Personal Narrative: What I Learned To Persevere

Imagine being at the peak of your high school career, personally, academically, and athletically. For me, that was my sophomore year. I was selected to be on the homecoming court, I won a free class ring, and a free corsage and boutonniere for prom. I was on my way to a 4.0 grade point average. I was pulled up to Varsity basketball, I became the 100 meter hurdle regional champion, and I qualified for two events at the Division 4 State meet for track and field. In one split second, a clip of a hurdle, that was over. My first race of the day was the preliminary 100 meter hurdles. Once the race started, I was calm, focused, and determined. I was starting to make my way up to the front of the pack when I clipped my trail leg on the eighth hurdle.

Until I walked onto the stage to take a bow, I didn’t realize that I just danced, acted and sang a solo. It took me a long time to get to that fifth grade Christmas play where I wasn’t shy anymore. Due to the fact that I wasn’t Darth Vader anymore, so I didn’t need a mask strapped onto my face to breathe at night. Asthma, respirators and surgeries were what my childhood consisted of and I would have time to, at most, socialize with my family. Years after my final surgery, my currently bubbly-self erupted from within and many of my friends never knew how I was before.

Having grown up in a time and within a society where the terms fail and lose are rarely spoken to children in any aspect of their lives, I generally considered myself a success in everything I did. I received medals, ribbons, certificates, awards, and trophies for academics, sports, and for just being a kid. So in my mind, for the majority of my life, I was unaware that I had failed or lost at anything. And having a father that is a U.S. Marine, failing and losing were not things that I wanted to tell him that I had done. Now that I am tasked to determine how I have grown from my failures, I realize that I have failed, that failure is not the end, and that I have excelled in several areas of my life due to what I have learned from those failures.

Hi iam Edgardo Flores i was born in casa grande, az not that far away from our state capital,Phoenix, Az.theres nothing better to do in a hot summer than going out with the friends to a lake and have a blast riding jet skis boats and my favorite, swimming!My activites of the day are shooting,riding horses,and my favorite one is quad riding.Thats right! ive been doing these fun exciting hobbies since i was 9 years old.pretty young huh?

1. The 2nd case study made me reflect on my first head coaching job in football. I was hired by a school in south Texas with the help of a friend I coached with in Oklahoma. He had moved back to his hometown and started teaching and coaching at his high school. He contacted me about the opening and two months later I was hired. I hired him to be one of my assistants and even made sure that he was paid well as a thank you. I was very disappointed with the way he coached that year. I had already make arrangements to move him to a non-coaching position for the next season. I realize I never spoke with him about my expectations or made him aware of how I felt during the season. I identity with Dr. Skinner is some regards. I was caught up in the other aspects of teaching, coaching, and AD duties, I neglected to take care of that issue. I understand that it is OK to hire a trusted colleague or friend but the expectations of them should not be any different of anyone else.

Well this year was a hell of a year. I mean, i didn't pass any of the semesters but i did observe a ton of stuff that went on in the class. The class in general was pretty lit. Every day went by and i honestly did some work. The class was ready to learn as mrs g was ready to teach. I mean yea we had some days were we didn't want to learn anything and there were also days when mrs g didn't want to teach. But ima be honest, doing the work we did wasn't in my best interest. Most of the projects we did in class i worked on, but at the end i didn't end up liking how i did it so i wouldn't even bother turning anything in. like the obituary we had to write about ourselves. I liked the meaning behind this but honestly i didn't want to work on that because it just brought back memories of my friends that were killed.

My life began in privilege. From magnificent dollhouses, professional family Christmas pictures, and white picket fences, it all seemed so simple. Five-year-old me did not understand for the longest time what adversity was and how it would ever affect me. Twelve years later, I’ve come to realize that the adversity in my life has created diversity within me.

During my sophomore year of highschool I loved to play volleyball and basketball. It was my life and I enjoyed everything about it. The intensity of the sports gave me a thrill rush. Sports are what helped me through high school. During volleyball season I was a major blocker for our team. I played weak side witch was your top blocker. I was going up for a block and when I came down I landed really wrong. As I was coming down and felt my feet hit the ground I heard a loud pop in my knee. I had instant pain and fell to the ground. As my coaches were running over to me I could feel tears running down my face. I told myself that pain wasn’t going to take my game away from me. I got up and told my coaches leave me in I am fine. I continued to play till the end of the game. I was in so much pain and aginee. I finished the game and went into the locker rooms and finished my high school career.

The lessons we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Yes, I do have several personal life experiences where I have overcame adversity and transformed into the person I am today. As a military child, I was blessed with the opportunity to spend my youth on Feltwell Royal Air Force Base in England and Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska. Since I lived in relative isolated locations, I functioned entirely on base; therefore, I was protected from the harsh realities of the world. Everyone I met understood me, for they experienced the same things I did. However, this changed in the winter of my seventh grade year. My mother’s father was diagnosed with Stage Four lung cancer, so my father applied for a Humanitarian Reassignment. Thankfully, the request was approved and my family was reassigned to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in

When I think of the word “adversity,” three things come to mind, the words: difficulty, challenge, and perseverance. These come to mind because adversity is definitely difficult and it is surely a challenge, but, if you persevere, you can overcome all adversity.

The lessons that we take from failure can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced failure. How did it affect you, and what lessons did you learn from the experience?

One aspect about myself, that goes unnoticed in my life is my determination. Determination has been a trait of mine for the majority of my life. Both my mother and father are very determined people. Having them as my role models growing up, I always wanted to one day be like them. I personally believe this is where my determination aspect came from. I don’t think that I was born with it, but rather developed it because of the people I was surrounded by in my life.

It was a summer day I just got out from cheerleading practice. My mother and I were driving and then an suv ran a stop sign and smashed into my side of the car. I just remember being rushed into an ambulance to the hospital and waking up with a cast on my leg and the doctor informed me that I broke my fibula in numerous places. I would be in a cast for a period of three months and after the cast came off I would have to rehab to rebuild the strength in my leg. I was determined to get back out and compete in the following year cheerleading competition at Six Flags. After 2 months of weight training with my leg, I was able to walk on it without any crutches. I built the muscle up to the point I was able to actually run on it. I continued to do exercises at home on my own throughout the following months so I could be prepared for when cheerleading season started back up. I got back out there and I was able to perform better than I did before I was injured. We went on to compete at the Six Flags competition where we placed fourth. Another experience that displayed my determination was two years ago I lost my job at a bank because the branch was closing down. I was of course devastated but I also knew this was not the end of the road for me as far my career. I can recall going on about 5 different interviews for a multiple jobs and not receiving one single phone call for a job offer. Finally, I went through a temp agency and was hired on the spot for a temp to permanent position at a call center. After three months of giving it my all to prove I was a worthy candidate to become a full time permanent employee finally paid off. I have been with this company for the past 2 years and thriving in my position. Another situation that shows my determination was when I knew I wanted to go back to school to finish getting my degree at Bowie State. It was difficult because my boyfriend is a firefighter and works

In my 38 years of life, I’ve had to overcome plenty of obstacles. When examining my life, especially in my younger years, it showed me life consists of an assortment of minor and major obstacles. Facing an obstacle, especially a major one, and conquering it, awards me a triumphant feeling. Furthermore, this feeling did provide me with determination, willpower, and courage to take on any future obstacles that life can throw at me (Harrington, 2012). This makes minor obstacles to become like a cake walk.