Academic & Personal Achievement Write Up

Liam J. Rose

For my academic achievement that happened within the last year, for me the accomplishment
that I am most proud of was my extensive English essay from last year’s class. Us students were
given an essay in which we had to choose an iconic historical speech and we had to explain the
background and context of it, as well as in depth information that the average person may not
know about. I had major difficulty selecting a speech to write on that had not been already
picked by one of my classmates. After some time, I found the iconic speech that I would be
writing my essay about: Lou Gehrig’s MLB Retirement Speech. Gehrig was a baseball star for the
Yankees back in the 20s and 30s, whose career came to a tragic end due to his diagnosis of ALS.
Unfortunately for me, it took me a while to get my work going on the speech. Then, I ended up
going into isolation due to covid and missed the deadline, on top of me already not having
started much. When I came back to school, I explained to the teacher my situation and
promised her that I would get it in as soon as possible. I could tell she wasn’t pleased but she
still allowed me to hand it in late. It was a very research-intensive essay, but I got it done. After I
gave it to her, she told me it was one of the best reads that she had ever seen from one of her
students and she didn’t even take away marks from it despite it being handed in very late,
solely because of how good it was. My hard work reflected in the result of that essay, and I am
very proud of my effort. I still have that essay to this day.

My personal achievement that happened within this past year was when I got my learners
driver’s license. I was very late to get my L, because after driving in an empty lot I realized that I
was not ready for the road. I still could have taken my learners, but I did not. I was too scared to
get out on the road and I was not ready by any means. I failed my first 2 tries which was very
rattling for me mentally, I was embarrassed. But I tried it again and got it. After getting out on
the road, I picked up on how to drive properly easy. If I got my L earlier there is no doubt in my
mind that I would have my N by now. Getting the learners is the first big step into the real world
for us young adults, and getting the N is a whole different one and one that I will find out soon
enough in June. I have been told that I am a good driver and I know that with practice, I can
definitely get my N soon.