Risk

At the onset of my educational career I made a choice between two paths. The first one was to pursue a laid back High school career; one which would not be particularly challenging to my mental faculties, yet offer me a piece of mind founded by ignorance. A tempting offer to many. The second path, however, was slightly more complex. It involved challenging myself with the most rigorous courses available for me to partake in, and pushing my abilities, skills, and wit to the test by employing them however possible, whenever possible during my development as an adolescent to an adult; all with the intention of honing the talents, abilities, and work ethic to establish a respectable identity in and of myself. In retrospect, I think it would be a cold day in Hell before I ever picked the former over the latter. One decision I made in particular, stands out as an event that helped shape much of the person I identify myself as today.

The Academic Decathlon program is considered the premier competitive event available to students in the United States. Essentially a contest of knowledge, it consists of ten events that a team of 9 students study about and eventually compete on. Arizona in particular is a state in which this program thrives, and consequently, houses some of the most cutthroat competition in the nation.

The risk I took this year was taking the initiative of becoming the Captain of our school team. Based on the previous year's experiences, I knew that this not only meant having to prepare myself for the engagements to come, but also 8 other individuals. As this academic year is winding up, I realize that this has been one of the best decisions I have made. The experiences that I have had with my team can only be measured by raw emotion, for we have come a