Lessons from Failure - Essay Example

LESSONS FROM FAILURE   by s   College Entrance Essay of Insitution January 03, Lessons from Failure The worst summer of my life was that of 2009. My family was relocating to Nashville Tennessee. This meant that I had to leave my friends and everything else that I held dear. What made it difficult was that while my friends prepared to go to high school, I was dealing with moving to a whole new life. I clearly remember my best friend, Lauren, screaming across the bed room as I packed my last belongings, “Please don’t come back with a southern accent!

” Nevertheless, I came back with a lot more than a southern accent. I came back with some important life lessons. The fact that I was going to join a private school in Nashville only made the whole experience more difficult. My parents felt that joining Ensworth would provide me with better education and a safer learning environment. In addition, they felt that the school environment would give me with the opportunity to develop enriching relationships. I wish they were right, but they were not.

It subsequently took a whole year for my parents and me to agree that the school was not the ideal environment for me. I spent my entire freshman year at Ensworth trying to fit in the social circles. I discovered that I was working too hard to fit in. This was made difficult by the fact that I did not agree with conforming to different values from those I believed in, just to fit in. I did not know who to trust or relate to. I slowly realized that the students there had developed their friendships over the years, some since kindergarten.

This made me an outsider, and on their part, they had difficulty letting in a new person into their groupings. It was then that I started to talk to my parents to transfer me to a public school. My parents were extremely reluctant to entertain this idea. This made me feel like a failure. I was disappointed in myself and I felt trapped. Over a period of time, my parents came to appreciate my predicament. It took long and painful discussions, some fighting, and frantic begging on my part. Eventually, they let me switch schools to Hillsboro High School.

Hillsboro High School is a large, independent public school with a very diverse student population. After moving from Ensworth, I no longer had the gourmet lunches. There were no large spacious classrooms and state of the art fitness centers. However, I felt truly happy at Hillsboro. The refreshing burst of diversity and realness became two key principles in finding many friends and ultimately, my self. I quickly loved the feeling of not being judged or criticized for my thoughts and beliefs.

These experiences made me a huge advocate of public school. While failing to find my identity at Ensworth seemed as a failure, switching to Hillsboro was definitely a big success. I am now able to say that switching to Hillsboro was one of my best life decisions. Hillsboro High School gave me the self-confidence and self-perseverance to attempt anything I set my mind on. I gained a love for the real world, where as an individual I am given an equal opportunity to succeed.