Life would be a piece of cake if it could be written as a textbook. Every detail could be discovered by simply turning to the index, and there would be detailed diagrams and intricate illustrations laid out in front of you to explain step-by-step what should be done. But life is not a textbook, it is an autobiography that each and every person gets their own opportunities to write.

As the reader flips through my preliminary chapters, they will notice a strive that the author possesses early on for the want to be successful. A determination that will continue to be seen as the story progresses through the chapters that contain more depth, chapters fourteen through seventeen. It is in these chapters that an awkward and apprehensive girl climbs what seems like one hundred steps to a vacant stage, where her soft and timid voice over time develops into a voice which is powerful and filled with confidence. It is in these pages that the paragraphs are noticeably scratched out and rewritten. Life can never be written in pencil and fully erased; but mistakes can be learned from to ensure that they will not be repeated.

It is here, in these chapters, that the reader will discover a girl who embarks on a volunteer trip to one of the most crime-filled cities in America: Newark, New Jersey, to learn from an eight year old boy the true meaning of optimism and hope, and come to the realization that her opportunities are in tangible abundance. It is in these most recent chapters; the chapters filled with elongated sentences, extravagant vocabulary, and recurring themes of friendship, determination, and compassion, that the reader will see that this girl is not a static character. Instead, the reader will notice that the protagonist is a dynamic young woman, who learns from even her spelling mistakes and incorporates them into literary works of art.



My autobiography, as the reader will observe, has been filled with various memories, whether they are related to the teamwork and dedication acquired on the soccer field or related to the countless nights spent at my kitchen counter poured over an enormous mountain of AP and honors textbooks. While my story certainly includes many textbooks, I am not one. My life has become an intricate work; a work that I am, and will continue to be, proud to call my own. While I am still young, and have many chapters left to write, I know this: life is not a piece of cake for anyone and no one has been given a life textbook to copy notes from. But, what I also know is that you can take notes from the other stories that you read, learn from them, and then edit your own original story to create the award-winning best-seller that it has the potential to be.