There is no secret to being successful. It is the result of preparation, hard work, dedication, and learning from failure. When starting a journey whether it is college, or even aspects like sports, you aren’t ready to face the responsibilities that come with it. To earn the success you must sacrifices and put all your heart into building good qualities, and grow from the important life lessons that come from of it. In class with Professor McCoy, one day we received pikachu key chains. We received these due to our hard work and growth in class with each other and progress in our own work. As I began to think, in life there are always situations that if you work hard you will get a reward. Here are some examples of personal experiences.
Throughout my life I have had many cases on different extremes where I had to put time and effort into something, to get the result I wanted. The first involving sports. Starting from elementary all the way through eighth grade my heart was dedicated to basketball. Then ninth grade hit and I was worn out, I thought I needed a change, so in ninth and tenth grade I tried cheerleading. At first I loved it, I was surrounded by a new environment, and new faces. As the seasons went on, and I approached the end of winter cheerleading in tenth grade I knew cheer was not where my heart was. Looking down at the basketball practice from the track above, I knew I missed basketball and needed to go back. I talked to my old coach, and now head varsity basketball coach, I told him I knew it was going to be a challenge due to taking two years off, but it was going to be worth it. That following spring, summer, and fall I was dedicated. It started with that summer I was thrown into basketball camp which was ninth through twelfth grade with people who have been doing basketball. I was so over whelmed due to my lack of skill, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to catch up. Then, school started back up. I would go in the morning at 5:30 and I was working out in the weight room for an hour, then my coach would meet me in the gym at 6:30 and do personal shooting, ball handling, and defensive drills with me till 7:45. At first, my coach and I both knew it was going to be a long shot getting me playing time on the court, but we continued this every morning anyway. Eleventh grade winter basketball season began, my skills had grown since I first started, but I was still behind many of the girls. I continued to practice on my own and in during team practice. During that basketball season I didn’t see much time in the game, five minuets at most for me and three other girls. I continued my drills after the season all the way up until my senior year basketball season. Now my skills were at the same level as the other girls, and the game of basketball became fun again. During that season I was playing in the game the whole time. I was the sixth man out, and I even started some games. Looking back at this situation I did not get my playing time right away, nor did I get playing time my senior year due to just skills I already had. I had to put time, hard work, and dedication into this sport. Once I put my heart and mind into this sport I got the reward I wanted, which was playing time.
The next situation in my life that I worked hard for was getting into SUNY Geneseo. During middle school and early part of high school I was just an average student. I was in accelerated classes, but I was not getting as high of grades as other in my class. Then tenth grade hit, and as a class we were being sent to college fairs and being told to look into careers, that’s when my goals in school began to change. I knew in tenth grade I wanted to be better than I was. I wanted to get into a good college with above average grades. Eleventh grade is when I knew I wanted to attend SUNY Geneseo. I knew this school was a great education school, and difficult to get into, but this became my goal. I took all honors and upper level classes, studying more than I ever did. My guidance counselor, my teachers, and myself began to see a large improvement. My senior year hit, and while most everyone made their schedules easier than other years, I loaded my course load on even more. I knew if my goal was Geneseo, I couldn’t lay off the work load. The time came where as seniors we began to apply to colleges. I decided I wanted to apply to Genseso early decision. I even scheduled in person interviews with admissions of Geneseo to add to my application. I had many of my teachers doubting my capabilities in getting into Geneseo, they would tell me it was a long shot. Then time came and I received a large envelope from Geneseo. Not only did I get accepted into Geneseo early decison, I became in the top ten of my class. In this situation my goal was to get into Geneseo. To do this I put time, and effort into my school work and grades, and got rewarded with the ability to attend a prestigious school.
Now I am almost done with my first semester here at Geneseo. Even now I have to continue working hard and over coming challenges to get where I want to be. I started off this semester with my grades being not as high as I wanted, trying to figure out study methods, and build my abilities. I just recently got into the school of education, that was my first reward. Now I must continue to work hard to not only stay in this program, but to also get the reward of being a teacher after my four years here at Geneseo.
In life you create in your head goals you want to accomplish. In order to do this, to see success, and to see a reward in the end you must put in dedication, hard work, preparation, and be willing to learn from your mistakes. As you go throughout your life you will continuously have to work hard. There will always be goals to be reached, and rewards you want to earn. Even small rewards like pikachu key chains, they help you to continue to work hard. What goal or reward are you working towards right now?