Personal Narrative: My Educational Journey

When I read The Lord of the Rings I remember a quote that sums up my current educational journey, “Home is behind, the world ahead, and there are many paths to tread through shadows to the edge of night, until the stars are all alright.” In high school I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going with life. As a kid I had dreams of being a Jedi when I grew up, and the next Indiana Jones, or an actor. I could do and be anything I wanted, and it was not an impossible thought since I had taken an interest in doing activities around these different subjects. I was even learning the piano and violin and I still play to this day. Sadly, I could not do it all and in high school I became very anxious about myself and what I was going to do. It got worse when I was being bullied in high school nonstop by students and a few teachers.

This all changed for me when I got to meet my heroes, the ones that helped shaped who I was and continue to do so with their work. At Star Wars celebration five I met Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, or as I like to call them Luke and Leia. When I was getting Mark Hamill’s autograph I remember telling

I hope to not only get a degree in engineering and acting, but to make a career in them. For a while I had no idea on what I was meant to do or what I even wanted. But the words of my heroes shined a light on what was right there in front of me. Now I know what the objective is, and that is to touch the hearts of others just like what Carrie and Mark have done, to build the future that Mark Hamill said I can build. They were not the only people from Star Wars that I talked to at the celebration, Billy Dee Williams said the same to me as Carrie Fisher. Now my objective is clear, and that is for me to become an aerospace engineer and work for either NASA or SpaceX, and to become an actor so I can help shape the future of young minds just like my