Failure Shaped Me Kemi Omisore

By the end of sixth grade, I had my entire future planned out for myself. I would apply to George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology for high school, specializing in Literary Arts. During my four years at Carver, I’d expand my writing skills, and in the end I’d publish my first real work. I would go to college, graduate, become a famous author, and live a happy, successful life. Naturally, it didn’t take long for my plans to go off the rails.

The day of Carver’s entrance exam, I wasn’t nervous. Actually, I was excited. I carried my assurance of my writing abilities with me into the test. That confidence relaxed me for the interview portion and pushed me to do my best in the three writing components of the exam. I walked out of the testing center with no doubt in my mind that I’d be attending the art school. Carver was my fate, I kept telling myself. My brother went there, so it only made sense for me to follow in his footsteps.
Due to that mentality, I was much more heartbroken when I discovered that I did not score high enough to gain acceptance into Carver. I spent the rest of the day in a catatonic state. My high school life, which had been so clear before, became murky and uncertain. I also began to lose...