Failure Doesn't Define You by Mackenzie

Failure Doesn't Define You by Mackenzie - February 2017 Scholarship Essay

At the end of my freshmen year of high school, my school opened up an AP U.S. History class to sophomores and I instantly jumped at it. I always strive to test myself and this class was just another way to test my limits. Early in this class, I discovered the class was not going to be easy by any means, but I wasn’t about to drop the class and run away admitting defeat.
As the class got going, we came to our first text. We were being tested on five chapters, none of which were particularly short. I studied and studied, and took the test. I failed it. Later on in the course, we came to another test that was again five chapter’s worth of material. I failed that one too. After this, we had more test, each increasing in the number of chapters we were being tested on and therefore increasing in difficulty. Over the course of this class, I think I ultimately failed more tests than I passed, but that still didn’t make me drop out. I was determined to get through this class come hell or high water. These fails just made me work harder on everything else. Once I realized that my tests grades weren’t going to earn me the grade I desired in this class, I began to work twice as hard on every other assignment. I studied harder for every quiz, researched longer for every project and spoke louder in every class discussion.
Not only were these failures by academic standards, they were also failures by my personal standards. In my life, I always strive to excellence, and often times I am too hard on myself. If I get below an 80% on a test, I am often very disappointed in myself. So, to actually fail a test, was devastating. I know it sounds dramatic, but my grades are very important to me and I want them to be the best that they can be and if I do not achieve that goal I feel like I have failed myself.
However, a few failures weren’t about to knock me off my game, and I ultimately walked out of that class with an excellent final grade. The point of all of this is that a couple of failures and disappointments didn’t destroy me. I also learned that my world wasn’t going to fall apart if I failed an assignment. I failed tests, arguably the most important grades in any course, and I didn’t fall apart; my world didn’t crumble. I still don’t plan to make a habit of failing test, but at least now I know that if I do fail again, I will still be ok in the end.
I once saw a quote by Mia Hamm that read “Failure happens all the time. What makes you better is how you react to it.” This quote resonated with me deeply and it is a quote I try to live by every day. I could have let these tests grades knock me down and, as a result, I probably would have failed the course. Instead, I used them as motivation to try harder the next day and never throw in the towel.