My Sophomore Year (Final Exam)

I don’t want to be the person who hardly finishes high school not knowing how they made it through. I also don’t want to be the person who graduates high school academically smart, but has no clue how to deal with the adversity of life. I’ve made the decision not to be that person. High school is about more than having a good GPA and lettering in extracurricular activities. What can we really learn? Not just from the teachers, but from mistakes, achievements, and let downs? Teachers are not the only means of learning.

I spent the beginning of my sophomore year devoting all of my passion and energy to cheer, tennis, and ROTC. I kept my grades up at first but midyear they began to fall. My grades weren’t slipping because I just didn’t care or because I was too involved. My grades suffered because I gave up. I didn’t understand math, chemistry was a little challenging, and I had absolutely no interest in world history. The work was hard, long, and boring. It took extra effort on my part for me to focus and I felt I was wasting my time. I didn’t want to care. When I started pretending I didn’t care, my teachers quit asking questions. It made it that much easier to get away without doing work. I thought it was too late to try. It was pointless. I did away with my math tutoring at lunch and never bothered to look at my homework. I didn’t learn how to balance equations or find the surface area of a cone. I didn’t learn how to effectively use a Persian chart to understand historical events. So what did I learn? It took me long enough, but when I opened my eyes I saw that giving up didn’t make anything easier. I felt “stupid” and disappointed in myself. Giving up was hurting me academically and socially. My social life revolved around sports and if I don’t have a decent GPA I cannot compete or even participate. I learned that it’s never too late to try. Every day is another chance to correct our previous mistakes.

Upon discovering that I had to try if I wanted to go somewhere in life, I became more aggressive in sports and activities. I worked a little more at my grades so that I could pass, but all the anger I felt and had nothing to do with; I turned it in to passion. My passion for cheer and ROTC became stronger. I commanded first year cadets into an overall 5th place in a varsity state drill meet, and I got to know and understand my cadets better. I acquired my standing and running backhand spring and performed it in front of a large crowd of people at cheer state competition. What’s the big deal, right? This taught me courage to move forward and try again. I wasn’t scared to get back up no matter how many times I fell physically or mentally. I gained discipline and I learned how to respect the differences I shared with others. It wasn’t easy. I had my disputes with other cadets and I literally fell on my face multiple times learning how to tumble. Still, I got up and shot for the moon. I may have landed on a star but the moon is that much closer now.

I aimed at the moon, knowing it was higher than I could reach. I was disheartened at the thought of never being able to stretch far enough to reach it. I hadn’t tried to take things step by step. I could leap thirty feet up but the moon was a hundred. I thought I was letting myself down. I thought I was letting my friends, family, and coaches down…I wasn’t. Gunny told our platoons, “Shoot for the moon. If you miss you’ll land in the stars, but you’ll have one hand on the moon pulling you back up.” He was right. I learned ambition only dies if you let it die. Nothing is ever too far of a stretch. I learned that I can use those stars as steps and climb my way up to the moon. That’s exactly what I’ll do.

My sophomore year was full of lessons. I learned a lot. Maybe not academically, but you need more than academics to persevere. These lessons that bear themselves before me now will always be a part of me. They are not things I will soon forget. It’s not ok to let your academics sufferer just because you are learning life lessons. Next year I’m going to be a better student, but I’m also going to continue to seek the lessons that can’t be taught in text books and class activities. I’m creating a better me because I learned how to do this my sophomore year.