learn the hard way, but the hard way aided me to obtain better grades.
This moment in my life was the moment that I would never want to experience again. I know now that I have to work for what I want. Whether it be grades in school, sports, or a job. I’m glad I learned at an earlier time, which was my freshman year, therefore I had enough time to recover. It’s a learning experience I learned the hard way, however if I would not have failed the class, I would have never changed, I would not be in National Honor Society, and I would not be at the top 10% of my class. I know now that I do not ever want to be known as the failure.