Jessica – education

Hi everyone!
When it comes to school, I am sure that almost everyone can agree that receiving high grades are something that give you a sense of pride. However, it is even more satisfying when you feel that you were able to accomplish something meaningful that had an impact on yourself and/or others.
For myself, I lead a class discussion in my English 12 class on the subject of abortion, and I am proud of how successful it was. I am not sure what grade I received on it (I never checked), but I think I did well because my teacher congratulated me on leading a great class discussion after I was done. However, what I am most proud of about this class discussion was not my grade.
Leading up to the date, I was very nervous because I am not very comfortable with public speaking, and I was worried that people would be disinterested and not have much to say on my topic, which would hurt my grade. Therefore, to prepare, I did thorough research on the topic of abortion, making sure to look up reliable information and statistics, not opinions. Then, on the day of the class discussion, I had to go up to the podium in front of our class, present the topic, provide some background information, and ask them for their opinions on certain aspects about the topic.
The reason why I was so proud of this class discussion is because even though I was nervous to do this, I was able to lead an extremely engaging discussion between my classmates by presenting various pieces of information on the topic and asking for their thoughts on it. I’m not supposed to say what exactly students said since it is a controversial topic, but I would say that most people were on the same side of the debate, and although there were a couple people who had different opinions, everyone was able to respectfully disagree and explain their point of view, which was really nice to see. Because most people are not very familiar with abortion laws, I was asked about certain aspects of it that they were unclear about and because I had done so much research beforehand, I was able to answer their questions.
Overall, I was very proud of this discussion for a number of reasons. For one, even though I was very nervous leading up to it, I was able to calm myself down in a matter of minutes after the class discussion started. The discussions last for approximately half an hour, so it was important that I wasn’t panicking the entire time I was up there, and I am proud that I was able to keep myself relaxed because I am always aiming to become more comfortable with public speaking. Another reason I am proud of this class discussion is because I was able to lead a discussion on a topic that I consider very important and relevant today, and I am glad that my classmates were also passionate about it. I think everyone, including myself, became much more educated on the topic and were able to glean different perspectives from this. Finally, I am proud of the amount of research I put into this because not only am I more knowledgeable on the topic, but I was able to teach my classmates about it more thoroughly and answer their questions. I was also able to interject in the conversation with an interesting fact that I thought was appropriate and relevant based on where the conversation was headed, and the class seemed to be quite reactive to the information I told them and it spurred the discussion even further.
Anyways, that’s one experience I’m proud of in my educational experience. I’m eager to hear other what other people have to say!
Thanks for reading!