Writers Dreaming

2. I believe that I do have the power to triumph over adversity. This is because I attended a very small, private religious school for both elementary and middle school. I decided after finishing the 7th grade that I was ready for a more challenging education and therefore I skipped the 8th grade and advanced to high school. I went from a class with 12 kids to a class with over 400 students and I did not know anyone there. While this dramatic life changing event took place I discovered that I have dyslexia which has created many academic struggles in my high school career. However, I have made many friends and have held several leadership positions including class president. I have also earned all A’s in my honors English classes and am a leading candidate to the United States Naval Academy. 5. I can easily relate to Angelou when she talks about how she did not talk for five years. Although I did not suffer from any kind of a traumatic event, I did not talk until I reached the age of 6. I could talk but I simply did not want to talk to anyone, including my mother. This caused several issues when it came to school and my parents were told that I would have to be placed in a special education program. My parents decided that I should not be placed in special education so we moved to a different school district and they enrolled me in both speech therapy and a private school. When arriving to the speech therapy on the first day I asked my mom, “This is the place that is going to make me talk?” and after that I did not speak another word until she took me home! I am still very quiet to this day and can struggle with my speech impediment however I am doing just fine! 6. My family is Latino and I have completed all 6 Spanish classes at Kickapoo high school so I am fairly comfortable with speaking Spanish. I became interested in the language at a young age because I wanted to learn more about my family’s history. I do not believe that simply speaking English is good enough because people who think it is good enough will never be able to find the appreciation for other cultures like I have. 11. I agree that the older you get, the harder it is for you to learn. Although it can be true that you are more focused when you grow older it is still easier to learn new things at a young age. For example, when we were young we learned how to speak English. For the most part this was not difficult to learn. However, when we try to learn other languages it can be very difficult even though it was so easy for us at a young age.