Accomplishments and Life Lessons by Gilbert

Accomplishments and Life Lessons by Gilbert - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

One school accomplishment that I am the proudest of is when our band qualified to make finals at the “Bands of America San Antonio Competition”. At the start of my senior year, I was named one of the leaders of my section, which consists of the clarinets. Not only was it my last year, but we had a chance to make a name for our school, so we wanted more than anything to prove to everyone that our school is not to be forgotten about. But, that result was not going to come so easy. We started bright and early every morning during our summer break to work on our marching technique, choreography, and music to prepare. Each and every week our band was getting better and by the time of our first football game the roar of the crowd was immense, and we could already hear that our hard work was paying off.
Later in the year, the practices seemed to be getting longer and more tedious. We did not seem to have the same drive or intensity we had in the beginning of the year. All of the leaders got together and we agreed to try and bring the energy up throughout rehearsal, so during rehearsal, I was constantly getting people to improve their work ethic. On a few occasions, I stayed after our two and a half hour rehearsal was over to help another member learn parts of the show that they struggled with. After just a few days I could see improvement within the band and I could not have been more proud. Then came the time for competitions to start taking place, our first stop was the “Battle at the Berry” competition which was held at our local football stadium. During my junior year we had placed first in this competition so we were pretty confident but after our performance and waiting endlessly for the results we found that we did not even place in the top three. That bus ride back was the quietest bus ride I had ever been on during my tenure with the band and it was not enjoyable whatsoever. I felt partially responsible for our placing and had even shed a few tears. But, once we saw the recording of our show we were beyond proud of ourselves, we may not have placed but it was by far our best performance and we still had so much time to work. At this point in the season, our band had turned a corner and we began working harder than ever before.
We all encouraged each other endlessly during rehearsals and ran during our water breaks in order to get back and get back to practice. We saw our hard work pay off at our UIL competition where we scored all ones and then qualified to make the “State Marching Contest” which was another huge accomplishment in its own right, as only 39 other schools in Texas managed to qualify. We were then on our way to BOA San Antonio, we were all very nervous but confident in our abilities to qualify for finals. Leading up to the performance we had exchanged our nervousness for excitement and we wanted more than anything to perform. Sadly, once we performed knew there were many blaring errors in our performance and had already gotten down on ourselves. Overnight we were beyond disappointed with our performance and just wanted to go home. The next day we went back to the stadium to hear the results and we were just ready to leave. But, in the last spot for finals and as we were getting up to leave the announcer said our name and the whole band was overcome with emotion. I went straight to my very good friend and cried on his shoulder as he cried on mine. After doubting ourselves for the past 24 hours, and practicing since July almost every single day, we had made it. On the bus ride back I could not stop reflecting on how our season had gone. This was only the second time our school has ever qualified for this competition. The feeling of happiness, relief and even sadness had overcome me and I could not have been more proud of our band.
This past season and its accomplishments have been what I am the proudest of during my high school career. It has shown me that you cannot accomplish your goals on your own, you must work with other people and encourage each other. Being part of this has also taught me how to be a leader to other people, which consists of helping others in order to help the whole program. But most of all it has taught me that nothing beats hard work, whether things or looking bleak or hopeful, always work hard and believe that you can achieve your goals. I learned that success comes with a journey, there is no straight path to success. You will be knocked down and think about quitting but if you stay true to yourself and work hard, the result will come and it will feel that much better. These are life lessons I have learned and will continue to use, and for that reason, I am proudest of this accomplishment.