Valedictorian Research Paper

“You are not good enough.” Those are five words; no child or adult ever wants to hear or tell themselves. On the other hand, life will always be filled with occasions like these where we believe life plainly just sucks; where people, including ourselves, will believe we are so worthless, insignificant, and dim-witted that we are incapable of achieving something grand. In fact, no matter how much we deny it, these are the experiences that will always stick with us and affect us in one way, big or small. Yet, the thing many of us fail to discover is that the best opportunities come from these moments where proving we are capable of something is most vital. Thus, I have gone through many obstacles in elementary school that I am proud of because it has carved the successful and fortunate person I am today in school and life.

I was very shy and awkward during my adolescent years. A cringe-worthy yet endearing moment of reflection of suppressed memories. I was the fourth child out of five, to two immigrant parents. We were a low income family with no budget for vacations or expensive school trips. Socially I was not accepted. I was always the outlier. Subsequently, I was bullied and it impaired my childhood for quite sometime. I felt as if I was sentenced to social death that I just could not replevy before the end of adolescent years. Other students taunted and jeered at me habitually; even with uncontrollable factors. I specifically remember my Haitian heritage being one of the domineering methods of my torture. I recall that being subjected

WOW! So much has happened since June. The SV FFA and ag department had a rough start to our year losing three of our students who were on the FFA officer team to other schools. Even with this bump in the road, the four officers that remained visited Mt. Shasta City and had a blast bonding and learning more about each other at their officer retreat in August. Once school started we found three new officers and attended COLC (Chapter Officer Leadership Conference) where the entire team learned about their diverse leadership styles and were able to bond together as the official Surprise Valley FFA Chapter Officer Team for the 2017-2018 school year. If you see them around, congratulate President Cindy Hinze, V.P. Maddison Seely, Secretary Maya

Ever since I was a little girl I didn't like reading, doing homework or taking exams. I only enjoyed lunch time, gym time and after school programs. I was always in the top classes because of my mother's connection with teachers in the school until I got into the third grade. That's when you start to take a state exam test and if you failed you either get left back or get put in a class based on your grade score. That's when I went from being in top classes to the bottom classes and realized I had to get it together in school because I didn't want to look like a fool or be a fool. That all changed in middle school, I was always put in programs that helped students who wasn't on top of their work and I started to see my name on the honor roll

I believe I should be considered for this honor because the actions I have taken from the moment I stepped on this campus encompass the pillars of The Maroon and Gold Society. For instance, my current position within student government tasks me with helping the members of the organization to develop and harness their leadership abilities, as well as finding their place in the Loyola community. I do what I do at Loyola because I truly love this university. I became a Resident Assistant because I wanted to share and create the love and community that I experienced my freshman year. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing someone find their home within Loyola.

After years of harassment, I concluded that the only way to end this torment was to change myself. I deepened my voice and regulated my actions, concealing the qualities that made me, me. For a while, it worked; the bullying had ceased, and I eventually fit in. However, after eighth grade, after I had finally managed to

By the time I got to about fifth grade, everyone started to notice how academically gifted I really was. In fourth and fifth grade, I even joined the spell bowl team. Me and a few other people I knew well were about two grade levels ahead of the rest of our class, mathematically speaking. Then, I got to middle school. It was a big change, lockers, stairs, a very large school it was. It was all very unknown to me, there were really tall kids, and they all had their friends, I had to adjust. By this time, I was still on the gifted academic path, being in Algebra in only seventh grade, a class that is supposed to be for freshmen. My family were always very proud of me because of this, and I had always tried to be smarter than my sister, who was always four grades and a step ahead of me. She was always the teacher's pet, overachiever type of student. School had never really been hard for me, just boring and mentally draining. By the time I was in eighth grade, I had found my true group of friends. There was a few that liked soccer, which fit me really

In 7th grade I was unfocused, unprepared, and childish. I didn’t know my grades would have an impact on my high school career. I thought everything that happened in middle school stayed in middle school so I focused on useless drama. I used to blame my C’s on bad teaching but now I realize I have no one else to blame but myself. I was the one coming to school unprepared to work not my teachers. Now I know all of my grades count. I have blossomed into a person I am proud of. This year I’ve made it my mission to actually pass not just get by. I now sit promptly in the front of the class and take notes. I focus on test scores and grades not drama that’s not even going to matter next week. I now know what’s important and what I should just leave

I want to apologize for the way I conducted myself on the night of January 28, 2017. The poor decision that I made to drive while intoxicated, was morally wrong to the citizens of Mclean County. The night of January 28, 2017, I put numerous people in danger a behavior that won't have recurrences.

I was one of the tallest people in my grade, and was super skinny. With my mild Cerebral Palsy, I had speech problems for a long time. Due to all of this, I didn’t exactly fit in. Every day as I walked in the doors, I would completely shut down. My grades fell, and I blocked most of the world out. I could here the “popular” groups whispering and giggling every time I walked in the hall and notes would be passed around in class. I sat at a table in the corner by myself, I didn’t have any friends in

My whole life I’ve felt like an outsider. When I was younger dealing with a learning disability, I have had a hard time making and keeping friends even to this day. I struggle with being a follower instead of a leader. My own adoptive father verbally abused me growing up and I also had kids in fifth-sixth grade who constantly bullied me. I still am reminded of an instance when the first day of fifth grade approached: I got on the bus and these older girls started making fun of my pants saying, “She’s wearing high-waters.” I was humiliated in front of my peers every day since than during those two years. After being bullied for so long I made a vow to myself to never forget the pain inflicted upon me on a daily basis.

During my younger years I was very insecure about myself and unsociable. In part, this was probably due to being at home by myself for numerous years while my Mom took the night shift at HyVee. In fact, I was bullied because I was different from the general population in Blue Springs, Missouri. I didn’t have the newest gadget nor was I able to create a connection with my peers. Due to my

When I was growing up, I never expected to be made fun of. I didn’t know that being overweight was going to be a problem. I lacked the courage to defend myself from bullies who often teased me. They laughed and even made jokes about me because I was out of shape and quiet. Being different was a tough experience for me in middle school and in elementary school since I didn’t know how to defend myself and even less, ask for help. Kids wouldn’t come up to me and ask me to play with them.Instead, I spent most of the time alone.

“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure” (Bill Cosby). Reflecting back on my life I have dealt with numerous downfalls but I always bounce back. I was born in India and moved here when I was six years old. As I grew up in California I was not a bright student at first. I was enrolled in Carmichael Elementary in which I was the only one with Turban on my head, which caused me to get into a lot of fights with other students who were making fun of turban. Not knowing how to speak English at the time affected the way interacted with teachers and students. On the other hand my family always had a tight budget at home. Both of my parents worked at the store we owned which was the only source money. At school kids were always talking about their new shoes and the iPod which his or her parents got them. I didn’t get everything I wanted as a kid but as I got older I understand if did I could be a spoiled brat. When I moved from Carmichael to Sacramento and I was enrolled at Maeola R. Beitzel elementary. Going to this new school I already learned English so I made marvelous friends and was surrounded by positive people. Going from a chaos environment to this harmonious environment in part because I was speaking English, made me have unique personality .I was playing sports and growing as a student. Those years went by in no time. Now I am in high school and my family’s income has been growing. My mom changed her work to now at Jack in

Well, this is it, the day all of us have been waiting for has finally arrived. It seems like only yesterday we were picking our noses and flicking them at innocent bystanders or yelling childish phrases like, "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" or, wait, that was yesterday. Never mind. Anyways.