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 The Power Of Persistence

This is my story about the power of persistence, how it can transform your life and all it takes to find success.

I was a struggling high school student who wanted to pursue my dream of being an artist, but I never thought that would be possible because I never went to art school. I had always loved drawing and made tons of sketches during free periods in art class, but as hard as I tried, I couldn't find any colleges that offered a major in art that wasn't a 2-5 year program with difficult prerequisites like calculus. So instead, I took out loans and became the first person in my family to attend college.

I did well in my classes and also worked on weekends to pay for school, but my parents warned me that it was a "stupid" idea because I should've found some other way to support myself. My dad even told me that he couldn't afford the tuition payments while paying taxes, so I had to work nearby.

My father didn't want me to pursue art because he thought that it's not worth it and since I was a boy, I wouldn't be able to make much money anyways. He said being an artist is a "frivolous hobby" and I would be better off getting a good job right away rather than spending my life chasing an ideal career as an artist.

Eventually, I lost my financial aid and couldn't pay for tuition anymore. I was kicked out of school after getting my first "F" on a math test. I believed in myself so much that I thought I could pass the math class, but it wasn't meant to be. When the news came that my art career was over before it even began because of my own lack of ability and knowledge, it was devastating.

All those long nights drawing at a desk became pointless and all those art classes were a waste of time. I thought to myself: "I'm never going to get this right, I might as well give up…"

But I didn't give up. Even after being kicked out of school my belief in myself never faltered. I was so determined that I looked into paying for community college classes and even went back to high school as a tutor privately tutoring other students for extra income.

During my freshman year at college, I went back to the same art classes and picked up where I'd left off. As a tutor helping other students learn the material, I could practice and pick up skills at the same time.

I went to the same art classes almost every single day and never missed a single class, even if there was a pop quiz. I would sit next to the teacher in class and ask him questions about what we were doing to make sure I understood everything and that's how I picked up information so fast. The teachers realized how hard I was working, plus my compositions improved greatly from my first year of college.

Then, one day after drawing buildings from memory for the entire semester in art class, the teacher approached me with a tablet on which he had attached examples of my work. He asked me to draw something, so I drew my own house from memory and I was ecstatic.

He told me that he thought what I'd done was really impressive and that if it wasn't for the limited time constraints and number of other students in the class, he would've submitted my work to an art contest. Then he told me about this contest called "Young Artists International Travel Award" which was held annually at a gallery in New York City. A travel award is awarded to a student who creates and exhibits their work in front of a panel of judges.

The winner gets flown out to New York, stays at a fancy hotel while attending an art competition, and then flies back home with thousands of dollars. The rules of the contest were that I had to be a student, and at the time, I was working on my GED. The teacher told me not to give up and that they would accept me if I submitted my work anyway. I thought about it and decided to go for it!

I felt scared since I didn't have any formal art training, but what choice did I have? My financial aid was gone and so was my scholarship because of my bad grades. This contest was literally my last hope at an art career. I had to do everything in my power to win this contest.

I submitted my work and a few weeks later I was notified that I made it on the list of candidates. Then I got an invitation to attend the gallery opening in New York where the contest was held and a week before flying out multiple emails came in with instructions on how to prepare for the trip. "Label your bags, bring your own pencils, pack snacks…" it sounded like a lot of work and I wondered if I could make it in time.

Then another email came in telling me how much money I would be getting at the end of the competition and that number doubled my joy. I felt like a rocket was shot off inside of me that was taking off towards New York.

I packed my bags and got ready to go and still had three more weeks left before the trip. All I wanted to do was get there, enter the contest, win it, receive the award, and then go back home with enough money to pay back all my loans I had taken out and live comfortably for the rest of my life.

And then… I missed the flight! This would've been impossible for me in high school because my bus would arrive at the terminal around 10am and I'd have to be at school by 8am whether I liked it or not. But now, I had time.

I boarded a flight the next day and decided to cram three days worth of studying into a single day hoping that would help me pass the test on my first try, but I still didn't make it. It was frustrating, but then I thought to myself: "Maybe it's just one of those things… maybe there's no correlation between how well you know something and how well you perform on a test."

I was in New York for five long days before flying back home. But I wasn't too disappointed, since even though I hadn't gotten the trip yet all summer, it felt like a long-awaited dream and it had all come true at last.

Conclusion

My story demonstrates that people who follow their dreams and dreams do come true!

When I was younger, I thought about what life I wanted to be living, whether it be a teacher or a corporate executive or an artist. And now that I'm done with school, my dream is to use my knowledge from art school to become a freelance artist and teach art classes online through methods such as online tutorials. This kind of skill is not taught in schools anymore. There are many other ways to learn how to draw, paint or sculpt that are much faster than the traditional classroom method.