Hard Work Pays Off

The phrase, "hard work pays off" proved itself true to me last year. Growing up I was always just average. I got average grades in school, I was an average athlete and I had an average house to go home to every night.

When I reached my junior year of college last year at Ohio Northern University (ONU), I decided I did not want to be this average girl anymore. I decided that I would work toward achieving a 4.0 GPA for the semester and stop labeling myself as average. The goal seemed almost impossible because of the classes that I was taking at the time, but I did not give up.

There were multiple moments throughout the semester that tested how badly I wanted the 4.0, but when I was assigned a fifteen page paper with a literature review, I thought that I would never make it to my goal. That was the night I pulled my first college all-nighter. I had a hand-full of classmates dealing with the same loss of time that was needed to write this paper so we all crammed into the computer lab that night and worked on our papers while keeping each other company.

When staying up until 6 a.m. to write a paper, I suggest not having a 9 a.m. class the next day because I never made it to that class. I did however turn my paper in on time and I received a B on it! I could not have been more relieved to get that grade because I knew I was on the right track still.

Next, I had to get through exam week. I was worried about exams because I was being sucked dry from all of the assignments and tests I already had that semester. Luckily, right before exam week arrived, I had some amazing things happen to me.

I participated in the Zeta Tau Alpha Race for the Ribbon 5k and placed third. I received a trophy as a token to remind me of the hard work that had just paid off.

ZTA Race for the Ribbon 5k - 3rd Place

That week I also won an award titled, "Looks for the good in everyone." This award meant more to me than the trophy. I also received an award from my PRSSA chapter titled, "Outstanding New Member."


Lauren Staley and I accepting PRSSA awards

This week was the most excited week that I had ever had. The awards gave me enough drive to get through exam week. When my grades were finally updated, I saw that I had gotten the 4.0 that I had worked so hard to achieve.



That time in my life showed me that if I work hard enough and if I have enough passion, I can get through anything and achieve anything that I set my mind to. My junior year at ONU was the year that I stopped feeling average.

 

This goes to prove that no matter who you are or what you do in life, you do not have to be average. Hard work does pay off.