The Fat Kid Sheldon Kernodle

“Hey fat kid, get the ball!” That’s a comment I heard a lot at my old elementary school, along with comments like “Nice earring, dork,” or “Go play with someone else.” But after all the insults and name calling, today I still know and talk to the people who made fun of me. Why is this? I am now not only a better person on the inside, but on the outside as well. I know that I am stronger inside and more mature than they are. Those sad days, days when I came home to my mom crying because of what people said at school, have made me the man I am today.

“Sticks and stones will break your bones, but words will never hurt you.” That’s what my mom used to tell me, and I believed her. People who meet me now think I am funny and outgoing, and I believe these qualities came from the way I responded to insults – making a joke out of them. I tried to make my personality stand out, pushing insults off to the side and finding ways to have fun.

That said, I was still an overweight child – and no matter how good that overweight child feels on the inside, he’s still going to have a hard time socially. This is why freshman year changed my life. I went through “Daily Doubles,” an extremely grueling two-week period of conditioning and training. I...