Tristan Swartout

Exhibit: Cross Country State Meet Qualifying Patch, State Meet Varsity Roster Picture Benchmark: Teamwork/Communication Skills: TC107 Understand and Contribute to the mission and goals of the team TC108 Show commitment to the team.

In the fall of 2012, I and six other boys of the Varisty Cross Country team were ready to start the race at MIS. This was no normal race, though. This was the Division 3 State Meet. Bryce Stroede was the only one out of us seven who had ran in this meet before. You could say the rest of us were the rookies. Each of us had the same thought in our head though: we did it! Our dream came true! We made it to the state meet! Back at the start of the season we established the skill TC107: Understand and contribute to the mission and goals of the team. The first day of cross country, we start thinking of our goals for the season. Mr. Blackledge tells us to write down cards with our goals and dream of our goals. We then make our goals and tell the rest of the team. The boys made many goals, but one of our biggest goals was to make it to states. Each runner knew what he had to do, even JV runners. Through the season we worked hard for our goals. We competed hard in the conference. Get large PRs. We focused hard on beating Napoleon for the regional meet. Each of us knew what guy from rival teams we had to compete with to become champions. And these goals were achieved; we made it to states! The full season of focusing and setting high goals got us to also achieve our dreams. Each of us knew the goals and what to focus on, but we also each needed to TC: 108 Show Commitment on the team. Dreams and goals arent achieved with a member of the team not giving all he can. As I stated earlier each member of the team knew what he had to do to help the team out in every race. At the start of the season, we made our goals cards for the full season. And of course each runner dreamed about running at the state meet; but also dreamed of what he himself needed to do to get the team there. To get to states we needed to get top three at regionals. I focused on what runners I needed to be with to help us win. During the race, our number two runner was struggling. I and Matt Childs knew this was the time to step it up for ourselves and the team. We focused on every individual runner in front of us (especially Napoleon) and gave all the effort we could physically give to help us win! And with this commitment, our boys team qualified for states for the first time in five years! To make it through life, a person needs to know what they want to do with their lives. People set goals in life even if they dont realize it. You wont get far if you dont focus on these goals and show commitment to achieve them no matter the circumstances. In the science world, companies hire you for research because they expect you to make results for them on the scientific topic chosen to research. If

you slack off and show no commitment in your job, you wont be able to keep a job very long. Through cross country, I have learned to set high goals and always work your hardest to achieve them. Never give up on a goal and make it your priority; if you dont you will never get far in life.