February 10, 2022
What are You Proud of?
Success, achievement, advancement, and ego follow you. You are predestined to have something you are proud of. In this platform, you have the opportunity to share what makes you feel proud, in up to 250 words. (Send your stories to our Driftwood advisor.) Poetry, stories, essays, narratives, and plays are some of the many forms of writing. You may use any of these forms of writing to express yourself. The final forensics competition took place at UW-Madison. I was in my senior year of high school, waiting in sweaty anticipation as I listened for the judges to call my name. Out of the many options, I chose to write a “moments in history” speech, discussing Eisenhower’s address to the American people over Stalin’s death. “My voice will sound horrible. I could mess up,” my mind trembled. I began to doubt myself, and doubt led to fear. When my time came, however, my soul became on fire as I passionately delivered my speech. After the eight minutes of my lecture, I sat back down at the desk, slightly dissatisfied. The judge scribbled down some notes and graded my performance, although I could not see the results until later. When those results came in, however, I found that I came nearly one point away from the highest score. If it were for only one more point, I could have attained a gold pin; nevertheless I was satisfied in the fact that I was not mediocre in my act.
—Connor Tuthill, Student Success Editor