The Courage of Children: Boston and Beyond XXXIII

TALIA GUITY DOUGLIN
MICHAELA BROTMAN, TEACHER
Mother Caroline Academy, Boston, MA
The time I had to show courage was when I had to take my exam school test
for the first time so that I could qualify for a good school. This moment is
memorable to me because I can look back and tell myself that it wasn’t bad at
all! I went to Boston Latin Academy to take the exam school test. I felt so
nervous and scared that I was going to fail and I wouldn’t get accepted at all.
I was also overly excited that I was going to be with my cousin Amelia—that
was, until we were separated into different groups. My heart sank. Now, I was
more nervous than ever. I was feeling dizzy and felt like going home. I went into
the auditorium and went into my group. I was in group green. I could feel all
eyes on me as I walked to where my group was. I felt like everyone was very
hostile towards me except the teachers who were in each group, so I just
brushed it off and lined up to go upstairs so I could finally take my test.
In my mind, I thought I would just do my test and be able to go home, but no...
I was wrong. After lunch, we had another test! At lunch, I got to see my cousin,
but like I said, we were in different groups, so we couldn’t sit with each other.
At this point, I wanted to go home and go back to sleep because I woke up
really early to go there. After lunch, I took the math test, which was really
boring. I started dozing off, but I knew I couldn’t fall asleep and needed to
finish my test. The test was really hard to do because I hadn’t learned half of
the questions on it in school yet. It was so quiet in the class. No one made a
peep. My eyes started feeling heavy and slowly began closing because when it
gets too quiet, I start to fall asleep. I then reminded myself how important the
test was, and I became super determined to get this test done and go home. I
finally finished my math test. I did really well, and I was super proud of myself.
“REMEMBER TO ALWAYS
HAVE CONFIDENCE IN
YOURSELF, EVEN WHEN
YOU FEEL NERVOUS,
AND WHEN YOU THINK
SOMETHING IS HARD,
PUSH THROUGH
IT AND MAKE
YOURSELF PROUD.”
This essay is a message to show you to always have courage, even if you feel
nervous, because if you have confidence in yourself and make the most of it,
everything will turn out well. I understand if you feel nervous because you don’t
know the people somewhere, and you might think they’re judging you.
However, they are probably just observing you. You don’t always have to feel
scared, because what people think about you shouldn’t affect your mood or the
way you think about yourself. Remember to always have confidence in yourself,
even when you feel nervous, and when you think something is hard, push
through it and make yourself proud.
I was then sent downstairs so I could call my mom and go home. I was glad I
finished and started my official summer, until my mom told me I had another
test in December. UGH, BUMMER! However, when I later had to go back to
take that test, it was a breeze. I was able to focus more, and I got good results
back. I learned to not always be nervous and to have faith in my abilities. Also,
I’m really proud of myself for getting positive results back, which means I could
get into an exam school.
THE COURAGE OF CHILDREN: BOSTON AND BEYOND
VOLUME XXXIII
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