Personal Accomplishment Analysis

My personal accomplishment has taught me a lot about myself and who I am as a person. It taught me how much strength I actually have within myself that I never in a million years thought I had. It was a hundred times more difficult that I thought it was going to be going into it. This challenge that I feel that has been an important demonstration of a personal accomplishment is when I attended a student trooper program a couple of years ago.

When I arrived at this scary prison looking building, I felt overwhelmed when I entered. I had to leave everything I was comfortable with behind. I was about to have no contact with the outside world for a week and that week felt a lot longer. Within the first five minutes of being without my family or friends and being surrounded by a bunch of strangers, the state troopers were hollering at us to get out of our seats then sit back down. That happened for about ten minutes; just standing up and sitting down really fast. This place was a tremendous culture shock.

I don’t think I’ve
ever ran that much in my entire life. We had to sprint everywhere. We started with ninety-six student troopers, a lot left the first day. We all had one roommate and that person was what got me through the week. I must have thought about leaving and quitting three to four times a day, but I knew I could do it if I just pushed myself a little harder. We were given three papers that were to be memorized and hollered when told. There were honor code, discipline, and the count of deck. The women state trooper was the most intimidating women of all time. We were woken up every morning by horns, shouting, and noise that sounded like an explosion. The days were filled with working out and learning how tough you actually were.

One day was a field day where we were split into multiple groups.
We had team bonding and there were several courses we had to undergo. Each day was a new struggle because I was sorer than the day before. We had a field trip to a driving course where we learned safe driving and then we actually got to drive through a course in a state police cruiser! That was the most exciting thing I ever had the chance to do. I also had to do a trust fall from a platform on a tree back onto the other student troopers. That was by far the most alarming thing ever. I don’t remember a time where I got yelled at so much. Everything had to be done a certain way. The way you looked, presented yourself, sat, ate, walked, talked, made the bed, showered, and where you put your clothes. We had to dry the sink after we used it. We showered for thirty seconds just so we could work out more. It was stressful and made me have mental breakdowns every day, but I stuck it
out.

The troopers helped me get through a lot of my fear and taught me even if I don’t think I could ever do it, it’s still a possibility. When Friday came, I woke up with spirit and power. This was the last day I was going to be here and I would finally be reunited with a familiar surrounding. We put on our graduation uniforms and prepared to get our program certificate. This program was self full-filling and if I could do it again, I would in a heartbeat. This was the ultimate accomplishment I had ever achieved. I am to this day proud of myself for pushing through the pain, sweat, and tears. From that week I never doubt what I can do if I just put my mind to it.