Conquering Challenges by Hannah

Conquering Challenges by Hannah - May 2026 Scholarship Essay

Throughout my life I have had the chance to conquer and overcome multiple challenges, from riding a bike to talking to others. One of the challenges that I have overcome that has meant the most to me is public speaking.

Public speaking was such a challenge for me as I would get so terrified that my face would get bright red and I did not know what to do. Additionally, I would stammer and mix up my words. This was a huge challenge for me especially when I had to give a presentation in any of my classes. However, as time has gone on this challenge has become manageable. This is because I had a friend in one of my classes that when I was giving a presentation would make funny faces and would help me focus on what she was doing rather than on how many people were in the class. Along with having someone to help me not focus so hard on what others were thinking I also had to start presenting in a lot of my classes. As much as I did not like presenting it helped me get better and less nervous when going up in front of a group of people.

Through the practice I have done and because of kind people helping me this challenge that was once so difficult has become much easier. I am able to talk without my face getting bright red, I don't stammer and it is a lot easier to know what to do. I still get nervous and sometimes mix up my words, however, I have gotten much better at it and know that I will have multiple other opportunities to keep improving.