DESPERATION

Pre-College Topics High School Life
1

<p>I am crying out of frustration. This is serious to me.</p>

<p>I suffer from severe Crohn’s disease and I am 15 years old at 89 pounds. (Ughh, that’s bad I know.) I NG tube feed every night as I do homework and study and take out the tube in the morning before I go to school. No one knows about it… Since elementary school, I have set the goal of valedictorian for many, many reasons. For one, I feel I deserve it. I have never gotten a letter grade under than an A on ANYTHING; homework, tests, quizzes, progress reports, report cards, etc. If you don’t believe me, I can prove it. I should be in the Guinness book records for that ;D Also, I already have a speech planned out – I want to talk about my condition and how I managed to bring success and joy to my life despite the overarching difficulty. As well as all that, it’s a personal accomplishment I desire.</p>

<p>All I’ve heard from CC is “valedictorian doesn’t matter”, “who cares”, “chill out”, and “no one cares about it.” OKAY I get that YOU don’t care about it or some OTHER people don’t, but I do, and if I wanted to hear those things from people, I wouldn’t need to post on CC; I could just ask the people around me. I post on here for SUPPORT, MOTIVATION, and ENCOURAGEMENT; I seriously don’t need anyone dissuading me from my goal. We all have goals and I don’t think anyone appreciates someone telling them their goal is not realistic or appropriate. So I will appreciate honesty, yet constructive honesty. Please don’t reply if you’re going to just tell me to stop caring about valedictorian. That’s like telling me to stop dreaming.</p>

<p>I don’t want to stop dreaming and hoping to reach my goals.</p>

<p>My problem: in my class of 2017 class (yes, I’m a sophomore right now). There’s another student (an Indian boy) whose brother was valedictorian 5 years ago. He entered our school with the attitude that he will be the definite valedictorian and basically filled the whole school about it, so everyone is utterly brainwashed. He is currently top of the class because the school allowed him to dual enroll at the age of 14 although he’s not 16 which is the age requirement. I figured it out and now the school is going to let me do it as well.</p>

<p>But what frustrates me and makes me sad is that someone like him receives privileges and exceptions to game the system and raise his GPA. It’s unfair and disappointing that three years before our ranks are revealed to the school, he is expected to be the valedictorian. Everyone must receive a fair chance at it. </p>

<p>Idk how else to put this. I’ve been all over CC looking for any post that could help me, and just decided to post myself.</p>

<p>Please put yourself in my shoes. Do not discourage me from my goal, please. Valedictorian is what I want, and I will not change my mind. If anyone was valedictorian, please post. Even if you weren’t please help motivate me and give me advice as to bypass this situation; I have to not let this boy discourage me or falter my motivation. It scares me that he’s so SURE he’ll be valedictorian.</p>

<p>TBH there’s NO way to be sure of that sort of thing. ANYTHING can happen; heck, we aren’t even sure if we will wake up tomorrow morning.</p>

<p>That’s why I’m terrified. Why is he so sure? Just because his brother got it doesn’t mean he will get it either. I’ve noticed he gets immediately panicked when someone tells him about me; that’s gotta be a sign that he’s not as sure as he says.</p>

2

<p>I used to be like you in middle school (I’m a sophomore now like you!), I was also really nervous about being valedictorian and such. It’s one of the worst feelings because you’re afraid of not getting recognized by other people for your accomplishments when you know that you’re really smart and deserving of that award. :frowning: If I were in your shoes I think I would tell myself that I’m a winner no matter what. Plus I would start recognizing how far I’ve gotten in becoming successful rather than how far I have to go (I mean, you’ve NEVER gotten anything below an A? That’s amazing!) In the instance that you do not get valedictorian, recognize that there are other achievements out there, such as salutatorian and Top 25 in your school. It’s perfectly normal not to reach our goals. What’s important is not winning, but learning from your failures and moving on. I’ll finish this post with a quote by Henry Ward Beecher:</p>

<p>“We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.”</p>

3

<p>Your post indicates that wanting to be valedictorian is not your issue. Your obsession with what someone else says, and his position in life, is the issue.</p>

<p>Your goal to be valedictorian is realistic and appropriate. Your obsession with this other guy is not realistic and not appropriate, and borders on clinical paranoia (I’m not a medical doctor, blah blah blah).</p>

<p>Also, I don’t think most people are familiar with “dual-enrolling”. My son is 13 and a freshman in high school. What do you mean that he is “dual-enrolled”?</p>

<p>You are making your life sound like a sitcom, it is only him and you in the school. If you continue obsessing over him and what he does, it is highly likely a THIRD person will get valedictorian.</p>

<p>So:

  • valedictorian is a great goal and achievable
  • if he manipulates the system, you need to find out how you can manipulate the system too
  • the best thing you can do in regards to him is ignore him - that will make him angry</p>

<p>There is a quote from a play or movie or something:
A gentleman says to a lady: “I hope you think of me kindly”.</p>

<p>The lady says to the gentleman: “But I don’t think of you…”.</p>

<p>That’s your answer. Don’t let this other guy win, regardless of your goal and the apparent competition. Ignore him. And ignore other people talking about him. Think about YOU and your role in your life, and cut him out of it.</p>