“ The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. ”

 

My students who won my"Breakfast of Champions" competition

         
          As a high school student, I never played sports.  My mom loved sports, and my grandpa, who I loved dearly and who passed away MUCH, MUCH too young, was an amazing baseball coach, but as for me, my lack of coordination and self-confidence ended any aspirations either of them may have had for my sports career.   I avoided anything that might have put my coordination dysfunction on display for all those to see.  However, there is one thing that stayed with me from my peewee softball days.  One distinct memory I have of my grandpa is seeing him at the ballpark or football field or basketball court. He would be in a constant state of motion, pacing, cussing, gnashing, urging with his whole being—willing his team to accomplish their very best.  My grandpa LOVED to compete.  And let me tell you, that trait must be genetic, because I cherish good, fair, challenging competition.

  

              I had a student this week score a perfect score on the ACT, the first in my high school’s history.  This is certainly not an ordinary student, but beyond the obvious intellectual advantages, he has characteristics uncommon in a student of his caliber.  He is generous, self-deprecating and works extremely well with all students.  He comes to my room to hang out and chat sometimes, and he has big dreams.  He has faced many demons in his life, and I am well aware that he is going to do something amazing with his life.  He made a perfect score (36) on the ACT after three attempts, each attempt resulting in a 35 (enough to ensure him access to nearly any university of his choosing).  His statement to the news media was that he was competing to see if he could get a 36—and he was either going to run out of chances to take the exam or accomplish his goal.  He beat his best friend by one question, and he happily admits that it was the luck of the exam.  The successful student missed two questions on the entire exam, the other student missed three.  I am blessed to teach both students.  Both have profited from this competition, which is fair, unbiased, and has benefitted both participants by driving them to work harder than they ever had.

                Let me clear, I love winning, but for me it is really not about winning.  I love competing—I want to stand in the ring with the best and do my thing.  I love being fairly judged.  I love knowing that if I work hard, I am absolutely capable of competing with people I admire and respect.  Competition drives me to work at my highest level every single day.  It has been nothing short of miraculous that two of the people I admire the most in the world happen to teach beside me.  I teach two subjects, Junior English and AP Language and Composition.  The teachers I teach with know that the competition we face is a behemoth, and they, like me, are fierce competitors.  We compete for our students to not only succeed, but to be aware of the power of their own educated minds.  We compete against lethargy, illiteracy, complacency, and self-doubt every single day.  Our students’ minds and futures are the prize.  We will not go down without our best fight.  We win a lot.  We lose more often than we can stand.  Either way, we come away exhausted, knowing that we have fought our best battle, creating a game plan to make the next one even better.

                As I have aged (gracefully without a doubt), my main competition has changed.  I have stopped worrying about what other people will say.  I know now my biggest competition is myself.  And that is the competition that I find most thrilling!  It has been sincerely one of the greatest realizations in my life that I can set goals and win or lose, emerge changed and better.  I hate not winning against myself.  Each time I do anything, I immediately begin to think about how I can do that faster, better, stronger?!?  Wait and see what I can do!  My biggest wish is that you won’t be afraid, or doubt that you can compete and win whatever challenge you set for yourself.  I guarantee the joy is in the journey, and life simply can’t happen if you don’t get in there and give it your best shot!