Perseverance
By: Damini Rao
Stephen J. Cannell
Stephen J. Cannell is a wonderful example of perseverance because he flunked first grade, fourth grade, and tenth grade. Because of this he was asked to leave school when he flunked fourth and tenth grade. Then in 1961, he had earned a scholarship for football at the University of Oregon. He couldn't keep good grades, so as a result he lost his scholarship . When he was 31, he found out that he had dyslexia. His father believed that he was a great storyteller, and he had a wonderful imagination. When he was at college, he had met a writing professor who was very encouraging. From that, he decided to become a writer. Then in 1966, he TRIUMPHED and his career started. He sold a script to a TV series called Adam 12. Since then, he has sold more ELOQUENT TV scripts than anyone in history. He's also become the biggest independent producer of TV shows. He has also received multiple Emmy's. After some time, he created his own studio, which has exceeded the $1 billion point.
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg is a 55 year old violinist. She was a child prodigy, but at the age of 18, she couldn't play as well anymore. This was problematic for her because she realized that playing the violin required more effort, so as a result, she YIELDED. After a while, she went to a teacher who she sat with and talked. Later, her teacher told her that if she didn't bring her violin, she would be kicked out. Nadja laughed at this. She hadn't even touched her violin in over half a year. When she saw her teachers face, she realized that she wasn't kidding and brought her violin to practice on. She heard herself and she didn't sound very good. A couple weeks later, still with no improvement, she MUSTERED up the courage and decided to enter a violin competition. She was very nervous and thought that she couldn't play very well. She landed up making it all the way to the finals. The day of the finals, she used her best song first to make an impression on the judges. She played her other song second and thought that the judges didn't like her performance. When the judges called her name for first place, she was astounded. She had hoped that she would get first, but didn't believe that she would!
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg
Nadja Slerno-Sonnenberg
Nadja Salerno-Sonnennberg
Miranda
In the book, Life As We Knew It, the main character Miranda faces many difficulties. There is an INADEQUATE amount of resources because the moon comes much closer to Earth. One example is that because the sun isn't getting the crops to grow, everyone ransacks grocery stores. Luckily for Miranda's family, she and her brothers had a lot of RESOLVE. Another reason that it was tough is because since there is no electricity, it is very hard for them to keep warm for the winter. A way Miranda's family solved problems was that they chopped a lot of wood for their wood stove and that they wisely divided food.
Helen Keller
The picture above shows a small timeline of Helen Keller's life. She was born in 1880 and later in 1882, developed scarlet fever which caused her to go blind, deaf, and mute. She was very OVERWHELMED by this and she started throwing frequent tantrums. Then in 1887, Anne Sullivan began teaching Helen. A couple months later, Helen learned her first word, "water". After this, she no longer FALTERED nearly as much. In 1890, she began formal education at a school for the deaf in Boston. From 1894-1896, she attended a school for the deaf in New York City. In 1896, she went to a preparatory in school, but later went to college at Radcliffe. When she was 21, she write an autobiography, and when she was 24, she graduated from Radcliffe. In 1915, she co-founded Helen Keller International, to help fight blindness and malnutrition. Then in 1920, she helped found the ACLU, or the American Civil Liberties Union. In 1936, Anne Sullivan died. Helen did many other great things, later in 1957, her auto-biography was turned into a Broadway musical. Then in 1962, it was turned into a film. Then on June 1, 1968, Helen Keller died in her sleep. She received many awards, medals, and worldwide recognition. Helen Keller has influenced many people and helped them in her life, and will continue to be recognized.
Work Cited
- Networks, A&E Television. "Helen Keller." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n/a. Web. 10 May 2016.
- Davis, Joshua. Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the American Dream. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
- Pfeffer, Susan Beth. Life as We Knew It. Orlando: Harcourt, 2006. Print.
- Beatty, Jane N., and Arthur N. Applebee. "Nadja On My Way." Literature and Language. Evanston, IL: McDougal, Littell, 1992. N. pag. Print.
- Kersey, Cynthia. "In Every Daydream Was A Hollywood Script."Unstoppable: 45 Powerful Stories of Perseverance and Triumph from People Just like You. Naperville, IL: Source, 1998. N. pag. Print