Essay: High School Rodo State Finals

While deliberating over what specific personal experience I should use for the purpose of this essay, I thought deeper about how ethical decision making plays a huge role in my life. It’s even bigger than I often realize. I do not picture myself as being one who has to go above and beyond in order to show integrity through my actions; it is simply just who I am, and how I believe all of the world should be. This viewpoint that I have on decision making in life can be shown through my actions during this previous high school rodeo state finals.
In order to make the state finals, I had to compete at the rodeos for points based upon finishing placements throughout the fall and spring seasons. The state finals rodeo is made up of two regular rodeos …show more content…
I worked hard throughout the year by managing my other commitments such as school and extracurricular activities while really focusing on my top event in rodeo: barrel racing. Sometimes hard work is not the only thing that leads to success. Luck also plays a role, and bad luck struck at state finals when I knocked over a barrel resulting in a five second penalty, which knocked me out of placing. To make the heartbreak worse, my original time without the time penalty would have awarded me first place for the day. Because of this one run, I missed the cut off for the third day by one placing. Devastation filled me, but it was eventually replaced with hope. Not hope for me to be able to compete on the third day but rather for another competitor to get the chance to compete like she deserved. The girl’s horse who was ranked fifteenth was hurt, so she was unable to compete because she did not have a horse. Sorrow flooded over me at the thought that neither of us would be able to compete the next day. I immediately insisted that she use my horse in competition the next day because it simply felt wrong to me that she would not be given a fair chance at fulfilling one of her goals as