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Bobby Aguinaga

Mrs. Jones

English

21 May 2019

Pride Essay

Band has been an amazing part of my high school experience, and it has kept me out of

trouble and keeps my mind sharp. It also kept me away from P.E. Every year we have this event

called Concert in the Park which is where we get awards at the end of year for band. There’s this

one award that seniors get for being in band all four years. When I first saw and heard of this

award at the Concert in the Park, I told myself that I’m going to stay in band all four years and

get that award.

The reason I told myself to stay in band all four years of high school was not just for the

award. It was a short term goal I set for myself to challenge myself to stay dedicated to at least

one extra curricular activity in high school. This may not seem like a struggling challenge, and

trust me I thought it wouldn’t have been either, but it was probably the biggest struggle of my

high school years.

There were a lot of times I wanted to quit band. Sometimes, it was because I was having

a bad day, I just wasn’t feeling up to par with everyone else, something between my girlfriend

and I happened, or I just simply thought I was too cool for band. For example, during my

freshman year I hated the fact that we had to get up early for 0 period and play music, so I slept

in and decided not to go. I didn’t show up for a lot of 0 period classes at that point. Another

example is one day during my junior year, my girlfriend had done something really messed up
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that really put me down and made me feel disgusting inside. That same day I was gonna quit

band because of how low I felt, how heartbroken I was and I almost lost the dedication to play in

band following that day. I felt like nothing else mattered to me during those situations except

myself. I realized that I cannot let small things get in the way of my goals. When I hit rock

bottom, the only way left to go is up.

Again, there were many times I truly wanted to quit band, but when my senior year hit

and I was signed up for band, it seemed so much easier to not quit because i’ve already

experienced what it’s like to want to quit and what it’s like to get through those obstacles and not

quit. I ended up getting the plaque for staying in band all four years and this is a very special

goal for me that I achieved because it was my first short term goal that I achieved that I created

for myself my freshman year. I’m so proud of myself for carrying on this goal throughout every

single year that i’ve been in highschool and achieving it.