Michael Centeno
Professor Schulte
English 11000
WLLN Final
Understanding the importance of language can have a real effect on the way people learn and appreciate the study of English and any other language. As a sixth-grader, I never fully understood why the language was so important, I took it for granted. Until a little later in life, I realized how important it is. Whether language is written, spoken, or sign, the main way humans communicate is oddly unique, no other animal communicates the way we do. Humans display their superior intelligence through language and literature. Most importantly, however, language and literature are how we as humans communicate our ideas, our emotions, and our feelings towards each other. An example of how revolutionary language is can be exemplified by the printing press created in the 16th century. This revolutionary invention sparked the Era of Englightenment in the Western World, where the great concepts of mathematics, science, religion, and entertainment all spread to the common folk by mass printouts, ultimately language and literature. This sparked significant change and radical ideas, like the ideas of Locke and democracy which inspired the founding of the United States. Anyways, my point being the importance of language is overlooked, and at the time I experienced the story that I am about to tell in this essay, I didn’t appreciate the beauty of language until a later date.
Bragging is something I take no pride in doing and honestly, I find people who brag a lot somewhat intolerable but for this assignment, I think I’ll make a slight exception to my own rules and moral codes. I have always been kind of good at studying the English language and literature. I won two school speech competitions, made it to the city-wide competition, have won poetry competitions in high school, and some spelling bees. Although I cringe when writing this, I do take pride in these various accomplishments, and will always remember them. Even though English isn’t my favorite academic subject (I am a mechanical engineering major after all), for some reason most of my academic achievements surround it, so it does hold a special place in my heart so-to-speak. While I am proud of all of my academic accomplishments in the academic subject of English and English Literature, the most important accomplishment for me is when I made it to the City-wide level of the Speech Bee, and yes, it was called a Speech Bee.
It was in the 6th grade, and I was twelve years old. We had to write s speech about a famous American landmark, then recite it. I made my speech about the US Capitol Building. My teacher would call us in alphabetical order. Because of the alphabetical nature of my last name, which begins with a “C”, I would be among the first 11 or so people to go up in a class of around 25. Out of those 11 people, only a few made it through their speech. This certainly made the rest of us nervous. Then, my time to go up to the front of the class eventually came. I took a deep breath, then recited. It took about 2 minutes, but once it was over, I felt adrenaline and excitement build up in me. It was a great feeling, a form of victory. A week later, the school-wide competition came about, and then, the City-Wide competition. I didn’t make the last round, which was in Washington DC, but it was the highlight of my academic career, despite it being relatively early in my academic career. It was certainly something I won’t forget.
Even though I didn’t make it past the city level, and even though I was only 11 and in the 6th grade, I learned a lot from this experience. This was truly my first experience of both true victory and true loss in my life, and it was both a rewarding and tough experience. When you’re young, it’s actually rather important to go through both highs and lows in life, because those experiences shape you as a person, especially at age 11. And even though it’s very difficult to not succeed at that young age, I eventually reaped the rewards of losing later in life, throughout high school, and now starting in college. So ultimately, while I and my younger self wish we could’ve made it to the national level, I’m glad it didn’t happen. And I’m also glad I’m finished writing this because writing a whole essay about myself was rather difficult and cringeworthy.

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