This weeks blog brings you writing from Ms. Olson’s 6th grade class on “SUCCESS”!

What does success mean to you?

That’s the question that was posed to Brown County Middle School students in Debbie Olson’s English-language arts class.

All students in 6th through 8th grade are learning skills and participating in activities that will help them be successful, even beyond the doors of the middle school, Olson said.

As a part of the curriculum in 6th grade ELA class, students explored informational texts about various people from around the globe who have left their mark of success on the world such.

Students have learned about the Wright brothers, Diana Nyad, George Washington Carver, Joan of Arc and Malala Yousafzai.

They also listened in as former President Barack Obama delivered a speech to a group of students in Virginia about success, inspiring young people as he spoke.

In addition, students watched a TED talk by Nyad, who shared her story of failures and successes in her many attempts to swim across the ocean from Cuba to Florida.

“There was applause from classes as she drew her talk to a close, with one saying, ‘Wow, that’s powerful — what an impact,’” Olson said.

“What insightful young people our sixth graders are.”

Olson said that students are learning about key elements of success.

“Through this study, students learned about key elements of success such as perseverance, setting goals, working hard, showing up and putting in the effort, getting a good education, having bravery and courage to stand up for what is right, and using failures as learning opportunities on the road to success.”

BCMS Principal Gavin Steele said that middle school is the crossroad between elementary and secondary education, and it’s a “time of exploration.”

“Students are working collaboratively on real world problems with business partners, but at the same time still learning about themselves,” he said.

“They learn what it means to advocate for themselves. It is also a time of discovering the many components of success.”

The middle school team is not simply “getting kids ready for high school,” he said, but they are working on larger skills that will go beyond the next four to six years.

“Hard work, determination, self-advocacy, resilience, empathy, and love … are a short list of skills that we continue to work on for future success,” Steele said.

BCMS physical education and college and careers teacher Mike Harmon said that BCMS helps set students on the road to success through the college and careers classes.

“We try to give eighth grade students an opportunity to explore different career choices,” Harmon said.

He added that they first looking at who they are as a person and what interests they may have in a possible career down the road.

“We understand that not all students are interested in attending a traditional four year college so we also focus on community colleges, trade schools, and students who want to go directly into the workforce straight out of high school,” he said.

“It is important that students develop specific employability skills that will give them many opportunities in the future. Our hope is that each student who eventually graduates from Brown County High School is equipped to be ‘well prepared and going places,’ which fits our Brown County graduate profile.”

All students wrote about what success meant to them and found textual evidence to support their ideas from the informational articles and other media used in the unit.

“We are very proud of their efforts to connect what they are learning about in class to BCMS’s work with goal-setting and success, and it is evident through their written work,” Olson said.

“Providing each student with an opportunity to express their individual ideas of what success looks like has empowered them, and given them ownership of their own learning and successes — critical life skills that will carry them through to adulthood.”

Here are some of the thoughts from BCMS students on success, perseverance and hard work.

Kayli Armstrong

Is success having a good job or having a job you enjoy? I believe that success means different things to different people. Having success means you accomplished something. I also believe that you need courage to be successful. If you don’t have courage you won’t do it and therefore, you won’t be successful. I believe that you need to fail to be successful. If you fail you, just get more opportunities. I believe that you need perseverance to be successful. If you don’t have perseverance you might just give up instead of trying again. These skills are important because they lead you to success.

Having the courage to do something really hard or seemingly impossible is a key factor in success. For example, Diana Nyad knew that she could get hurt swimming to Smathers Beach in Key West, Florida from Cuba. In the article “Diana Nyad, 64, Swims From Cuba To Florida” states, “Nyad is the only person ever to have made the treacherous swim without using a shark net, swim fins or a wetsuit. It was her fifth try in 35 years.” You need to have courage to be successful, because if you don’t, then you won’t take that chance and would never know if you could do it or not. In his Address to American Schoolchildren in 2016, President Obama states, “Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to discover what that is.” This shows that you need to have courage and try, instead of just letting it come to you. Take that chance, and I am sure you will have success.

I believe you need to fail to be successful. For example, the Wright brothers failed multiple times trying to make the first airplane, but they learned from their mistakes and kept trying. In the article “The Wright Brothers: Air Pioneers”, the author states, “So it was on December 14,1903, that Wilbur Wright made the first experiment with the new man-powered airplane flight.” This shows that the Wright brothers kept trying because it uses the word first. That tells us that there were more than one try. The Wright brothers went on to create a flying machine that went only 120 feet, but it could fly! Their failures ended in success. This shows that failures become successes.

You also need to have perseverance to be successful. A great example of this is with George Washington Carver. Farmers didn’t want to plant peanuts because they didn’t know how people would use them. Carver went right to work and made many useful things out of peanuts. But can you imagine how difficult it was? He kept going and inventing more things even though it was challenging. In the article “George Washington Carver” it states, “Carver answered by finding more than 300 new ways to use peanuts.” If he made more than 300 new uses for peanuts he had to have been challenged. You need to keep trying no matter how challenging it is.

Success isn’t just about having a good job or having a lot of money, it’s about how you earned it. Achieving success is different for everybody. I believe you need courage, failure, and perseverance to experience success. Without these things, true success won’t happen. Virat Kohli says, “Self-belief and hard work will always earn you success.”

Bristol Bryenton

Why do you believe we over think things? Is it because we want to be better in everything we do? The success we understand is what we want, but it lies between our fate and who we want to be on the inside. Success helps us feel like we are worth something and that we were born to be a legend. It doesn’t matter how you were born but how you made your birth be spoken and heard into the world. I believe that success comes from perseverance through hard times. Hard times are like opportunities. If you are lost in a valley of hate and disbelief, life is just showing you that it wants to give you another chance. I believe success is to be inspired and to have bigger goals then you may have had originally. I believe success means to live-if you don’t live with it, then you can’t become it. This is what success is, to be born yourself and to glide along with it to help you create your new future.

I believe that success comes from persevering during hard times. For instance, Diana Nyad, a professional swimmer, attempted many shots at swimming from Cuba to Florida, which she finally accomplished after trying on her 5th attempt. Even a near fatal box jellyfish sting did not stop her from trying repeatedly until she achieved success. Nyad had many opportunities to quit and she did not because she wanted to prove to the world you can do anything if you can dream it. The author in the article, “Diana Nyad, 64, Swims From Cuba to Florida” states “As she swam, she sang Ticket to Ride and Paperback Writer” in her head to help her keep focus and to stay happy. This helped her be successful. Even Malala Yousafzai got stronger through an incident that happened to her–she got shot in the head for standing up for her rights. She fought so hard but did not let the incident at the age of 15 stop her so she continued and was able to help other kids around the world get properly schooled. In the video, He Named Me Malala, she was asked “You’ve ever felt angry?” To which she said no. Nothing could be as hard as being shot in the head, and even that did not stop the success of her goals. These two ladies fought for their success. Becoming successful doesn’t mean you have to be rich or be born rich, it just means you need to work hard for what you believe in.

I believe that success also comes from inspiration. I believe this because in the article, “Joan of Arc: France’s Young Tragic Hero”, the author states that, “….she claimed to hear voices, she said it was the voice of angels speaking to her, and she also claimed to have seen them ….” This is when her success was talking to her, to let her know that she has the strength within her. In the same article the author states that “ … three years later, she was convinced that God had spoken to her and told her to go to the service of the king….” Her visions had been continuing to encourage her to become her own fate of success. Joan then continued to pursue what God was trying to tell her but the first time she attempted to speak to the king, she was rejected. This did not stop her, she continued trying. Soon enough, after she mentioned what she had been hearing and who was telling her to do this, it caught the king’s guard’s attention and she was sent to see the King. Joan earned her success, even after being rejected previously. Another example of inspiration-led success is George Washington Carver-scientist/inventor. In the article, “George Washington Carver”, the author states that, “… most farmers had grown cotton for so many years that the soil had worn out.” George Washington Carver then took this information and decided to come up with a solution that enriches soil to this day, by rotating crops. In the article it also states that, “Carver said the farmers should plant peanuts. Peanuts would enrich the soil. …. Who would buy so many peanuts? Carver answered by finding more than 300 new ways to use peanuts.” Carver was simply inspired to help farmers near him, but his small idea became a world changing success. George Washington Carver was inspired to be successful by struggling farmers. Clearly these two individuals would not have been so successful had they not been greatly inspired by the people and the visions in their lives.

I believe success happens when you go out and live your life. I think this because if you want to accomplish something you have to go out and experience new things in order to be successful. If you don’t go out and meet new people and try new things you can’t get any better at anything. The Wright brothers were the first people to have a flying machine that actually went into the air. In the article “The Wright Brothers: Air Pioneers”, the author stated that “It was in the bicycle shop that the idea of the airplane was born…” Their simple bicycle shop, a means to support their lives, completely changed the world of travel. Even with President Obama he didn’t have all the success and fame when he was just a little boy with a not so wealthy family. In the speech he gave to school children in 2016, Obama stated, “I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived overseas. I lived in Indonesia for a few years. And my mother, she didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school…” Obama did not let his poverty stop him from going out and living his life and achieving his goals. He was extremely successful. Being successful comes from many lessons learned in living. You need to let your success kick in and speak for itself.

In conclusion, If you want to be successful you have to work for it because it isn’t something that just comes naturally. If you have something that takes success then you need to get up, look at what you’re working with and keep trying; even if you fail a time or two it is ok because that helps you learn lessons from your mistakes in order to succeed the next time. To have success you need hard times to prove that you can recover, you need inspiration to keep going, and you need to have the mindset to live. You are the only one who can start and stop your train of success. “There’s no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs.” Quote by Zig Ziglar.

Jackson Burtron

What do you think success is? How do you achieve success? To be successful you have to be committed and really want your goals. You have to be brave and stand up against things you think are wrong. You also have to take responsibility for yourself and stop making excuses. With these things in mind you are setting yourself up for success.

To be successful you have to be committed. The U.S. Government rejected the Wright brothers’ ideas at first, but after the brothers showed off their invention to royalty in France, the government accepted their ideas. Now planes are used every day around the world. They stayed committed and it has completely changed the way we travel. As Barack Obama said in his National Address to America’s Schoolchildren, “Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is.” You owe it to yourself to keep working towards your goals. You can’t keep saying ‘I’ll start tomorrow.’ Eventually, it will be too late. Start working now.

Something else it takes for you to be successful is you. It is your responsibility to not give up, to keep working towards your goals. The only thing stopping you from being successful is you. You not wanting to work, you putting things off. It is your future, don’t let it be decided because all your friends are staying up late. Don’t be unprepared before a test, big game, or job interview because your friends are being irresponsible. If you perform poorly, you have nobody but yourself to blame. If you do not set yourself up for success and decide to keep watching television instead of preparing, you can’t be mad. You should’ve known what the outcome would be the day before when someone else put in more work than you. It’s your responsibility so you should stop making excuses as to why you’re not succeeding in your goals. For example, Barack Obama said in his National Address to America’s Schoolchildren, “We can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, the best schools in the world, and none of it will make a difference, none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities.” Your success should not be determined by the people around you.

Sometimes to be successful you have to be brave. Just one year after being shot, Malala Yousafzai, a young protestor for women’s rights, wanted to go back to Pakistan to continue to stand up for the educational rights of women and girls. “Before this attack, I might have been a little bit afraid of how death would be. Now I’m not, because I have experienced it,” she said in a movie about her life. You can’t be afraid of things that ‘might’ happen because then you are stopping yourself from being successful. Anything could happen while you’re working to be successful. You will regret not working towards your goals once it’s too late. So you have to be brave, no matter how big or small a problem you’re facing. Sometimes being brave is just knowing when to ask for help. An example of this is with President Barack Obama in his National Address to America’s Schoolchildren. He said, “Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength, because it shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and that then allows you to learn something new.” Never be afraid to learn something new. Be brave and stand up for what you believe in.

Success comes from the right mindset. You have to be determined to be the best at whatever you do. Success does not seem as far away to people with the right mindset. In the words of NBA champion Steph Curry, “Success is not an accident, success is actually a choice.”

Now, what do you think success is? How do you become successful? My definition of success is when you have made a big enough impact to inspire and help people around the world. If you are committed, brave, and take responsibility upon yourself to achieve your goals, you will achieve whatever your definition of success is. If you take anything from this essay let it be this quote from George Washignton Carver, “Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who have a habit of making excuses.”

Braden Favors

What is success? Is it having a well paying job, or getting your dream house? I believe that success is using persistence and bravery to have a positive effect on others. I believe that success is from hard work. If you don’t work hard, you can never accomplish anything great. Success also comes from persistence. It is important to never give up. If you give up, you can’t accomplish your goals. Success also comes from bravery. It’s having the will to do what’s right and have a positive impact on those around you. I believe these mindsets are needed to be successful.

Success stems from hard work. As an example, when president Barack Obama was a child, his family could not afford the education other kids got. Because of this, his mother had to teach him extra lessons at 4:30 in the morning. In his address to schoolchildren in Virginia in 2016, Obama tells the story of when he’d groan about getting up so early to study, his mother would say, “This isn’t a picnic for me either buster.” President Obama worked hard to get a good education, and ended up going to college. When George Washington Carver, an african american man who changed the way we farmed was a child, he faced racism and discrimination, but he worked hard to be accepted and went on to teach botany at a college. This shows how hard work can lead you to success.

Another thing that leads to success is persistence. When the Wright brothers were testing their plane design, it failed over and over. “They still came down, no matter what the person aboard did” says the author of “The Wright Brothers: Air Pioneers”. Despite them failing and crashing many times, the brothers never gave up and kept making more flying machines. Eventually, they built a plane that could fly for 25 miles before hitting the ground. This shows that persistence leads to success.

Courage can lead you to success as well. For instance, the Wright brothers knew they could crash at any time, but they still flew their planes. Malala Yousafazi, a girl who fought for girls’ rights to an education in Pakistan, got shot in the head by the Taliban for suggesting that girls should be allowed to go to school. But she survived, and continued to advocate for girls’ rights even with the Taliban wanting to kill her. This shows how courage can lead you down the path to success.

In conclusion, Success can be shown in different ways. I believe that success comes from hard work. You need to work hard to get something done. I also believe success comes from persistence. If you keep working at something, you will always be able to accomplish it. Finally, I believe success comes from courage. If you have the courage to do what other people won’t, you can go far in life. All these mindsets can help move you closer to success and helping other people. I’ll close with this: “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm” — Winston H. Churchill.

Tori Summers

What exactly is success? What are the qualities of success? Is it being a successful athlete, or having all A’s? Success can be represented in many ways, depending on your values. For me, failure is one of them. Before succeeding you must fail. Another thing I value is bravery. Bravery is an amazing feeling especially when you are in the midst of doing something you didn’t think you could. I also believe that having determination is essential. Determination is chasing your dreams despite the odds. Determining what your values are, and what you believe about success are key factors in one’s achievement.

Failure is a thing that everyone dreads. It’s not always positive, but I look at it as failure being positive. For example, President Obama’s speech talked about success. In “President Obama’s National Address to America’s Schoolchildren” he says, “That’s okay. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who had the most failures. Jk Rowling – who wrote Harry Potter – her first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published.” He was talking about how she kept failing again, but finally was able to ‘fail better’. Obama goes on to say, “Michael Jordan was cut from his highschool basketball team. He lost hundreds of games, and lost thousands of shots in his career.” Even though he failed many times that did not stop him. Dyana Nyad, which I will mention twice in this Assessment, was another great example of success. Nyad was the first person ever to successfully swim from Cuba to Florida. The article “Dyana Nyad, 64, Swims From Cuba to Florida” says, “Diana Nyad had completed a 177- kilometer swim. She had begun fifty-three hours earlier. It was her fifth try in thirty-five years.” This evidence proves failure eventually turns into success.

Always be determined. Never give up. For example, Diana Nyad was the first person to ever swim from Cuba to Key West. She was struggling, but determined. She did not give up. Fifty-three hours had passed since she began her last attempt to cross the ocean. Joyce Grant said in the article “Diana Nyad, 64, Swims From Cuba to Florida”, that Nyad had simple advice. “She told the waiting and excited group she had three things to say “One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you are never too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport, but it takes a team.” Another example of determination is the Wright brothers. It took them four years to create a flying machine, but eventually did the impossible. They kept failing but eventually succeeded! “The Wright Brothers: Air Pioneers” says, “The Wrights wanted more, of course, and built a better glider that had a rudder, to steer with. One of their gliders stayed aloft a time, flying more than 600 feet. But they still came down.” They soon rebuilt that plane and became successful. This evidence proves that determination is one of the key values to success.

Bravery is a key factor in success. When the word bravery comes to mind, what do you think of- George Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., or Rosa Parks? These are typical responses when we think of bravery. Malala Yousafzai is a perfect example of bravery that leads to success. She is a woman who stood up for women’s education in her home country, Pakistan. She was shot by the Taliban for speaking out about the right for women/girls to have an education, and was wounded in the head. She is a very fearless character. The article “Malala Yousafzai: A Normal Yet Powerful Girl says, “I have already seen death and I know that death is supporting me in my cause of education. Death does not want to kill me. Before this attack, I might have been a little bit afraid of how death would be. Now I’m not, because I have experienced it.” This young lady knows the consequences, but chooses to be brave. Her actions demonstrate how bravery leads to success.

In conclusion, success can be outlined differently depending on your values. I believe that failure leads to success. Being determined and never stopping will make a successful end result. Being brave and never turning away will lead to success.

“Success is a slow process, and quitting does not speed it up.” Jeffery Fry.

Kaylee Weddle

How do you define success? Could it be finishing your chores, or being the best at a sport? Success is different for everyone. Success depends on what you believe in and what is important to you. I believe that the keys to success are hard work and determination. If you have a goal and you want to achieve it you have to keep working and never give up. To succeed in life you have to work towards your goals even if you think it is impossible. You also have to never give up. You could fail over and over again but if you give up you will never succeed. And finally, to succeed you have to be brave. You have to be willing to stand up and fight for what matters to you. These ideas can help you realize what you have to do to succeed and achieve your goals.

You can’t succeed unless you are willing to work towards your goal. An example of this is Joan of Arc, a teenage girl who led the French to victory against the English in the 1400s. The author of the article, “Joan of Arc: Frances Young Tragic Hero,” states, “Though she was wounded twice in these many struggles, Joan fought on.” The author later says, “She had tremendous success. With her in the army, the French won victory after victory.” If you work hard you can achieve your goals. Barack Obama said, “You cannot drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to train for it and work for it and learn for it.” This shows that you have to keep working towards your goal until one day you succeed.

One thing you have to do to succeed is to never give up. For instance, Diana Nyad, the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida never gave up even though she had to try many times before she succeeded. According to the author of “Diana Nyad, 64, Swims From Cuba to Florida,” Ms. Nyad faced obstacles, but never quit. “In earlier attempts at the crossing, Nyad had to stop after storms set her off course and she was badly stung by box jellyfish in one case, and she suffered an asthma attack in another case.” The author continues by saying, “Diana Nyad stumbled out of the surf at Smathers Beach in Key West, Florida, on Monday, having completed an incredible 177-kilometer swim.” Diana Nyad never gave up and when she persevered she succeeded. Nyad said, “One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you are never too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport but it takes a team.” Diana believes that you should never ever give up because when you stop trying you can’t succeed.

Sometimes success means standing up for what you believe in. This is shown through, Malala Yousafzai, a teenage girl who fought for the educational rights of young girls in Pakistan. “I speak for the education of every child, in every corner of the world,” said Malala. The author of “Malala Yousafzai: A Normal Yet Powerful Girl” goes on to say, “Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala spoke for what she believed in and it helped her achieve great success.” The author of the article reports that Malala stated, “We women are going to bring change. We are speaking up for girls’ rights…” Malala spoke up for what she believed in and succeeded by inspiring children around the world to fight for their right to go to school.

In conclusion, success is different for everyone depending on what matters to them and what they believe is important. I think that hard work is one of the most important keys to success. In order to be successful you have to work hard to achieve your goals. You can’t give up because even if you think you can’t do it if you stop trying you won’t succeed. Lastly, in order to succeed you have to fight for what you believe in and you also have to be brave. Being able to do these can help you have great success and they can also help you achieve your goals. Winston S. Churchill said, “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Elaina Williams

What do YOU think success is? Is it having lots of money or working hard? Success can be very different depending on your experiences and what you like to do. I believe that success comes from failure. Failure helps you understand where you went wrong and how to fix it and do better when you try again. Perseverance is also a main key in being successful. Perseverance gets you to ignore what other people say and push through to get to the next point in being successful. I also think that bravery has a huge role in success. Being brave is standing up for yourself and what you believe instead of pushing your ideas aside because someone said it was weird or wrong. These types of skills are all very important in the start of being successful.

Success happens when you fail at something and try again. For example, Diana Nyad had tried five times in 35 years to swim from Cuba to Key West Florida. After making it on the fifth try, she only had three things to say when she got to the shore. “One is we should never, ever give up. Two is you are never too old to chase your dreams. Three is it looks like a solitary sport but it takes a team.” the author of “Diana Nyad, 64, Swims from Cuba To Florida” states. She goes on to say, “In earlier attempts, Nyad had to stop after storms set her off her course and she was badly stung by a box jellyfish…” Failure does not mean you can’t accomplish something. It means you need to get up and try again. President Barack Obama stated in his speech to students, “You can’t let your failures define you, you have to let your failures teach you.” This shows that even when you mess up and fail at something, you should get up and try again.

Success happens when you persevere. For instance, when Malala Yousafzai got shot, she didn’t give up, she kept standing up for what she believed. Even after the shooting, she is very clear about her goal, “We women are going to bring change. We are speaking up for girls’ rights, but we must not behave like men, like they have done in the past.” Working through the tough stuff like she did helps you be successful. Another example is when Diana Nyad, a professional swimmer, kept pushing to meet her goal even when she was tired and was beginning to give up. The article says, “She suffered from an asthma attack in another case. But she persevered…” As Diana Nyad said upon reaching the shore in Florida, “One is we should never, ever give up…”This shows that even when it gets hard you can persevere and be successful.

Success mostly happens when you’re brave enough to stand up for your beliefs. For instance, when the Wright brothers’ plane crashed on December 14, 1903, they didn’t give up. They were brave and kept trying until they successfully flew it without crashing for 59 seconds! In the article, “The Wright Brothers: Air Pioneers”, it says “The flight didn’t last long and ended in a crash, which took the Wright brothers a few days to repair. And it’s worth noting that the plane got its momentum…” Another example of being brave is when Diana Nyad swam from Cuba to Key West Florida. Even though on earlier attempts she got stung by a deadly box jellyfish and almost died- and even had an asthma attack, she still was brave enough to keep going to achieve her goal. In the article that Joyce Grant wrote it said, “It was her fifth try in 35 years…” This shows that even if you fail the first time, be brave enough to try again. Try as many times as it takes.

In conclusion, success can be defined by what you do and your experiences. I believe that failure can show you what you did wrong so you can fix your mistake and be successful. Being able to persevere through something and not giving up even when it gets really hard, is a way you can become successful. Showing bravery and doing what it takes to do something hard or something you’re afraid of doing is important to success. Doing and having these things can increase the likelihood you will be successful in the future! In the words of Winston Churchill… “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

Shelby Williams

What is success? I’m sure you very rarely hear this question. Most people think they know what success is, but if someone asks for a definition of success you would be surprised with how many people aren’t able to answer. Success is different for everybody. Success for you might be having a lot of money, being MVP in baseball, having the most perfumes, etc. The real question is, what leads to success? Well, I believe that failure leads to success. You may be thinking, “Failure! We are talking about success. How is failure going to help you?” When you fail, you can’t just let it make you upset or make you feel worthless. You have to let your failures teach you. I heard a former President say the exact same thing. Persevere through your problems, because the bumpy road will lead you to success. You have to have hope to be able to be successful. These ideas are very important for you to be successful in life.

This may sound surprising, but success happens through failure. For example, Diana Nyad failed many times before she succeeded. Nyad attempted to swim from Cuba to Florida four times before she was successful. Diana failed but kept trying. Diana specifically stated in her TED Talk, “I don’t stand up and say never give up. I didn’t give up.” Another example is our former President, Barack Obama. Obama agrees that you shouldn’t give up and that you should always let your failures teach you, you can’t let your failures define who you are. Barack Obama specifically stated in his speech to Wakefield High School, “These people succeeded because they understood that you can’t let your failures define you – you have to let your failures teach you.” When you fail, just let your failures provide lessons for you. Failed attempts lead to success.

It takes planning and perseverance to be successful. You can’t just give up after trying just once or twice. You have to keep trying until you are successful. For example let’s examine the Wright brothers, the ones that made the first airplane! Do you think they tried just once and they were successful? NO! It took them four years of research and development! David White, the author of the article “The Wright Brothers: Air Pioneers” stated, “ They shared a curiosity about the world and a love of tinkering that would one day make history.” They reached their goal because they persevered. Now about 500,000 people get on a plane to travel somewhere per day. Maybe you have heard of George Washington Carver. Carver was the person who found more than 300 ways to use peanuts. He is the reason why we have peanut oil, lotion, laundry soap, dyes, paints, etc. Do you think he failed during this process? Of course he did, but he didn’t give up after failure – he persevered. A lot of people didn’t believe in Carver at first. Barbara Rodner stated in her article, “George Washington Carver”, that people saw what he was able to do and believed in him. “Today people from many countries come to the George Washington Carver foundation at the Tuskegee Institute. There they learn better ways of farming. The ideas he taught are still important. Perseverance is the ability to go on when all things seem hopeless, and that is exactly what these people did.

Having hope in something is a key factor in success. Hope is having faith and desire that something certain will happen. You have to have hope to be successful. You can’t just wish on a shooting star and think your wish will come true. You have to work for it. You have to have hope and trust in yourself. One person that had hope was Joan of Arc. Joan began to hear voices when she was 13. Nobody believed that Joan was actually hearing these voices. Joan was a devoted Christian and knew God was speaking to her. Since nobody believed Joan was hearing voices she was accused of heresy. This was mainly because Joan claimed she had spoken to angels which is against the church. Joan still knew God was speaking to her and she had hope. Sadly, they still didn’t believe Joan and she was burned to the stake. In the article “Joan of Arc: France’s Young Tragic Hero” David White stated, “Her life and death have inspired many soldiers, in France and elsewhere, ever since.” Even up to the day of her death, Joan had hope and forgave her captors. Many people couldn’t live in peace without having hope.

In conclusion, success is whatever you want it to be. To reach success you have to learn from your failures, you have to persevere, and have hope. Through my examples, you can see that your failures can teach you and lead you to your goal. Your goal may be something small like saving up 20 dollars so you can get something you want, but as long as you reach your goal you will be successful. You may be confused, stressed, frustrated, or anything else while reaching your goal. Trust me I’ve been there. You just have to persevere through your obstacles because it’s not going to be a smooth road to success. Things may be going a little rough while you are working towards success but you still have to have hope. Things may not be going smoothly but remember it’s not over yet. The road to being successful isn’t the easiest so you have to believe in yourself. In the words of Seneca the Younger, “It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.”

Don’t forget to smile, it might just be contagious!