Example Of Literacy Skills Narrative Essay

My literacy skills have been very instrumental in the achievement of personal goals and accomplishments. Despite the many instances that these skills have come to my rescue, the most significant and memorable incident is during my college application. Apart from my high school qualifications and extra-curricular achievements, the application required me to submit a statement of purpose illustrating my interests and goals in the literature undergraduate program at Georgetown University.
Although I was an exceptional student, the last two years of my high school education were laden with disruptions and struggles that affected my academic and extra-curricular performance adversely. At the end of the tenth grade, I had maintained a GPA score of 4.0, and I had received several medals in swimming and writing competitions. I was the chief editor of the school newspaper, and I looked forward to becoming the captain of the swim team.
The summer before the beginning of the eleventh year of my primary education, I came up with an ingenious plan for my university studies. My intentions were to maintain my academic excellence, amass as many medals and awards as possible, become the swim team captain, and keep working at the school newspaper. My end goal was to attract and impress the coaches and admission agents from Georgetown. Since my parents had gotten their English degrees from the University, I had a passionate dream of making Georgetown my Alma mater. Georgetown is a leading university in the USA, and it has an exceptional English program that exposes students to diverse literary texts and a multi-disciplinary approach to literature. Therefore, I knew I had to have excellent grades and an atypical co-curricular track record to have a competitive edge for the program. I was determined to get into the Folger Undergraduate Program.
I wrote down a comprehensive course of action that integrated my plan for improving my literacy skills, clinching the swim team captaincy, and maintaining my 4.0 GPA. My parents were impressed my well-thought out plan, and their encouragement and pride enhanced my passion and determination. For me, it was Georgetown or nothing.
I started the school year in high spirits and with confidence in my ability to realize my dream and vision. At first, I did not share my plan with my friends or classmate for fear of criticism. It was enough that they had already dubbed “the perfectionist” for my obsession with doing the best in whatever activity I undertook. However, I had to confide in my best friend, Lisa, as I explained to her why I was no longer spending a lot of time with her. The thought of losing her friendship was too much for me. My desire to secure the camaraderie outweighed my determination to keep my strategy a secret. In the end, Lisa was so excited about the plan that she decided to adopt it. As such, we studied, trained, and practiced together and we supported each other in numerous ways.
However, as the school year progressed, I started noticing changes in my parents’ relationship. They were arguing a lot for reasons I did not understand at the time. This situation disturbed me a great deal, and I resorted to spending most of my time at school, the gym, and at Lisa’s. Despite keeping my distance from my parents, I still could not get the disturbing thoughts, doubts, and fears out of my mind. Consequently, my performance in sports and academics started taking a slow downward trend. I lost my concentration and attention in class. I could not keep up with my teammates in practice. I dreaded the day that my parents were going to get a divorce. Although they had not told me anything about a divorce, I was convinced that that is where they would end up. The encouragement and support I got from Lisa and my coach kept me going even on my worst days.
At the beginning of the twelfth grade school year, our domestic situation had become almost intolerable. My parents fought every night. It was at this time that I learned that they were having financial difficulties leading to disagreements. I become gloomy and depressed. However, worse times were yet to come.
One day as we were going home from a swimming competition in a neighboring county, my parents started arguing in the car. Eventually, the fight became animated and uncontrollable. In his anger and frustration, my father did not realize that he was over speeding. As he negotiated a corner, he lost control of the car. It overturned and rolled several times. I broke both of my legs and had to spend two months in the hospital. Even after being discharged, I had to use a wheelchair for another two months and take physiotherapy sessions for the rest of the year.
My injuries meant that I could no longer swim. Finally, I had to relinquish my captaincy and editorial duties to Lisa. Despite my physical pain, the psychological torture I was experiencing was the worst thing I had ever had to go through. I became severely depressed and anxious about my future.
Fortunately, my physiotherapist kept encouraging me that there was still hope for me. In my darkest moments, I would lose myself in reading and writing since there was not much else I could do. As I looked at my 3.6 GPA and less shiny sports track record I lost hope in ever getting to Georgetown. However, my therapist and friend encouraged me to apply and give the application essay my best shot. To my surprise, I got a full score in the essay section, which covered for my inferior GPA points.