Success: Hard work to Happiness

Success: Hard work to Happiness

Credit to Geralt

By: Griffin Lowe

Movie Review The Internship​, a fictional movie, creates a story based on two older men, Billy McMahon and Nick Campbell, who embark on an internship at Google. Previously, the two men worked at a watch company for many years prior to their endevor at Google. Through sales troubles and the decline of watch usage they left the company and remained jobless for a period of time. Further, the lack of money separated Billy and his girlfriend leading to the foreclosure of his home; also, received a job at his sister's husband’s mattress store. After starting the internship at Google, they quickly observed the work of the intelligent young minds around them. The college students portray a lack of trust toward the two adults. The movie directed by Shawn Levy, produces a level of sympathy and fervor for those in the older generation. Levy, produces a story diminishing age discrimination, through the illustration of hard work and passion. Though the two men faced multiple doubts; their team members and dedicated attitude describe to the audience the ability of reaching success.

The Blind Side​, a nonfiction movie, directed by John Lee Hancock, illustrates the life of a young African American teen who had next to nothing prior to his adoption by a family in a white community. The teen, Michael Oher, emphasized hard work and grit throughout the movie even without his true parents and his brutal past. The director successfully presented the harsh past of Oher through flashbacks. With the help of his new family, Oher played on the varsity football team and began the focus on education. Oher demonstrates determination throughout the movie despite the struggles he faced in his past. Through this, Hancock allows the audience to create a hard working passion no matter the background or past you face. The film manages to inspire families of the middle or upper middle class to demonstrate gratitude toward others as well. Hancock illustrates the enthusiasm of Oher in his senior year and his happiness with the game of football through powerful scenes at practice and games. Oher embodies fearless and hopeful traits during the game he loves.

The phenomenal story of a troubled past turning into a college and NFL star, creates a story of triumph.

Though both movies create stories of challenges and perseverance, ​The Blind Side touches my heart in a far more emotional way. The non fiction movie, presents past events of Oher, allowing the audience a far more illustrative feeling for Oher’s life.

Although the fictional state of ​The Internship​, the story proves to move away from real

life situations. For example, the internship itself certainly fails to relate to other internships in the business world. All in all, ​The Blind Sides​ provides a more meaningful and emotional relation toward success and adversity.

Interview Hailey Lowes perception of life and relation toward success Did you participate in any extracurriculars as a child?

Yes. I was an active participant in sports and volunteer extracurriculars. I ran cross country and track all throughout high school. Likewise, I was a member of the youth advisory board at life act which deals with depression awareness and suicide prevention for students in northeast Ohio. Finally, I was a catechist for St. Joan of arc​ parish where I helped kindergartners grow in their catholic faith.

How supportive do your parents and family members represent toward your hobbies?

My parents were very supportive towards my hobbies. I had a passion for running so they arranged private training sessions to help me. Further, they attended almost all of my meets and drove me across Ohio and other parts of the country to compete. Additionally, they pushed me to remain active in my community.

How much did the people in your community shaped you as a person?

Chagrin Falls is a quaint town with many kind and supportive families. I feel as though the people pushed me to become the best version of myself. More specifically, my friends helped bring out the carefree and outgoing side of me. I was able to remain a loyal and trustworthy friend. Moreover, my coach was constantly pushing me to run at my maximum potential. He believed in my abilities and shaped me not only into a confident runner, but a confident person.

Does the school you go to impact you accomplishing triumph against someone say at Harvard?

I don’t think the school I go to affects how much I can accomplish versus someone at Harvard. Miami University has a well renowned business school and is one of the top public universities for undergrad teaching. A number of our alumni are CEOs at Fortune 500 companies. I believe that students at Miami know what it is like to work hard, but also have the communication skills needed to succeed in interviews with business professionals.

Has your family helped push you towards greater achievements?

My family supports me to continue to work hard in school and build up my resume for future job opportunities. They recognize the amount of time I put into my studies and encourage me to seek help and breaks when it is needed. However, they do not put an unnecessary amount of pressure on me because they recognize my hard work everyday.

Do you believe anyone can reach success?

I believe that success is relative to any individual, but I feel that if anyone works hard at what they are passionate about they can achieve some type of success. All it takes is dedication and a dream to achieve a form of success.

Advice Column

The insight into different people, and questioning toward success

Dear Griffin, How do I achieve success at such a young age? Also how much does family help with success?

Signed, Elementary Student

Dear Elementary Student, I love to hear your interest and concern you have expressed towards achieving success.

Fortunately, I can help answer both of your questions for you. For starters, success may occur at any age for anything you demonstrate passion towards. Success comes in multiple forms, thus the notion that success remains limited to a sport, at an older age or for a career does not serve as its true definition. For example, as a child I felt determined to beat my father in ping pong. I specifically remember when I won a match in ping pong when in the 2nd grade, which undoubtedly brought me to much happiness. To encompass your question, success starts with a goal and a positive attitude that creates triumph and rejoice. Secondly, family has one of the most versatile effects toward achieving an intention. In our society today, social media platforms and other outlets lead to judgment and bullying, which proves a great deal of difficulty toward keeping a on a path to achievement. However, family provides motivation and consideration to one another, without harsh judgement. To sum up, families support your goals and encourage you to keep moving forward whether for yourself or others around you.

Dear Griffin, How do I overcome failure? How will surrounding partners help me achieve my goals?

Signed, College Student

Dear College Student, Great questions, I enjoy reaching out to students, and I appreciate your interest in the topic of success. To answer your first question, I always wonder what goes through a college students mind throughout their “failure” period. To emphasize, college creates a learning environment for each student to excel at what they love to do. Moreover, embracing failure enables you to find your weaknesses in life and to create happiness in the future. If a failure mindset occurs, from an educational standpoint, the immediate reaction should occur in

looking in the past. For instance, look at the work you put forth, the amount of hours spent studying and the help that you went to get. Further, the partying and time not spent hurts your chances of achieving your end goal after college. Looking in the future, you will never look back at the one night not spent out partying, rather the family and job surrounding you.

Secondly, your second question creates an essential answer for achieving goals. The people around you help you to achieve your dreams in life. For instance, partners Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, as well as Sergey Brin and Larry Page, transcended the technology world through Google and Apple. Further, partners enable each other to push and work harder with one another, because each one looks to achieve the same goal.

Sincerely, Griffin

Occupations The ability of different occupations to represent success Occupation- President One of the most important jobs in the United States, remains the president of our nation, in which Barack Obama previously held. Obama, appeared as one of the most unique presidents ever, as the first African American president. The odds stacked against him for the presidency, due to the wealthy white men ruling the position since the beginning of the United States. Early on, Obama lived in Hawaii as a child, where unfortunately his parents divorced and he moved to Indonesia as a young child (Nelson). Suddenly after, he moved back to Hawaii around age ten. Later, Obama worked hard in high school and beginning of college, enabling him to attend Columbia University.

Columbia, a top college, ranks as the fifth best college

by US News (Dryer). During his undergraduate years, Obama majored in political science and graduated from Columbia. Through passion and his excelled work ethic, Obama took a job a year after college in Chicago, to work as a community organizer to support the poor and African American side of Chicago.

Instantly, Obama felt immersed in the African American lifestyle. However, Obama felt the need to create change, therefore, Obama returned to school in order to receive his law degree. Years later, after receiving his law degree, he ran for state senator, which allowed his political career to take off.

Overall, his educational hardwork and passion to help others enabled an ideal career for him in politics.

In 2008, Obama beat John McCain in the presidential election. Throughout Obama’s presidency, he preserved from the the racial past of his occupation to help the citizens of the United States.

One of his most important accomplishments remains the Affordable Care Act of 2010, which covered 32 million uninsured Americans beginning in 2014. Meanwhile, the five presidents before Obama failed to produce a universal health care (Glastris). Secondly, Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to increase the economic growth amid the greatest recession since the Great Depression. With the presence of the Act, the Act created around 3.7 million private sector jobs. Furthermore, job production increased more than the loss of jobs. Henceforth, Obama’s passion for helping those in need lead to forms of legislation in government. In 2009, Obama invested $90 billion dollars into renewable energy, more than any administration before himself. Thus, focusing on future generations through research programs to decrease the growing problem of global warming. Further, Obama broke barriers in regard to the racial standards that surround the presidency. Altogether, illustrating the ability hard work and passion can create toward the achievement of goals set forth.

Occupation- Authors Many authors must overcome obstacles before reaching success. The ability to reach a large audience takes perseverance, through years of education and perfecting he or she’s craft. For instance, the median writer income per-year totals $55, 420, exemplifying the difficulty of becoming a full time author. Thus, this median pay illustrates the passion and enjoyment of the millions of authors everyday. (Dietrich). One author in specific that has overcome challenges through her life, Jeannette Walls. Through her early life, Walls grew up in a family with an two other siblings.

Walls father, Rex, struggled with alcohol addiction which led to difficulties in the family. Further, through her father's manipulate attitude and troubled financial issues generated many family issues. Also, during her child her family moved around multiple time, creating much difficulty making true friends. As a young woman, Walls journaled while growing up, allowing her to develop writing techniques at a young age. Eventually, Walls and her family moved to her father's hometown, Welch, West Virginia, the place in which her and her siblings went to high school (Brennon). Quickly, Jeannette and her sister, Lori, made plans to move to New York to escape from the struggles at home and receive better education. Finally, in 1977 Walls fled to New York to chase her dream of college and peace. She enrolled into Barnard College where she graduated in 1984 and instantly started working at ​The New York​ magazine. Next, Walls left for MSNBC in 1998 until she took on full time writing in 2007. Her hard work and dedication to break out of poverty, led her to accomplish graduating from college and become a writer for a top magazine in the United States.

However, her greatest accomplishment occurred in 2005, when Walls published the best selling memoir, ​The Glass Castle. ​The novel sold 4.2 million copies and translated into 31 languages (Witchel). In general, the self memoir illustrated the challenges faced as a child, emphasizing her passion and self accountability to achieve her goals she set forth. Soon after, Walls published a fictional novel, ​Half-Broke Horses​. In 2017 the famous novel by Walls, became a major motion picture starring, Woody Harrelson. Moreover, Walls defied the poverty challenges and worked to excel at writing, allowing her to become a bestselling author. To summarize, an author must display hard work and determination in order to succeed in the competitive field. Walls conquered many setbacks and follow her dream of writing. In return, Walls fortunately became a high paid author, with a net worth around a million dollars (Brennon). Henceforth, Walls generated more than median due to her talent. In summary, passion and will power enable successful outcomes and happiness.

Biography Griffin Lowe, currently attends Chagrin Falls High School as a junior in 2018. Born in 2001 in Cleveland, Ohio to David and Stephanie Lowe. He has lived in Chagrin his whole life and conveniently, the same home. Griffin has one sibling, Hailey, who has just embarked on her college career this past fall of 2017. Throughout his childhood, Griffin’s family pushed for him to excel at what he loves to do such as: sports, academics, and various occupations.

Although, his love of sports outweighed the other activities. He began playing soccer at the age of three or four and fell in love for the game ever since. Through much joy and dedication, both parents grew in their support for him while he played the game he loved. At the age of twelve, Griffin joined a club team representing the best soccer players from around the Cleveland area, called Cleveland Soccer Academy. Instantly, Lowe traveled to Mentor, two to three times a week for practice often taking up much of his school nights and weekends. Additionally, in each year representing the club, the team traveled around the United States to represent Cleveland. In fact, the team competed in the national tournament for soccer clubs around the USA. Moreover, his dedication of the sport fostered intensity and grit as the years went on.

During eighth grade, Lowe accompanied his fellow peers at Chagrin on the travel soccer team to prepare for the high school years. Without delay, Lowe set forth a goal for the next season to make the varsity high school team to accompany his cousin Mac. At this instant, he began to work on his foot skills and passing abilities to make sure they challenged other varsity players, illustrating his talent. Lowe worked each night at the Chagrin Falls Harris Stadium, as well as his backyard. In fact, he trained with his cousin and freshman classmates, also eager to make varsity as a freshman. To conclude, his love for the game and the dedication put forth

over his childhood paid off when he made the varsity roster in August.

In addition to soccer, Lowe’s family put tremendous pressure on academics. In the beginning years of high school, both parents of his would check on his grades and make sure he went the extra mile. Instantly, hard hours put into homework generated success after making the honor roll. In return, Lowe amped up his schedule the next year taking on much harder classes, increasing discipline and self accountability. Again Lowe made honor roll and felt the need for higher challenges to prepare for college. Finally, in his junior year Lowe signed up for both AP Language and AP Government, making the first advanced placement classes. To conclude, his parents pressure created a successful student with discipline and growth through his first three years of high school.

Works Cited Brennon, Carol. “Jeannette Walls Biography.” ​Notable Biographies​, 2006, www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2006-Ra-Z/Walls-Jeannette.html.

Crane, Sarah. ​Soccer Photos​. Sept. 2017. ​Yearbook​.

Dietrich, William. “The Writer’s Odds of Success.” ​Huffington Post​, 4 Mar. 2013, www.huffingtonpost.com/william-dietrich/the-writers-odds-of-succe_b_2806611.html. Accessed 4 May 2013.

Dryer, Kerry, editor. “National University Rankings.” ​U.S. News and World Report​, 2018, www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities.

Geralt. ​Success Hug Silhouette​. Oct. 2017. ​Pixabay​, pixabay.com/en/success-hug-silhouette-person-2709633/.

Glastris, Paul, editor. “Obama’s Top 50 Accomplishments.” ​Washington Monthly​, Apr. 2012, washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/marchapril-2012/obamas-top-50-accomplishments/.

Nelson, Michael. “Barack Obama: Life Before The Presidency.” ​Miller Center​, 2017, millercenter.org/president/obama/life-before-the-presidency.

Sinemabed. ​The Blind Side​. 18 June 2001. ​Flickr​, www.flickr.com/photos/sinemabed/4348269541.

Souza, Pete. ​Barack Obama​. ​Wikimedia Commons​, 6 Dec. 2012, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page.

Witchel, Alex. “How Jeannette Walls Spins Good Stories Out of Bad Memories.” ​The New York Times Magazine​, edited

by Sheila Glaser, 24 May 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/magazine/how-jeannette-walls-spins-good-stories-out-of-bad-memories.html.