But with the confidence I’ve gained over the last 3 years, this hardship has become much easier. It’s also let me try out new things for myself such as speech and debate as well as cross-country, helping me discover my love for running and talking about things I care about because it’s really easy to use your nervousness as an excuse to stall. I’ve had numerous occasions where I’ve used excuses such as, “Oh, I need to run, but I don’t want to reek of body odor,” or “I need to perform my speech, but my back will hurt from standing so long.” It takes confidence to push past those excuses and move forward towards the finish line. By valuing confidence in my everyday life, I’m hoping to improve my leadership skills as well as my public speaking skills outside of speech and debate. That’s why I chose a podium as the symbol to represent this value, as it represents taking center stage. People also associate podiums with government officials or those in a position to
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