2021: The Year of Perseverance by Lauren

2021: The Year of Perseverance by Lauren - January 2022 Scholarship Essay

The year 2021 has been an invaluable year to me. It taught me how to face fear, how to overcome challenges, but most of all, how to persevere to be successful academically. I learned the importance of consistently pushing myself to make small positive changes, and how it can lead to big results. This year showed me that sometimes, to do great things, you have to fight with everything you have for the smallest step forward. It can be a gut wrenching and a maddening process, but that small step is worth fighting for and it's necessary to keep moving towards your goals.

Throughout life so far, I have been presented with what I like to call “opportunities” that have helped make me the student-athlete I am today. As a height “challenged” competitive swimmer, I don't fit the profile of an athlete with swim potential. I have had to rely on my inner strength, strong work ethic, pure love of the sport, and persistent pursuit of my goals to compete with athletes whose long, lithe bodies (and even longer reach) are naturally built for swimming. I learned through my coach that I can not change my stature, but I can change my mindset. With my coach’s encouragement, I resolved each day to push myself to be the hardest working member of the team at practice. On many early morning swims, I could still feel the soreness from the previous night’s practice in every agonizing kick and stroke. It was a constant battle at 6 a.m. between my mind and my body to push harder, touch the wall faster, kick stronger--but I never gave in. Slowly, over time, it helped me to become a faster, more competitive swimmer. When I swim each race, I am buoyed by the confidence knowing that no matter what the outcome, I have given it my best. I am moving forward toward my goals, and I will bounce back stronger, wiser, and more powerful.

As a student recently receiving a recent diagnosis of a learning disability, I spent many years wondering what was wrong with me. I hid my struggle from everyone, and thought that I just must not be working hard enough. I would refuse help because I didn’t want anyone to discover my secret. I just wanted to be normal. Finally, buckling under the weight of a heavy school schedule, practice, work, and life in general, I could take no more. With much trepidation and mortification, I faced my fear and revealed my source of shame to my school counselor. She immediately and confidentiality arranged for extensive comprehensive testing, and I was diagnosed with a learning disability. Initially, I was crushed to be handed such a diagnosis. I felt that I was damaged goods. I feared I would never reach my goal of going to college--let alone swimming in college and becoming a nurse. College seemed hopeless and I allowed myself to become hopeless too.

After a series of missteps and mistakes, once again my coach’s profound words advised me that I cannot change my diagnosis, but I can change my mindset about it. At that moment, I realized I was allowing my disability to rob me of what I wanted the most, and I wasn’t going to let that happen any more. In 2021, I became determined that I would not give up my goal to go to college. It was time to apply the same tenacity to my academics that had got me through all those long grueling swim practices. With the help and encouragement of many teachers, I learned new tips, tricks and study habits. Bundles of notecards and pens in a rainbow of colors have become my new tools. I have tried new approaches to studying, and I continue to find tools and creative methods to improve my academics. My grades began to rise and I am doing better than ever. I applied to college, and was accepted and earned a spot on the swim team!

I continue to this day to fight relentlessly to do better and be better every single day. It has taken me a long time to want to talk openly about my learning disability, but this setback has made me stronger. I am determined to work even harder, and to push past any obstacles. These “opportunities” I have experienced have challenged me and provided the opportunity for growth. Last year provided me the challenge to build a strong foundation of self confidence and steadfastness for the road that lies ahead. I learned I will not let any label stop me from reaching my goals. I am now able to dream big for 2022 and pursue becoming a nurse while also swimming D1 in college, all because in 2021, I developed and strengthened the skill to persevere.