Anne 

       My junior year in high school has taught me many lessons in patience, kindness, and listening. This year has also taught me the true meaning of friendship and how they are always there for you even when it gets tough. The year started out kind of rough. In June, two days before the end of the 2013-2014 school year, I suffered a concussion. This threw my life into a whirlpool of change. This meant that I couldn't play softball for my select team all summer. I was "cleared" in time for my youth group trip in late July but was promptly "un-cleared" when I came back. After two months of not getting better, I was sent to the neurologist who diagnosed me with chronic migraines. This meant that “on a dime” my pain levels would change to severe pain in my head with high sensitivity to light and noise. This meant that I basically became a "vampire", as I call it, until the wave was over. This medical hoopla really effected my school work as I was usually absent for a string of days. As of now, I have missed 43 full days, early dismissal, and 3 tardy.

 

       This meant that I was usually behind on everything and constantly playing catch up. We have decided that if everyone else was in a row boat rowing towards the finish that I would be rowing, in a circle, while sinking, moving but not really getting anywhere. I believe that this year has for sure taught me persistence and courage. To me this means pushing on without wavier, no matter what is wrong until the task is completed. I feel I really did learn this because even though I was gone for most of the year, I still had passing grades, though they were not as high as I usually like. Though I feel that I really needed to have asked for more help over the year, rather than being stubborn and wanting to continue on as before even though it was not possible.  Persistence is highly important in the world we live in. Managers are not going to hire a person that gives up half way through a project or task. Things can get hard in life but it is what we do that shows who we are. Struggles in life define us, this is why persistence is important outside of just DRSS.  

 

       I feel that the Chemistry essential math and moles unit really shows off my growth in persistence this year, as I was gone for almost all of the unit. To be able to catch up, I had to use my free time *make-up work period* to take the class notes and work backwards to try to figure out what was going on. The "pro" of working backwards, is that it gets "easier" as you go back and reaffirms the understanding. The "con" of doing this is it is really hard at the beginning, a time when you understand very little. This is highly important at DRSS as the work load can be very large at time. This means that you need to be really focusing and working your hardest to keep on track. I firmly believe that if you keep working at something you will get it even if it takes forever. Because really, you never gave up and keep on going.

 

 

“When you are down and in trouble, keep fighting. Don't give up. Keep kicking. It won't help to wallow in self-pity, or curse your stars or play the blame game. Every adversity has an opportunity couched within. It is up to us to grab it. And what you do when the going gets tough, is what defines your outcomes.”

~Anonymous