Personal Achievement Reflection Paige K.

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In grade 10 I submitted an essay to a contest for the Leo club. This contest was open to
all Leo members in BC, and Washington and I believe another state. The Leo club is a
volunteering organization that gives their time in the community. I joined it in Grade 10 and
after decided to not rejoin because it took up a lot of time that I couldn’t spare. I’m now glad I
did decide to join because I was a part of a great community for a short time. Since this contest
was open to so many Leo clubs across many high schools, I was very sure I was not going to win.
I wrote the essay over about a month and handed it in at the end of grade 10. I never herd
back. That fall when they were going to decide the winner, I assumed I didn’t win like I
expected. One day my friend, that I rarely talk to, texted me to come to a Leo meeting when I
wasn’t in the Leo club anymore. By this time, it was October or November in grade 11. I went to
the meeting and when I walked in everyone started looking at me and smiling at me. I was
really confused and a little worried, but I don’t know why. I was called up to the front by two
older gentlemen I had never seen before. I was presented the winning check of a $1000 for the
junior essay submission. I was shocked. I was so happy and grateful to the Leo club for their
generosity and kindness.
The topic we had to write about for the contest was this; who do you think has made a
big difference in this world in the past 20 years? When I found out what the topic was I knew
who I wanted to write about. I decided to write about Malala Yousafzai. Malala Yousafzai is a
girl’s education activist, when she was only a teenager she was shot in the head and survived.
The reason she was shot was because of her activism. This is a topic I am very passionate about
and that’s why I settled on it.
Writing this essay was somewhat of a challenge for me because I had only written about
2 or 3 essays in the past. So, I didn’t have much experience with formatting them. Creating this
essay developed my writing skills a lot. It gave me another opportunity to practice my essay
skills, and improve my grammar and citing skills. Some other skills that developed over the
course of me writing this essay was, I could manage my time better by deciding what work
needed to be done and when. My research skills were bettered over the course of this process
as well. I learned what a reliable source was and wasn’t and how to cite references. Many of
these skills I am still developing now, and will continue to develop.
A lesson I learned while creating this essay was regarding the topic. This topic is very
close to my heart and extremely important. I learned more details about activism in girl’s
education. I also learned that I’m not a terrible writer. Around that time in my life I started to
become more interested in creative writing, and it’s now a hobby of mine. I’m still perfecting
my formal writing but every day it improves. This personal achievement in my life will forever
be important to me.
The process of writing this essay helped me develop my formal writing skills, which will
be vital for post-secondary. It helped me practice for writing scholarship applications that
include essays. The process of putting aside some of my own spare time to spend on entering a
contest I thought I would not win will help me with my time management skills this year and in
the years to come. Time management this year will be vital because of all the homework and
university and scholarship applications that will take up much of my time and energy. As well in
the future when I have no guidance from guardians I will have to use these skills. That is why I
am glad to start practicing and developing them now.
Overall the experience of writing the essay was so worth it. It was worthwhile even
though it was time consuming and a little stressful. I am so grateful to the Leo club for their
kindness and for the opportunity to develop vital skills that I need.