Growing up, I always excelled in English. In Elementary School and Middle School, I was always placed in the advanced reading groups and classes. I never thought much of it because it always came naturally to me. Maybe it was the fact that my mother took me to the library often, or maybe it was all of those American Girl and Nancy Drew books I got for Christmas. Either way, it was never a challenge for me and I enjoyed reading just as much as I enjoyed riding my bike or playing with Barbies. Once I got to High School, however, I started to struggle with English. It was not that I got bad grades, I just did not think it was necessary to analyze a book and write a paper about it. I thought, “whatever happened to just reading the book and taking a reading quiz? Ugh this is so stupid.” I tolerated the readings, did the assignments as best as I could, and made it through the class. In the 10th Grade, things started to change. My teacher was Ms.Hale, a recent college graduate who taught us The Catcher in the Rye and Julius Caesar with an enthusiasm I did not understand. My class and I sat back and complained about how she was overanalyzing such simple concepts in The Catcher in the Rye. Like, ugh Ms. Hale, it’s just a dang carousel, how could a carousel mean anything else? While it annoyed me, I saw her point and the message of the novel, and I wrote an essay I was proud of. Ms.Hale gave me an A and told me I wrote the best essay out of all her students. It gave my a confidence boost for sure, but I still thought her analyses for all of the novels we read were profound and I continued to complain. Once the end of the year came around, Ms.Hale recommended me for AP English Language next year. I was completely appalled and said “Ms. Hale… I don’t want to take that class. I just really hate English.” She laughed at that and told me to try the class, and if I truly hated it I could switch into a different English class. I took the AP class, complained a lot, but did well. Then the next year, I took AP Literature and fell in love. I realized that English was not something that I really hated. It was something that I really loved, but hated that it challenged me. I had to accept the fact that as I get older, some things just will not get easier, and school is one of those things. I accepted the challenge English offered me and decided to make it my college major, which I love. I hope one day I can be as challenging, inspiring, and enthusiastic as the English teachers who brought my passion to life.