Congratulations to our IEC@OCC student, Yumi, who was recently named the winner of the California Teachers of English to Students of Other Languages (CATESOL) Student Writing Contest! Yumi will be honored at the upcoming CATESOL conference. We are so proud of you and your impressive writing skills!
Would you like to read Yumi’s beautifully written essay? We have included it below.
The Success of Life Is To Live with Excitement
By IEC@OCC Yumi Sato
Today, many people go to Disneyland in summer vacation with their family or friends. Walt Disney, who build Walt Disney World, is extremely famous all over the world though he made a blunder many times. Why he came back and succeeded? As you know, Mickey Mouse is one of the most famous characters in the world. Before Walt created it, he already made another character, Oswald. Although it became popular, he was deprived of this rights by another company and was driven into bankruptcy. He was likely to give up many times, but he continued to move forward. As he does, I decide to take a risk and study abroad. I think that success in life can come from taking risks because of to actually experience, to need strong will.
People who take risks know that their choice is more difficult than do not take action. In my case, my high school was a prestigious school, and many alumni entered leading universities. I desired to go to study abroad, however, I was afraid to go to another decision because of the high risk. Although many people such as my parents and teachers tried to make me go to the university in Japan, I took a risk for my dream. I am in still in the middle of it now, but I am confident that this course will leads to success in my life. In addition, I decided to take a risk by myself, so I have a responsibility to accomplish my desire. It makes me stronger and help to improve my motivation.
Secondly, the risk that going to study abroad bring another good effect because of surrounding environment changed absolutely. First, different from in my country, I do not live with my parents, so it made me independence. In addition, I began to try taking the other risks which gave me valuable opportunities such as learning for their mistakes and being able to deal with problem by playing it by ear. For example, in the class, I have decided to actively participate and speak up even though I am not sure if my opinion is correct or not. Before I did not do these actions, and my exam scores were low, however, after I began to do this, my exams scores improved. The reason of this success is that I did not afraid of failing, and tried many times without giving up.
To take risks has a good influence on my life. First, I have gotten opportunities to experience which encourage to success in my life. In addition, it is harden their resolve. As Nietzsche said “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, to take risks come close to success in life. Each person has each way to spend successful life, and also have each definition of “success”. My definition of it is to enjoy challenging anything that I am interested by using my lifetime.
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