A Success or A Defeat? by Tabitha

A Success or A Defeat? by Tabitha - November 2014 Scholarship Essay

Freshman year is an exciting year, but it is also a very important year. This is the beginning of your high school transcript and the year that determines whether or not you will be Valedictorian. Later in your high school career, you will either grow to regret, or become content with the amount of effort that you have put into your freshman year. Although there are many excuses to doing bad in school, the biggest piece of advice I can give you is, put forth effort all of the time. It affects your future when it comes to finances, when your emotions take over, and when you choose your friends.

To begin, finances are a big part of life. The amount of money that you receive later in life all depends on whether or not you succeed in receiving good grades in high school and college. Some may think that they will just wait until college to improve academically, but that is not how it works. In order to get into a good college, you need to work hard in high school and do well on your ACT or SAT. Do not do what I did. During my freshman year, I was lazy and thought, "I have three more years, I have time." Here I am, as a high school junior, wishing that I would have tried harder. Time really does fly and if you are not willing to put forth effort during your freshman year, you more than likely will become comfortable in the place that you are at. Do not be afraid to climb the mountain. The more effort you put forth, the higher you get; the less you try, the more acquainted you become with the valley. I am going to be honest, the valley may give you water and good food, but if you are content in the valley, you will never get to see what lies beyond, and you will never be able to receive anything but the main necessities of life. The one who tried, and is at the top of the mountain, will be able to see where they can go, and purchase better things as a result of their hard work. Never forget that you have to go through a volcano in order to reach the diamonds, and it is worth it in the end.

Adding onto that, emotions affect everybody, no matter who you are. They affect lifelong decisions. This can be a good thing, or a bad thing. If you start freshman year with a bad attitude, you are more than likely not going to try, or do anything positive. A person who starts freshman year saying, “I cannot wait to see how successful I am!” will have more of a chance at being successful because they are willing to put forth effort. If you do not have ambitions, than you will not try because you will not know what to work toward. Granted, some of the greatest people in our history books were people who failed, but what we fail to realize is that they persevered through it and tried again. Not everyone is good in school, but everyone can succeed if they want to and are willing to work for it.
Most importantly, your success is affected by who you choose to befriend. When you choose a friend, ask yourself, “Would this person challenge me to become a better person?” If the answer is no, then they are probably not going to care whether or not you try to succeed during school. If they do not put forth effort, you probably will do the exact same thing. “Why?” you may ask. Well, let us just say, for instance, that you are at a friend’s house and they are playing a game that you really like. What are the chances of you picking up your homework and working on that, as opposed to playing the game? They are very slim. I will tell you that, if somebody is watching one of my favorite dramas, and I have a ton of homework, I will still probably watch the drama. It is just how humans are. When we visit with a friend, we want to be doing something enjoyable. Vis a Vis, if your friend is a scholar that always studies, even if they understand what they are studying, you are more likely to be challenged by their example. Do not let your friends pull you down into that valley. Hoist each other up and put forth the effort that you are capable of putting forth so you can reach the top of the mountain, and see your reward. Challenge your limits. Do not ever let a certain amount of effort be enough.

To conclude that advice that I am giving you, always open your mind up to new possibilities. Do not ever let your dreams be easy to reach. Make sure that, no matter what, you will put forth effort and work your hardest, and even harder to reach that dream. Jesse Owens once said, “We all have dreams, but in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.” If you do not know, Jesse Owens was a four-time gold medalist that set a long jump record for twenty-five years. He put forth effort and succeeded, just as you can.