Valedictorian Narrative

Being valedictorian probably wasn't your dream as a high school freshman, but it was mine. I took that dream and made it into a plan. A plan is defined as: an intention or decision about what one is going to do. After the first day of high school, I came home to tell my parents of my plan. My parents were very proud of my ambition, but uncertain about its execution. My parents knew high school would be hard so they did their best to support me and as the year came to an end, I was ranked at the top of my class.
My sophomore year I noticed a few of my classmates were in an upper level math class, instead of the class the rest of us were taking. I addressed this with one of the guidance counselors, who informed me that it would be impossible for me to reach my goal even though I had perfect grades and was in the correct math for my grade level. The reason you ask? These students were chosen in the 3rd grade to move up a grade level in math based on their Illinois achievement test score. This decision made back in 2008, would allow them to take one additional grade weighted class during high school and thus making them the only students eligible to become valedictorian.
After a lot of brainstorming, I approached the school with an idea. If I took a college math course that could take the place of the high school math class those students were taking, I would be able to catch up and be on equal footing. I knew it would take a lot of hard work and dedication. I also know my ambition was leading me to go for it. The school agreed. Twice a week I left school early to attend class across town at the local college. I worked on that class for over one hundred hours at home just so I could finish the class early. I passed college algebra with an A and my plan was back on