I remember the distinct feeling of admiration I felt as a child, when I watched my peers quickly complete the task I despised most. Although I was an active child, my heart would still involuntarily race and fill my chest with a dreaded burning sensation as I struggled to catch my breath throughout the duration of the task. It was apparent that I was out of my element of solving algebraic equations and conducting quirky science experiments, and expelled into the foreign world of athletics to complete the notorious mile run. I have been presented with this challenge on numerous occasions due to its requirement in various gym classes, and I have not been able to give a stellar performance. I even recall a few of my peers with asthma finishing
the mile before me, which boggled my mind. My shortcomings encouraged me to integrate the mile run into my workout routine years later, while I was on my quest to lose weight. During each workout, I ran one mile in pursuit of decreasing my mile time and subsequently developed a passion for fitness similar to the one I have for education. After four months, I decreased my mile time from over thirteen minutes to eight minutes and thirty-one seconds. Within the next ten months, I hope to further decrease my mile time to around seven minutes to accomplish the goal I set for myself as a child to overall increase my endurance in all facets of life.
Ever since I was a young student, teachers knew that I was not a normal kid. These teachers saw qualities in me that they could not see in many students at that age level. They saw a child who had a profound love to know more and had the ambition of a decorated Olympic swimmer to learn not just the material that was being taught but why it is being taught and how I can I use this information to make people’s lives better. Fast-forward to today, and you can clearly see that not much has changed except my determination to learn and my love to help others has done nothing but expanded.
Every practice, every time trial, every race, I carry my inhaler with me. My asthma is an obstacle that has kept me from enjoying cross country for the past five years. Less than a mile into a race, the wheezing starts. By the two mile mark, I can feel the sides of my esophagus enclosing as my lungs fight to receive air. By the 3 mile mark, my limbs have gone numb and my face starts to tingle from the lack of oxygen it is getting. By the finish line, I have passed out and wake up struggling to take breaths, while a paramedic coaches my breathing back to normal. Going into every race, knowing that you are likely to pass out at the end from lack of oxygen, is the most terrifying and discouraging aspect of cross country. And for the past five years, it is something that I have faced almost every day during each
Some forms of inspiration are driven from defeat. The Garden City’s football team’s catalyst before their football game was, “Having lost to the rival Red Devils in each of the past two seasons was motivation enough for Garden City, Which rolled to a 68-20 victory that ended by the 45-point mercy rule late in the fourth quarter”(Whitson 1). Having lost two seasons in a row by the same team, caused each player to exert themselves to their highest capability to vanquish the Red Devils. The Lubbock tennis team, just like Garden City, was defeated, but the Lubbock tennis team lost at regional finals. “’Last year we fell short and lost in the finals of the regionals to Wichita Falls Rider, and basically we started working for this very thing at that point last year,’ Dotson said”(“Finding Motivation No Problem” 1). Their melancholy was used as fuel to ignite triumph that upcoming year. In the book The Perfect Mile, Bannister embraced this concept when Neal Bascomb said, “Bannister had stepped up his training. His failure in Helsinki had left him with a need to redeem himself- to deal with ‘unfinished business’”(Bascomb 88). “But the sting from his devastating loss at the Olympics had driven him to continue running and to seek the four-minute mile as evidence that his approach to sport still had merit”(Bascomb 242). Bannister desired to have satisfaction with his achievements and wanted to close o...
Conditioning my brain muscles, lifting 2 by 3 inch flashcards, and honing my guessing skills, I am a Decathlete. Ever since the summer of 2013, I made a life changing choice to join a particular group of rejects, outcasts of teenage society, known as the Academic Decathlon Team. Even my friends poked fun at me for deciding to associate myself in a class where students apprehensively awaited to answer academic questions via buzzer (which I now know is a common misconception). However,
The start of the 2002 track season found me concerned with how I would perform. After a disastrous bout with mononucleosis ended my freshmen track season, the fear of failure weighed heavily on my mind. I set a goal for myself in order to maintain focus and to push myself like nothing else would. My goal for my sophomore track season was to become a state champion in the 100 meter hurdles. I worked hard everyday at practice and went the extra mile, like running every Sunday, to be just that much closer to reaching my goal. The thought of standing highest on the podium in the center of the field, surrounded by hundreds of spectators, overcame my thoughts of complaining every time we had a hard workout. When I closed my eyes, I pictured myself waiting in anticipation as other competitors names were called out, one by one, until finally, the booming voice announced over the loudspeaker, "...and in first place, your 2002 100 meter hurdle champion, from Hotchkiss, Connie Dawson." It was visions like these that drove me to work harder everyday.
A successful student-athlete is like a unicorn: they’re rare and magical in action. They somehow achieve outstanding sports results, stay at the top of their classes, and have a vibrant social life. You can usually find them in one of three places: in class, their athletic location of preference, or the cafeteria. Successful student-athletes often have convoluted concepts of sleep. If they’re not waking up at the crack of dawn for morning practice, they’re pulling all nighters to finish an essay. Somehow, through some miracle, they hand in their assignment on time and run off to a practice somewhere. This situation was common at my previous high-school, which had a high performance program for elite athletes. When I was a grade 9 in the HP program, I was in awe of the grade 12 students who managed to balance their hectic lives so effortlessly. But as I got older, I realized that not all of my fellow high-performer student-athletes were unicorns
During lunch, an announcement was made concerning the Running Start Program for the next school year. The cafeteria was bustling with activity, and I was extremely exhausted from the weight training class I attended just minutes before heading to lunch. After listening to others speak about college, I contemplated the idea of becoming a Running Start student. The next day, I visited the
The classroom and practicum have been instrumental to me in many ways including my recovery from cancer. When I was released to return to work after my illness, I received more than fifty rejections, most responding that I did not have a degree. Therefore I began my adult education with the goal of getting an associate’s degree. At that time I had no aspirations of going on to choose a major and graduate with a bachelors or masters degree. Little did I know where this journey would take me and the impact that it has had on my life.
In life, there are moments that have the ability to shape our understanding of ourselves or someone we know. These events have the power to challenge our beliefs, break down barriers, and reveal the depths of our true selves. One such event that profoundly changed my understanding of myself was a transformative conversation with a close friend. Through this heartfelt exchange, I learned the strength and beauty that lies in embracing vulnerability and the profound impact it can have on our lives. For years, I had fostered an image of strength and self-assurance.
Senior year was bittersweet for me. My mother finally agreed to let me drive my senior year. A high school student parking a lot was like the cafeteria room where everyone sat with their cliques. A day before my first day of senior year I was talking to my older brother about how I can finally drive to school. He agreed how it was a big deal and said “Since I don't drive my car that much, you can drive it until you get your own car.” My brother’s car is not just a car it is every high schooler’s dream car. It is a exotic two thousands and fifteen space gray tinted windows BMW seven fifty Li vehicle. It has four automatic doors with light brown leather seats and tinted sunroof. He just had two rules, don't let just anybody in his car and ask
During my senior year of college, I decided to switch career paths and pursue Student Affairs. I can honestly admit, I did not fully understand what that meant at the time but I knew I wanted to help students transition in college. As a first-generation college student, I was significantly influenced by the Student Affairs staff at my undergraduate institution. I had arrived at college lost and struggled both academically and socially through my first year. It was not until a Student Affairs professional nudged me in the right direction, that my college experience began to evolve. In part, it was through their dedication to me that I was able to become who I am today; they challenged me and my beliefs to get me to see a different world, a better
I think my life really started in my freshman year when I was just a foolish ignorant kid. As an ignorant freshman that thought freshman year would not count into my GPA, I used to get D’s and F’s and not care about classes, not take notes and, not even study for test or quizzes or even homework, consequently, I did really poorly that year and really dropped my gpa to a horrible 2.0. My life changed when I came to Hargrave in my sophomore year. I started actually caring about my classes and do what I am supposed to do as close to perfection as possible. Hargrave really forced insurmountable responsibilities on me that I didn’t even have time to not care.
Focusing on strengths (e.g., instead of punishment) is inherently rewarding and motivating (Biswas-Diener, 2010). In also concur that the intangible fuel (psychological force) that burns hotter than others with direction and purpose (e.g., purpose derived from pleasure, for example) with varying levels of intensity and efficiency to drive athletes to perform well is motivation (Vernaccchia, McGuire, & Cook, 1996).
Numerous children dream of becoming a gold medal olympian when they grow up. As years pass, revisions are made and many kids who once dreamed of a gold medal, now desire a family and a stable job with their fantasies becoming their side hobbies or less. If one works hard and asserts themselves, their worlds change so that their desires will unfold before them- to an extent. There is a controversy that who we consider successful did not end up at the top through solid hard work and determination. These few received multiple opportunities that others did not which kept them on the road to their success.
...new classes, I soon realized what would be the biggest challenge of college: deciding on a major. Yes, I am one of those people who started college without first declaring a major. I soon heard every question, suggestion, and response regarding possible options. I even began concocting false majors to throw some people off. Large-Scale Demolition was a crowd favorite.