“It’s always better to take responsibility for your actions. Everyone messes up. You just shouldn’t be afraid to admit you made a mistake, instead learn from and teach others about it too”.
September 10, 2018, my freshman year. Little did I know that the first step through my high school’s red doors would start an adventure and experience I never would have expected. I joined FIRST Robotics Team 333 and instantly started learning. I was a new student who couldn’t do much but was eager to change that. Eventually, I learned about engineering and the tools to help with it. Although it is not an intense moment, there is one experience that comes to mind which has made me who I am. I was told to wire a limit switch for our competition robot and despite being a bit nervous I took on the challenge. After finishing the task, I showed one of our mentors, Mike, and proceeded to mount it on our robot. Shortly after our robot started having problems and it stumped our progress for about a week.
Eventually, they checked over the programming and saw nothing wrong there so they slowly started inspecting every mechanical part of the robot. Mike stayed checking over the robot and I was next to him helping and observing. When we got to the limit switch I wired, he opened up the case to reveal that the wiring appeared to have been done incorrectly. At that moment I shrunk and felt like a little child who had messed up. I wanted to find anything else that could have been the mistake and was terrified of what was gonna happen. I told him that I asked for his approval before mounting it, but there at that moment I just wanted to disappear. It reminded me of how I thought everything I did would fail horribly, but instead of getting mad and kicking me out, Mike told me one thing. “It’s always better to take responsibility for your actions. Everyone messes up. You just shouldn’t be afraid to admit you made a mistake, instead learn from and teach others about it too”.He said it with such a calm and endearing voice. At that moment I realized that just because I messed up doesn’t mean I’m useless.t means that I can use the experience to improve. From that moment on, I wasn’t afraid to take on bigger challenges and became more careful and observant. I’ve learned about how helpful networking can be and I also think about why certain things happened. I will admit that I have made a few mistakes after that moment but it isn’t something that should stop me from reaching my potential. My mentors see potential in me and never gave up on me so now it’s my time to prove them right.
Good work. Now let’s find places to make it more dramatic. Try to create a scene with details and description.
“It’s always better to take responsibility for your actions. Everyone messes up. You just shouldn’t be afraid to admit you made a mistake, instead learn from and teach others about it too”.
September 10, 2018, my freshman year. Little did I know that the first step through my high school’s red doors would start an adventure and experience I never would have expected. I joined FIRST Robotics Team 333 and instantly started learning. I was a new student [at WHICH high school?] who couldn’t do much but was eager to change that. Eventually, I learned about engineering and the tools to help with it. Although it is not an intense moment, there is one experience that comes to mind which has made me who I am.
I was told to wire a limit switch for our competition robot and despite being a bit nervous I took on the challenge. [Describe your concentration on the task and the surroundings – SET THE SCENE, SO — WHERE were you? At a competition hall? Who was there watching you – the other team members? the judges? Who were they? WHAT were you doing? What were you thinking? After finishing the task, I showed one of our mentors, Mike [an upperstudent or teacher?], and proceeded to mount it on our robot. Shortly after our robot started having problems [DESCRIBE a robot in trouble – what did it do – veer to the left as it walked? IDK, but you do, SO SHOW ME, make theatre of the mind for the reader so I (your reader) can see the robot having problems!] and it stumped our progress for about a week. [ this is terrible – make it dramatic!]
Eventually, they [WHO?] checked over the programming and saw nothing wrong there so they slowly started inspecting every mechanical part of the robot. Mike stayed checking over the robot and I was next [nervously hovering over him – DESCRIBE MORE DETAILS] to him helping and observing. When we got to the limit switch I wired, he opened up the case to reveal that the wiring appeared to have been done incorrectly. [WHAT did the wires look like?]
[new par] At that moment I shrunk and felt like a little child who had messed up. I wanted to find anything else that could have been the mistake and was terrified of what was gonna happen. I told him, “Well, I asked you, for your approval before mounting it.” But as I uttered these words there at that moment I just wanted to disappear. It reminded me of how I thought everything I did would fail horribly. [Did you feel that you were trying to blame him instead of taking the responsibility?]
[new par for new speaker Mike] Instead of getting mad and kicking me out, Mike told me one thing. “It’s always better to take responsibility for your actions. Everyone messes up. You just shouldn’t be afraid to admit you made a mistake, instead learn from and teach others about it too”. He said it with such a calm and endearing voice.
At that moment I realized that just because I messed up doesn’t mean I’m useless.t means that I can use the experience to improve.
From that moment on, I wasn’t afraid to take on bigger challenges and became more careful and observant. I’ve learned about how helpful networking can be and I also think about why certain things happened. I will admit that I have made a few mistakes after that moment but it isn’t something that should stop me from reaching my potential. My mentors see potential in me and never gave up on me so now it’s my time to prove them right.
Have you learned to take responsibility and see failure as also having potential to move forward? Is this part of a bigger story or not? Have these words from Mike guided you in your educational journey? Is there more to this mentor quote story or not?