Personal Narrative: Just One More Pin

My legacy began when my family taught me to read. My mom and grandma took turns teaching me different letters and sounds out of an early reader. By the time I reached kindergarten, I read well enough to strengthen my skills on my own. My favorite author from kindergarten was Eric Carle. I brought home Brown Bear Brown Bear so many times that my mother told me I was not allowed to read it again.

Later that day I went home, I was so mad at myself that I told my parents and sisters that I won't do it ever again and that it was just a waist of my time, but to my surprise the next day I found myself at the bowling alley still struggling. During the practice the JV 1 coach came up to me and told me the most important thing in bowling “don't look at the pins, look at the second arrow”. It seems like nothing helpful but in reality it is. It's a small thing but it makes the game perfect. Thinking back I was close to quitting bowling but with one help from the coach my life changed completely. After two weeks of practice came the first match I was really nervous because I thought that other girls will make fun of me because I didn't get past 100, but in reality none of us did because we were starters first year bowlers we had a lot of things to learn to become better. In the middle of the season was another time where I was considering quitting, being a freshman I was asked to play with the JV team which mean the there are girls who are more experienced and have bowl for a year or even more. I was so nervous about again the judging me that I did really bad that math but the coach didn't give up on me yet, he wanted me to play for the rest of the season with his section, and that was the place where I learned the

It was a typical Sunday morning, I ate breakfast with my family and got ready for church. The morning went on with a drag, than 5 o’clock hit. Once 5 o’clock hit my mother started yelling at my sister and me to get our stuff packed and into the car. We had only a few hours before my final summer of upward bound started. Since I started my senior year I’d been remembering many moments of my past and been reflecting on them. Therefore as I began to pack, it didn’t seem strange to me as I started to flash back to what had gotten me into Upward Bound in the first place.

One would like to believe that gender doesn't affect your employment prospects, right? My husband came down on orders to bring us to Benning, it was time to update ye old resume. As a CNC machinist with seven years’ experience, working in both a proprietary production shop as well as a diverse job shop, I'm qualified to set up, tear down, perform program edits and run a variety of equipment. There is, however, one large disadvantage working against me in finding employment here in the lovely state of Georgia; I'm a woman. This is an apparent deal breaker for the shops that I've applied at thus far. It's evident to me, as everything goes very smooth in the application and pre-interview process, until they find out that the "S" in "S. McPherson" stands for Stephani. The joys of being a woman in a man’s world.

If my autistic brain gets sensory overload, you’re not going to want me on the picket lines in front of a camera trying to explain our cause. I’ll freeze (or worse, I’ll babble), and I’ll embarrass you. You also don’t want me to make a public speech because my ability to look away from the paper and into the eyes of others is negligible at best (see here).

    On Sunday, March 12th of 2017, I had my first interview with Dr. Isaac Siew, an Emergency doctor, who works in Amarillo, Texas at Baptist Saint Anthony’s Hospital. Mr. Siew and I discussed many of the major topics of Emergency medicine such as, the risks of being an Emergency Doctor, the pros of being an ER doctor, what skills one should have prior to being an Emergency Doctor, and what one does in Emergency Medicine. With each question I gained more and more information on the career that I love, and saw a new point of view on Emergency Medicine.

“Time travel used to be thought of as just science fiction, but Einstein’s general theory of relativity allows for the possibility that we could warp space-time so much that you could go off in a rocket and return before you set out.” - Stephen Hawking.

I turn my alarm off for the sixth time before I finally glance at the clock. It's 5:45 A.M. I overslept. I rush to shower, get dressed, and brush my teeth. Then expertly apply concealer in an effort to hide the bags under my eyes. There's not enough time left for me to eat breakfast or blow dry my hair so I grab a to-go shake -the same as yesterday- and throw my hair into a bun. It's 6:30 and I'm standing at the foot of my driveway using my phone as a flashlight since the moon can't light my path because it's hidden behind the clouds. Eventually the bus pulls up and I sit through the same tired silence as the week before.

How many different “hats” do we each wear on a daily bases. From our careers, to our family and friends we all have different identities that we claim and live out day to day. These identities help us define who we are. “When we identify ourselves, we draw on a host of different characteristics associated with various social groups to which we belong” (King 2012, pg. 429). My ornament is explaining the social identity through a snow-women and her many hats.

harder things. If that goes well then I might change it to every day. If I succeed in doing my challenge then I’ll reward myself in some manner, most likely by hanging out with friends and doing something a little more special with them. My first challenge will be talking to someone I don’t know on the bus or at the store. After that, I’ll think of my next challenge for next week and so on making each new week progressively more

Determination is a suitable character trait to describe me.When there is something I genuinely want to accomplish, I will fulfill it no matter how many times I fail. Failure is what fires my inner desire to work hard and to my fullest potential until my goals are achieved. For example, in my Jazz dance class, my instructor instructed the class to do switch leap jump, which is a jump that launches a dancer up and forward into a split in which the extended legs switch places in mid-leap. In my mind, I’m thinking to myself how impossible that sound and fear started taking over my body since it was my very first time being instructed to do such jump. When the instructor played the music for the jump, I decided to stand at the end of the line and

Every single second of every single day, people all over the world content themselves with mediocrity. In the words of the legendary Steve Prefontaine, “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” That is why, every second of my life I put forth an unmatched effort and dogged work ethic in everything I endeavor to do. However, I have found that throughout my life my determination goes completely unnoticed. Regardless of the fact that my drive regularly goes unnoticed, it is a quality that is integral to my character; furthermore, determination has been, and continues to be a defining characteristic in my life.

It was the Schmitt Family Christmas. It was occuring at the community center in Fort Atkinson. At the time I was living in my old house. I would have either been in kindergarten or younger. We were upstairs in the gym at the community center. Many of my relatives were playing basketball while some of them were still downstairs. Most of the older adults were downstairs and a few adults and most of the kids were upstairs. Most of the kids upstairs I knew because most of them were my cousins. My dad was upstairs and I was just horsing around on the bleachers in the gym. The bleachers were made of wood and some of them were not in the best condition at the time. As a child I didn’t know much better. Most of the kids were playing basketball and I was trying to have some fun too. Being the 3 or 4 year old kid I was not going to think about what to do.

As a competitive bowler in my young age, I always had a preference of going last in order. Keeping the tradition, I was the last to throw on this day as well. I finally approached the lane after my friends all threw their first ball. Everybody knew my history here at this particular bowling alley, so there were high expectations involved. I grabbed my ball and stared down the lanes a little longer than I used to. I was unsure of my approach, where exactly I was aiming, and could feel the jitters in my hands. Waiting any longer felt very awkward, so I took three long steps forward, swinging my ball backwards in preparation for an epic throw down the lane. Upon my fourth step, I launched my ball directly into the right gutter. Pure embarrassment kicked me directly in the chest. I felt like all technique I worked on ten to fifteen years ago had been lost. I turned around and looked at my group of friends. They could see the self-pity in my eyes. I did my best to play it off with excuses, but to my surprise, they were all supportive of me and wanted nothing more than to see me go again. I geared up

Work is the key to success, if I do not put in the work, then I am not successful. I like to think of myself as a powerhouse. I can produce a multiple of works, writing being one of them. Although I am capable of such talents, my writing is not always perfect. My writing has flaws and weaknesses, my strengths are becoming more resonant, nevertheless I plan to improve