3. Newly Revised Shorter Piece
If you give my house a few minutes, it will probably start to shake. I think that ever since Valeria and Victor, my little brother and sister, have started walking and talking they have been pulling at each other’s hair. As soon as I hear screaming I know what to do: snap into action, march down the hall, instruct my brother to “just go outside, now!” and then grab my sister’s hand, lead her into a quiet place, and whisper for her to “breathe in and breath out.” If I didn’t use my voice to keep everything together, the house would probably fall down.
As soon as I step outside of my house, however, it’s a whole different conversation. I suppose I was always a bit quiet in school, but it wasn’t until Mrs. Ramirez’s fifth-grade class that my shyness turned into fear. I’ll never forget the day Mrs. Ramirez explained to the class how a person doesn’t have to be good-looking to attract someone who is considered beautiful. At these words, a couple of students turned and looked directly at me, prompting the class to start laughing. I felt like crawling under my desk and hiding, anything to escape my classmates’ eyes.
Over time, I let the harsh words of my peers get in my head. From calling me ugly to laughing at my Spanish pronunciations, I soon started to believe nobody cared about what I had to say. So I hid. I quietly completed all my assignments, kept my mouth zipped shut, and prayed my teachers would never call on me.
In search of starting a new chapter in high school, I applied and was accepted to a pre-college STEM enrichment summer program called (HS)2. On the first day of (HS)2, I stepped off the bus and was immediately swarmed with hugs. I watched in awe as kind, unknown faces welcomed me, their eyes warm and bright. At first, I did not trust myself enough to open up to these new people. So in class, I tried to keep my eyes locked on my own paper.
However, little by little, I decided to let my guard down. Under the kind gaze of my classmates, I started volunteering answers in a pre-calculus class. In my entrepreneurship class, I practiced giving our team’s pitch, watching recordings of myself presenting, and seeking out feedback from my teammates. And in the last week of the program, I stood in front of the whole (HS)2 community in the barn, feet planted firmly, spotlight drilled on me, and delivered my writing showcase piece about discovering my inner confidence.
(HS)2 acted as my bridge between “Home Elodia” and “School Elodia.” After that summer, I brought my self-confidence with me wherever I went, to competitions and class. The next challenge would be to bring it to college, a place in which I am alone, not surrounded by those same people. But if I look hard enough, I can find those people here.
My Writing Journey 