As a freshman, Mount Carmel’s motto stuck out to me: “You came to Carmel as a boy. If you care to struggle and work at it, you will leave as a man.” I did not understand the immense meaning behind this statement, but I followed it anyway.
During my four years at MC I have joined more clubs, sports, and AP and Honors classes than I ever would have expected when I was just starting out as a freshman. To the motto’s credit, I do feel like a more mature person than I was four years ago. However, I do not feel that maturity itself was the only characteristic the work that I put in gave me. The struggles I’ve experienced at MC provided me an avenue to experience happiness.
“Your choices affect your future,” performance and visual arts teacher Mr. KC Perlberg told me. “There are different types of good. There is that which feels good right now, but won’t lead to good in the long run. There is that which doesn’t feel good right now, but will lead to good in the long run. Then there’s the rarity which feels good now and is good [in the long run]. I think you will find in life that the vast majority of good that is worth achieving is in that second category.”
Mr. Perlberg helped me recognize that struggle can provide joy, and I could not be more thankful. The first time we talked about this idea was back in January when he said that having fun takes hard work in an interview for a newspaper article I was writing.
The second time he mentioned this idea was during this year’s spring play, A Few Good Men. Before the actors took their places, Mr. Perlberg took us backstage to give us a pep talk. He wanted the cast, crew, and band to understand that we would only be as happy as the amount of work we put in.
After everybody said a prayer, we were dismissed to take our places before the show. I remember doing push-ups to keep myself locked in before my cue to go on stage arrived. Once it did, I had enough focus to act my part to the best of my ability. Mr. Perlberg’s pep talk must have been effective, because I feel that day was the best showing of the play we had. I realized later that if I had only committed to half the struggle that day, I would have experienced half of the joy of acting.
This get-what-you-give mentality is something I now realize I had back in August during the start of the cross country season. Even though I had experience running mid-distance from track, I had never ran five miles prior to joining. I joined during senior year, so I had to brace myself to be humbled at the pinnacle of my high school career.
Our coach, Mr. Dan Burke ’98, started my practice off “very easy” with a three mile run up the Lakefront Trail. When I finished, my legs were demolished. It was after this practice that I fully realized the struggle that I had to commit to for the season. From that day forward, I made sure to time myself during practices so that I could improve my speed. I was able to upgrade to four miles, five, and then six. Through simply pushing myself I became the seventh-fastest runner on a team that I had just joined. Cross country provided me with one of the most rewarding feelings of progress and accomplishment I have had during my high school career. Once again, the struggle made me happy.
Even though my struggles in both the spring play and the cross country season make for decent conversation starters, I feel my academic record deserves just as much recognition.
During my freshman year, the only honors class I took was Latin I. Heading into my sophomore year, I knew I wanted to push myself, so I decided to take my first AP class.
As I transitioned into junior year, I had a similar inclination to take more challenging classes so I upgraded to taking three AP classes and the rest as honors. In keeping up with this pattern, I entered into senior year knowing it would be my most difficult as I chose to take five AP classes as well as Honors 21st Century Media, the very class I am writing this reflection for, and the most challenging class I have had at MC.
I chose to increase the difficulty of my classes each year because I knew they would open my eyes to topics that need discussion, possible career paths, and provide me with ways to express myself. It was a struggle adjusting to heavier workloads and more unfamiliar subjects, but in many ways those same classes provided me with a similar happiness I found in acting or running cross country.
Mount Carmel’s motto taught me that struggle develops maturity, but through my experiences here I learned that it also provides a form of enjoyment. After struggling through clubs, sports, and classes these past four years, I am rewarded with the pride and joy that comes from accomplishment.
I can only imagine this is how David felt once he slew Goliath.
