In my AP Language and Composition class during my junior year of high school, our first assignment was to take an 8 ½” by 11” sheet of paper and use the blank space to somehow convey, as best fit our strengths, what we saw as motivating us personally to succeed in the class, during the school year, during high school. We were to then place this paper at the front of our class binders so that we could always be reminded of why we were there and why we should continue to work hard.
This is my motivation paper:
I made the paper on August 28, 2009 and it stayed in my binder throughout AP Language and Comp. It came with me to Kenya, when I went back. It hung in my dorm throughout my first year of college, came again with me to Kenya when I went back, again, and was once again placed in easy-sight on my wall throughout my sophomore year into 2013. It will most likely go with me to Senegal in September.
I love this piece of paper. I love it not for the visual appeal, although I do think the large airplane adds a nice touch. Rather, I like it for what of my self it represents.
This paper was created 10 weeks after I returned from my first trip to Kenya and approximately 9 ½ weeks after my friend Annie and I had decided we would be returning to Kenya for the first semester of my senior year of high school, although it was created well before we had convinced either our parents or our schools of this plan. I created this paper within a week or two of the school year starting, and already I was giving my teacher, who would go on to become my mentor for my Kenya experience, not-so-subtle messages of my strong-willed intent to return. I was determined for my dream to be taken seriously, and I’ve never asked my teacher, but I believe this piece of paper helped in that dream becoming reality.
But I created the paper not just to use as a hint of my strong desire for my teacher and school, but because when I was given the assignment – to convey what was most deeply motivating me to work hard – I immediately thought of returning to Kenya. This paper conveys a very accurate sentiment within me, not just during my junior year of high school but during much of my life. I am motivated by my desire to return to Kenya.
But it’s more than that, too. This paper represents the part of me that is determined. It represents perseverance. It represents hard work. It represents gumption. It represents faith in myself and trust in those around me. It represents a passion that was just beginning to light itself within me when I pasted these pictures onto this paper and wrote the simple words, “going back”.
When I see this piece of paper, I am reminded not just of my motivation to go back, but also of the parts deep within me that created this piece of paper. When I see this piece of paper, I am reminded of the resilience, strength, and will which so fervently existed within me as I made my way back to Kenya during that junior year of high school. When I see this piece of paper, I am reminded not just of my capability and desire to see my dream through to reality, but also to go forward.
I look at this piece of paper frequently to assure myself that, as before, I will go back again to the place I love so dear. I look at this piece of paper frequently to assure myself that I am capable of seeing it through.
And while poetry and the words of others often serve as motivation and guideposts in my life, I find that my own words and creation on this paper challenge and push me forward most of all and I am so grateful for that. I am grateful for the assignment, and for this piece of paper, and to have found a continuing motivation that exists within myself.
I love this piece of paper.
I encourage others to find, if you haven’t already, such a motivation within your selves, and maybe even to create a piece of paper of your own.
callie daniels-howell 