Track over Academics?

Sunshine Lee
3A Doyle
May 16, 2011
      “A, A, A, A, A, A, C. C?!? C?! I got a C?! In math?! I can’t even imagine how angry my parents are going to be.”
      I guess you could say it was a normal day for me: I woke up for school, went to all my classes, occasionally slept in a few them too, and then went to track practice. The only thing different about that day was that we received our report cards. Normally, I am a well-rounded student who can balance sports and clubs, and then still be able to maintain high grades, but that wasn’t the case this time…
      I brought my report card home to my parents, already trying to brace the fact that they weren’t going to be happy with me before I even walked in the door. For the first time in my life, I received a C. I was devastated in myself. How could I put sports before school? How could I just let my grades go down the drain? I mean, how could I let my parents down? When I showed them my report card, they had one solution to this problem: quit track. Quitting track was the last option I’d ever pick. Running is my life and my parents just didn’t see that.
      I tried to think of every way possible to convince them that I can bring my grades up without having to quit track, but nothing just seemed to suffice. Eventually, after hours of compromising with them, I finally convinced them to let me continue running. I made a promise to my parents to bring my grade up within the next quarter, and if I didn’t do so, then I would quit track. Luckily, I was able to bring up my grade and finish my season strong.