Narrative Assignment Reflection (14)

Recently for my Writing 150 class we were asked to write a narrative that highlighted an important event in our lives. I chose to write about swimming because it is something that I am very passionate about. Being able to choose any event that has happened in my life was really nice because it was very easy to think of what to write and it seemed like the words just flowed. For some of the past papers I have had some trouble coming up with things to write because none of them were really personal to me. 

I really enjoyed this assignment because it was different from the average paper you are usually asked to write. This is my favorite assignment we have had thus far.

The Decision to Serve (13)

I came to BYU with the expectation that I would immediately get an idea of what I wanted to do, what major I wanted to pursue and just have my life more together. Once I got here I realized that figuring out what to do would not be quite that easy. I have never thought that I would serve a mission. It just never really felt like something that was in the cards for me. I expected to be engulfed with school or a relationship by the time I turned 21. When the age change announcement was made years back I still didn't really feel like it was what I was going to do. It wasn't until recently that my viewpoint changed.

I started to feel uneasy about my decision to stay back. I started questioning my decision to not serve. And then one night as I was still seeking an answer, I got a distinct feeling that I needed to serve a mission. And that I needed to go this Summer. I was surprised with that answer and I was kind of battling with the idea of it in my mind for awhile. I was trying to make sense of everything because I was so set on staying home originally. I decided to go to the Temple to hopefully get more direction and when I was there I began to feel an immense amount of peace. From that moment forward I have felt nothing but excitement about serving a mission! I have completed my mission papers and I cannot wait to see where the Lord will call me to go.

Personal Narrative - The Unfinished Race (12)

It was a cold snowy winter day. The team was all gathered around in a small room where we would warm up and prepare for practice. It was the first week of practice and it was the time I had been waiting for the two previous seasons. It was the first time I could run for team captain. I prepared a small speech and with the paper clenched tightly in my hands, I shook as I tried to explain to the girls why I would make a good team captain. We proceeded to our practice as our coach counted up the votes. At the end of practice, he was ready to announce who would be the captains for the following season. My heart began to pound as I awaited the announcement. He began reading the name of the four captains selected as I waited in anticipation.

“The four captains will be Allison, Jaime, Peyton, and Shilo.”

The nerves that had built up inside of me immediately subsided as I was ready to tackle this season and see what we could accomplish. As the season progressed some of my teammates and I began to drop time, and a few of us got the state cut. We prepared all season as the swim meet rapidly approached.

The butterflies that were building up in my stomach were indescribable. It was the day before the preliminary round of the 5A Colorado State Swim Meet and the adrenaline was building up in my veins as I was getting prepared to give it my all. Something about this year was different because since the last year when I barely made the cut, this year I had made it with a larger boundary. I was excited to see what my team and I could accomplish. I had worked hard throughout the year to improve and I could see the time shedding off at each swim meet. It was my first year being nominated as the team captain, and I wanted to show my high school what the swim team was made of, as we were a sport that was constantly looked over, but just as we were about to accomplish something great, all of it was put to a halt because of one simple earring.

            The day before the preliminary round of the swim meet I was filled with excitement, nerves, anxiety, and butterflies. Throughout the school day my stomach was tied up in a knot, but I was ready to go race my heart out. The following day I made my way up to the swim meet along with the rest of my team, and we were all excited to compete and see what we could do. We walked into the muggy and loud pool area, towels, bags and swimmers spread all throughout the pool deck. We made our way to our tight little corner that should have only been fitting two girls and instead had to make it work to fit a team of ten. We were packed together like a can of sardines, but we didn’t mind the uncomfortable situation, we were all just ready to compete. It was out teams allotted time to warm-up, so we all got prepared in our cap and goggles and slid into the icy water to loosen up our tense muscles.

It was finally time to start begin the meet. As we stood for the National Anthem my hand could feel the fast beat of my heart.  I started the day off by competing in the 200 Medley Relay with my teammates Allison, Becca, and Lauren, the same relay team that would compete with me in the final race. I then moved on to my individual event, the 100 Backstroke. I had dropped a significant amount of time since the previous year and I was happy with what I had accomplished. As I sat and waited through the rest of the meet, we finally arrived at my last event. It was the 400 Freestyle Relay, which happened to be the very last event of the meet. This race was less than desirable because it was notorious for taking so long to accomplish. The average swim meet would take about two and a half hours, but the prelims of the State Swim Meet took an entire day. Allison, Becca, Lauren and I were ready to get out of the pool, so we all swam our hearts out getting our best time ever. And to our surprise, we had made the Finals of the State Swim Meet, which was stepping leaps and bounds for our swimming program. We knew that since we had made the Finals, it would be an opportunity for us to be noticed.

            The next day came and I along with the rest of my relay teammates were ready to get out there and make a splash. Allison, Becca, Lauren and I were the only member on our swim team that were competing in Finals. Both Allison and Lauren had multiple individual events before the final relay. We had to arrive before the start of the meet, warm-up with the team, but then we just sat there and supported any other teammates in their events. Allison was very good, and she was competing to rank very highly in her individual events at the meet. The previous year, she got 2^nd place in the 500 freestyle which was an amazing accomplishment. She was pushing to do even better this year, and wanted to go for the gold. Unfortunately her crowning event this particular year she had to compete against Missy Franklin (before she won numerous Olympic Gold Medals). Mt teammate performed well, but she did not do nearly as well as her previous year and was not in a very great mindset for our final race.

            My relay teammates and I had formed a pretty strong bond throughout the season, and we were excited to put all of our heart into one last and final race together. Allison had competed in two individual events and everything went smooth and fine. As we were anxiously waiting to approach the block we were laughing and making jokes and we were all so ready to put everything we had into this last race.

            We were moments away from being called up to the blocks, and then suddenly an official seemed to approach out of nowhere and spoke to Allison with a stern voice.

 “You need to remove that earring from your ear. Now”

 Our teammate tried to fight it explaining that she could pull her cap over her ear to cover the jewelry, but it is a strict Colorado High School Athletic Association rule that no jewelry can be shown at a swim meet. Becca Lauren and I did not think it would be a big deal and that she would just quickly remove the earring, but the only problem was that it was not just a regular piecing. It was located in a thick piece of cartilage in her ear and it was screwed onto her ear rather than just held on by an earring back. As we were scrambling to try to remove this earring, the official once again approached us.

 “We will give you two minutes to remove that, then we will begin the race.”

The panic started to set in. We ran over to our heavily pierced and tattooed swim coach and asked him if he would be able to assist he immediately ran across the pool deck to make it to Allison and began tugging and pulling on that earring. Blood started dripping from her ear as tears were welling up in her eyes.

            The close of the two minutes was rapidly approaching, and those in attendance to the swim meet were all confused of the delay. Eventually the officials notified us that we would just need to begin the event. The problem was that Allison was our lead swimmer. We quickly switched around our order and made our way to the blocks to begin the race.

“Swimmers, take your mark… beep!”

 And just like that we began our race. I was the second swimmer and as Lauren began her departure I kept my eye closely on if there was any luck with the earring. As it was my time to enter the water they were still working on it. The adrenaline from the situation put a fire in me and I put my all into the race. I approached the last flip turn of my 100 yard leg of the race and I was hoping to see Allison ready to compete at the end of the block. I pounded my hand into the wall and watched my teammate Becca’s body fly over me as she dove into the water. There still had not been luck with the earring. I watched as my coach told my teammate to just pull the cap over her ears and pretend she had removed it, but the officials saw right pass that. As Becca approached the wall and touched, she immediately looked up hoping to see a body flying over her and diving into the water, but to our disappointment there was not. We could feel the eyes of the whole area focused on us, the team whose relay stopped after only three swimmers. Tears started streaming down the face of Allison, and she grew angry and began to yell at the official who had noticed the earring. As she began to raise her voice more and more, the official sternly glared at her.

“You need to leave the pool proximity immediately.”

The other two of my relay teammates and I were heartbroken. It was interesting to see how different all of our reactions were with the situation. Lauren was trying to laugh it off. Becca began to cry uncontrollably. But for me? I was just frustrated. I didn’t see the fairness in it all. Allison had already competed in two other events that day with the earring in her ear. Why did they have to see it right before that last race that we were so excited for?  I was frustrated because Becca, Lauren and I, who had swam the unfinished race, had all performed the best we ever had. I was frustrated that my coach lied to the official to try to get her to swim, creating a bigger problem than there already was. I was frustrated that Allison disrespected the swimming official and put a negative light on our entire team. I was frustrated that Allison, who had been swimming for countless years thought she could risk wearing the jewelry when she knew it was against the rules. I was frustrated that so much negative attention was put on our team by everyone in attendance. After allowing myself some pouting time, I realized that I needed to forgive and forget. It wasn’t an easy thing to do because this was the race that was supposed to change how Legend High School was looked at in the swimming community, and how our school perceived the swim team, but I knew that it is what I needed to do.

A few weeks passed and we were all sitting together at the team banquet. The room was threaded in lights and all of the team was dressed up, a very different appearance from the usual wet mop hair and no makeup look. As we listened to our coach and reflected on the good and bad of the season, my eyes made their way around the room looking at all of my teammates. At that moment I realized that even with the good and the bad of the season this was my team. This was a group of girls that would always be there for me, no matter the circumstances. I began to smile as I thought of what each and every girl brought and contributed to the team, and any hard feelings still lingering diminished because this was my team. 

Look Sister Steadman, No Hands (Research Paper) (11)

When I started to write my research paper I had some trouble deciding what I was going to write about. I went through some different possibilities but then one day when I was hanging out with my grandpa, I decided why not focus the research on diabetes because it is something that he has had to cope with for much of his life. I still need to look a little more into the his side of the story, but I have already began some research and found a lot of interesting stuff. I decided it would be smart to broaden my knowledge of all types of diabetes so in my paper I focus on all of the different types of diabetes. My next step is going to be doing some research on heredity and diabetes and how they correlate.

What is the difference between the different types of Diabetes?

There are 3 different types of diabetes that I am going to focus on in this paper: Type 1, Type 2, and Gestational Diabetes.

What type of diabetes is your grandfather affected by?

My grandfather has Type 1 Diabetes

What made you want to write about this?

I was interested in learning more about what my grandfather has had to deal with throughout his life.

So what?

I think that diabetes is a disease that as time goes on is affecting more and more people, so it is important that people take the time learning about it so that they can better understand it.

Well it seems to me that I still have some work to do with my paper. I need to look more into the family aspect of Diabetes rather than just the research part.