I am Unique Essay

Books were like a chore to me. I preferred to be outside playing with my friends, then cooped inside the house reading a book

I differed from the majority. I was never into pop music, never into fashion, never into celebrities or idols. However, I was not aware of this until I reached an age where my peers in school no longer accepted my differentiating thoughts.

My English proficiency improved as I entered second grade, and by third grade I tested out of “English as a second language” classes at my school and I placed into honors English. From third grade all the way until eighth grade I continued to place into honors English but part of me was still the insecure six-year old from first grade. My test scores indicated that I was advanced and capable of being in an honors class but I didn’t have confidence in my own intelligence. The reason for my success to that point was due to me wanted to prove to everyone that I was brilliant just like everyone else and that it didn’t matter that at one time I didn’t know English. Somehow, I convinced everyone about my scholarly ability, everyone except

While everyone in the world is undeniably similar, we all have different personalities, interests, and ideals. My identity is unique because of my musical abilities, my faith, and my academics.

Ever since I was little, starting in first or second grade, I was classified as something other than average. A “special” teacher came and took me from my classes once a week, along with some other kids, and here we learned different lessons than we did in normal class. They called this the “gifted” class. These lessons always seemed to be harder than the normal ones, but I liked the challenge. Normal class was always boring to me. Up until middle school, those gifted lessons were the only challenges I had ever faced academically, and even then they weren't much of a challenge. I entered middle school with a sense that I knew everything the teachers would tell me, that I was smarter than everyone else, just because

As a six-month-old baby books had opened up a whole entire new world of experience for me. My inspiration to learn how to read and write was encouraged by my Mother and Grandmother. This is because they read out loud to me before bed occasionally and gave me the best time of my life by introducing me to a library. By two years of age I developed speech and other communication skills. This helped me understand and develop a favorite book, “PJ Funny Bunny,” and I would stare at the pages pretending I was reading them. I would continually pretend to read with other Dr. Seuss books, Smurf pop-up books (I imagined I was a part of these for hours), sniff & scratches, and sensory books. I had just begun

Every night my mom would read me a chapter or two of a “Junie B Jones” book. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to read by myself. I enjoyed reading when I first learned how. The first series I really liked was “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. I’ve read every single book in the series. Whenever a new book from the series would come out, i’d get it first thing the next day. I never really read that often after I finished the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series. Those books really entertained me and anything else I read from the point didn't sway me. In fourth grade, I had a really awesome teacher that was really hard on me, but I really believe she helped me the most. I don't remember everything we did, I really don’t remember most of the stuff we did. I just remember getting to 5th grade and writing was so easy for me. So was math, science, etc.

I grew up in small town known as Kinston, where most of my peers were underprivileged like myself. Instead of starting out in public school, I was enrolled into one of the two local charter schools. I was always put in the “smart” group in any activity, but once I started talking with public school kids and learning that we were being taught different made me doubt if I was truly was smart. When I was put in various community groups with majority public school kids, I felt outnumbered and uncomfortable because we had nothing in common. I started high school as a social outcast, but I made some really good friends. After I was put up against the public school kids, I did excel educationally. Instead of hanging out with my friends on the weekend,

Throughout life, we will all meet numerous people. Each character in our story is different and unique in some way. Perhaps one is known for being a prodigal and dedicated athlete. The next is creative and passionate in the arts. Yet another prefers to stay to the side, despite being surprisingly knowledgeable and wise for their age. They all have their own story to tell and their own characteristics that have formed them. I am no exception to this rule and have my own characteristics that set me apart from others. My various different interests are what have encouraged me in different ways, whether it be my drive, my creativity, or my intelligence.

I was very different and not everyone liked that about me. Feeling like an outsider made life at school difficult for me. Feeling like an outsider made me feel alone, but it also united me with other people who felt the same way that I did. It really bothered me that I wasn’t like any of the kids at my school and having people who felt the same way as me made things a lot better for me. My friends helped me realize that it doesn’t matter what other people think of me because I had people who loved me for who I am and that’s all that really matters.

This change in understanding didn't make me like the subjects any better. This continued for years all up until my dad began playing with various audiobooks in the car on our thirty minute drive to school. The book series that I loved the most was the Percy Jackson the Last Olympian series. I would start getting the getting the book from the library so I could read a ahead, because I couldn't wait till the next day to find out what happened in the next chapter. It came to a point where I would countdown the days until the new books came out. Soon I began to love reading and writing all because I listened to the books in the

I was raised believing I was unique. Going to university showed me everyone else thought similarly. Everyone

Which I was shocked because I never wanted to read one whole book in my life. So back to the library I went to get my second book, and then read that before anyone else finished their first book of the year. Looking back to those books some of those are the best books I have ever read to this day. Right after school I would rush as quickly as I could to the front office and laid on the ground reading until my mom got off work, then reading on the bumpy car ride home, after dinner and right before bed. Sometimes, when I was really close to finishing a book I would even stay up super late to finish and use a flashlight as my light so my mom wouldn’t see my bedroom light on and know I was up past my bedtime, just so the first thing I said to my teacher the next day was that I finished another book, and of course I said it loud enough so the whole class heard me. They were so shocked that I read so much in so little time. I was on a roll and I didn’t want to stop. I had read more books than anyone else in my class and even in my entire

Throughout my life I have always been called a bright person, a reader, and an Einstein. When I was younger, I read many picture books such as Dr. Seuss and Dragon Tales and tried reading them to my younger siblings but they wouldn't cooperate. I was extremely fascinated about history and loved to play around if I was in that time period. For example, I pretended to be President Washington marching along the kitchen and even though my family didn't know much about him as they were from Colombia, they said I would make an amazing president one day. In elementary school I worked ahead of the other children and was made fun of for that but I didn’t care. Before middle I took a test that put me in an advanced math class so I can work at a much faster pass.Trust me, it was not as bad as I thought it would be so in my three years I worked hard and helped others understand the concepts of what we are learning in

The earliest I have of myself reading is in early kindergarten. Vividly, I remember parking my butt right in front of my decaying bookshelf. The white shelves was filled with skinny books placed in our kitchen (at the time my family lived in a small apartment, so the entrance near the kitchen was the only place to put it). At the time, I picked books of the bottom shelf and try to read the whole stack. I absolutely loved reading when I was younger. Yet somehow, whether or not it was because I was forced to read in school, or over a gradual slump- my passion died out. Nevertheless, my younger self was infatuated with reading, and it might as well be worth sharing.