1. Shepard1
1: Malcom Gladwell is the authorof a self-help novel called Outliers, in which he studies the different ways that
people have achieved great amounts of success (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, The Beatles, etc.). However, his description
of success is more along the lines of being extremely wealthy or the best—a master—at an activity.
I used this as an allusion because Gladwell’s opinion of success is almost the complete opposite of mine; I wanted to
emphasize my views more by denoting his.
Katie Shepard
Mr. Chavez
English 3 PAP-D
September 26, 2014
Success: I’ve Made it Through the Day
Pinpointing success to a single idea in my mind is impossible. I am one-hundred percent
sure that it brings with it a specific, beautiful feeling; I know that it looks like a handful of
different things from my point of view, instead of one select scenario—but then again, no one
has the same image of it in their heads. While it is difficult to describe my denotation of it in one
sentence, I am sure of what success is not—being rich and wealthy; sitting comfortably at the top
of the food chain; or beating everyone out of a single opportunity (my sincerest apologies to
Malcom Gladwell₁). I consider success a synonym for approval and ultimate happiness; a sense
of accomplishment and completion; a positive outcome. It is a task, big or small, that I’ve
completed on my own, and will never regret when I look back on it in the future.
The best illustration of these ideas can be seen firsthand in my recent day at school. It
was a Friday, which is the hardest day of the week—because you’re so terribly close to the
freedom of the weekend, but you still have to suffer through one more day. It all started when my
alarm went off at 5:45 am—cross country practice was calling my name. I somehow managed to
roll out of bed and stand up…all by myself!! (That, to me, is one of those important tasks I

2. 2. A National Merit Scholar is someone who has received a scholarship from the National Merit Scholarship
Program, because they achieved a nearly perfect score on the PSAT, usually somewhere higher than a 200 out of
240. A very select few students,sometimes only two or three, are granted the scholarship for this program at each
high school.
I used this allusion as a point of sarcasm, because at this time in my day,I am obviously not being the student that a
National Merit Scholar would be—alert and participating one-hundred percent.
consider to be personal success.) Then, I drove to practice with my eyes open the ENTIRE
time—because no one is tired at six in the morning. Once I got to school, all I had to do before
first period started was run six miles. The only challenge about that for me was that my
earphones were broken, so I actually had to talk to the girl running next to me. I
reluctantly started a conversation with her, hoping that it
would be over as soon as possible. This was my second success of the day,
because I had exercised, but had also been social at the same time.
Fast forward a bit to lunch. By this point of my day, I was approaching my third point of
success—I had made it through all of my morning classes: Cross Country, English, and AP
Physics. As a bonus, I had only fallen asleep in one of the three. If that isn’t the characteristic of
a National Merit Scholar₂, then I don’t know what is. Once lunch was over, I was barely able to
contain my joy—it was time for Pre-Cal! Walking into the class room, sitting
down, ready to do calculus problems without a calculator or
anyone at my table to help me, I was prepared for another day of
ordinary math. But I was pleasantly surprised, because my teacher announced that we had
a pop quiz over yesterday’s lesson and we had ten whole minutes to complete it! I only missed
three of the five problems, which led to a well-deserved mental pat on the back. After math, I
went to Speech, where I completed the greatest task yet: giving a mediocre PowerPoint
presentation to thirty other people. Everywhere around the room was the
palpable judgment aimed towards me. After crossing that bridge, I got to go to
US History, or APUSH. This was my favorite class of the day, because I got to listen to a fifty-

3. Shepard3
minute-long speech about the history of America. I wish I could’ve stayed there all day. But
sadly, I had to go to Latin, where I was given the pleasure of reading out loud in a foreign
language—but it was all right, because I only botched half of the words when I pronounced
them.
Driving home from school that day, I was genuinely proud. I had gone through eight
classes, ran, and maintained a relatively positive attitude over the span of ten hours. Successes
had occurred on multiple occasions; I had gotten approval from friends, pleased my teachers, and
made the right choices. I was happy. Success, to me, is at the end of the day, when I know I’ve
given it my all. I can look back at my crazy, hectic day and know that I got myself where I
wanted to go. No, I certainly didn’t make a mind-blowing discovery, or make a large amount of
money, and I’m not sitting at the top of my class, above everybody else. But I’ve done the things
that matter to me, and my perspective of success is achieved.
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4. 2. A National Merit Scholar is someone who has received a scholarship from the National Merit Scholarship
Program, because they achieved a nearly perfect score on the PSAT, usually somewhere higher than a 200 out of
240. A very select few students,sometimes only two or three, are granted the scholarship for this program at each
high school.
I used this allusion as a point of sarcasm, because at this time in my day,I am obviously not being the student that a
National Merit Scholar would be—alert and participating one-hundred percent.