"Perseverance" by Mayur C

I am almost there. I have been working very diligently for seventeen years. Don't give up now! You must be cautious in every step you take and the distance between having fun versus being serious. You notice that many of your peers are either doing better than you or slacking off. I reflect upon my peers and myself. Tighten up because there are no second chances in high school. 

I use to prey upon listening to the advice that best soothes me. Now I must think, listen, and understand differently. With big dreams after I turn eighteen, the only thing that will stick to me is my education and the impact that my teachers and society have made upon me. 

It all started when I was a sophomore in high school. Ms. Min was my honors chemistry (and later AP Chemistry) teacher who is also the advisor for Science Olympiad (SO). At first, I thought it was a huge waste of time; spending countless hours studying to what avail- finding pleasure and motivation to make a scientific breakthrough? 

Sticking to my teacher’s advice, I finally complied to join. I came to the first meeting and everyone appeared very enthusiastic, except I had mixed emotions; one being that I love science, and the other being that it sounds stressful. 

Junior has arrived and chaos emerges. It’s 2:55 pm and I walk out of my sixth period english class, making my way to Ms. Min’s class. It’s an entirely different atmosphere in which everyone is studying very diligently for the upcoming regional competition. 

At the day of my regional competition, I felt ready to compete against other schools in the following events: thermodynamics, ecology, and helicopters. There was a block schedule that I had to accommodate for all of the other events that SO has to offer. Event after event, my excitement started to build up. By the time I had to compete for thermodynamics, I released all of my excitement and knowledge into the experimental and test portion of the event. Coming out of the testing room, I looked very forward to the award ceremony at 6 pm. 

*applauses from the entire Etiwanda High School Science Olympiad*

I made my way to the front of the stage to be given my thermodynamics and ecology medals. I glanced at my partner with much joy and reflected upon how much I have accomplished that year. Everything that I learned from the members in my cluster I hope to teach to the new members that I am currently with. 
 
The so-called year of procrastination has finally arrived. 

Senior hit and I plan on teaching my new cluster how to build and test their thermodynamics box. I was super excited to see many new faces filled with enthusiasm. As I rebuilt my thermodynamics box, I let the quote “there is always room for improvement” become my driving force. As I improve from the mistakes that I made last year and also realize how I will need to manage my time even better, I come to Ms. Min’s class to look for motivation to continue on my path of perseverance. At any point I start to slack off, Ms. Min spots me and picks me right back up. 

The new members in my cluster found out about how well I did last year and often call me the “thermo god”. I look at that name as if it is a noble title that I have to live up to. Even though it many think it sounds dumb, I think of it to be very important and a way to become recognized in the club. Also whenever I feel unmotivated, I occasionally socialize with them to relieve some stress weighing upon my shoulders. 

Science Olympiad has not only taught me to become well-rounded in all of my events, but also to manage my time very well; as spending many hours studying can sometimes outweigh my study time for school. Also SO has also taught me to become socially proactive, help keep a strong student-teacher relationship inside and outside of class, and become an ideal role for others. The last thing that my partner last year taught me was that once every work has its own method with some exception. I completely agree with that especially when learning more topics that pertain to thermodynamics. The mathematical concepts can be a little tricky and also understanding the conceptuals from a chemistry and physics perspective for example the first law of thermodynamics.