Throughout my life, there have been certain things that make me feel accomplished and satisfied. I don’t think that at any given point I have been at my “best” because I strive to be better every day. The thing that makes me feel really accomplished is hard work. There are many things that I feel good about because I work hard to do them. One thing I did starting in eighth grade and continuing through high school was Mock Trial, which was probably the most academically grueling thing I had ever done before college. Also, the couple of years I have had jobs which require a lot of hard work and at the end of the day I feel very accomplished because of them.
For those of you who don’t know, Mock Trial is exactly what is sounds like; a fake trial. The Mock Trial program that Iowa has is the biggest and best in the nation, and to have a good team in Iowa means to have an even better team among the nation. The Mock Trial team that I was on qualified for the state competition for four out the five years, and placed in the top four in two of those years. On the team I played both an attorney and a witness. It was good to learn both of these types of positions because I got to learn the law of the case, as well as portraying a different person. Learning and understanding the law is a task. It required many late nights, a lot of memorization, and a good solid understanding of the case. Mock trial brought out the best in me because it required so much diligence, teamwork, and so many other things.
During the summers of 2008 and 2009, I worked on for a company pouring concrete grain bin pads. Going into the job, I had absolutely no knowledge of the trade, and I knew that I would have to pick it up fast. In small, rural town Iowa the summer is the prime time to prepare grain storage systems before harvest comes. In 2008, the price of corn skyrocketed, so we had a lot of work to do. By the end of the summer I had a firm grasp on the concepts of pouring bin and dryer pads. Looking back at the concrete I have poured, I think about how those pads will probably outlive me as well as the early mornings, late nights, and energy that went into them. I feel very accomplished at the end of both of those summers which in turn helped to make me better.
The thing that makes me better every day is diligence. Sometimes you try and fail, but in order to succeed one needs to stay diligent. I am trying to carry this same diligence into college to help me to be my best and be successful.
