Opportunites express themselves in odd ways. Last year, my Weeple team was unable to make 1st place at states and go on to Nationals. Nationals competition is an honor that our East Weeple team usually achieves, and so not making it first in states was really hard for us and I felt like I had let everyone down. It took place a couple of months before the school shut down, and it wasn’t a happy way to end the “normal” years of school. I regretted not doing more studying or putting in more effort.

This year I decided to be a coach for my old Unit to try and help the new team redeem the nationals title. Through coaching, I was able to watch this years’ team achieve 1st place at states, and in an unprecedented series of events, I and last year’s Unit 1 team were given a second chance to compete at the nationals level. 

Two of my teammates from last year were ecstatic about joining back in to have another go, but being it is Senior year for me and with Nationals competition being the second weekend before AP tests and finals, it was a difficult decision to make. The amount of preparation to complete in the months leading up to Nationals was daunting and the equivalence of adding another class to my workload, but it was worth it. 

Let me explain how Weeple is structured: the Weeple team is composed of classmates broken into units. These units of people compete with different questions and different focuses such as contemporary constitutional changes, case law, or the philosophy of the founders. My unit, unit 1, is the unit that deals with philosophy. 

Weeple Nationals has come and gone and our team sadly didn’t make the top ten or even top twelve this year, but we did win our division! We all put in our best effort, and my unit did a fantastic job. We all played instrumental parts in run-throughs and free-response. Having had two years of Weeple under my belt made competition feel no easier; the nerves still got to me and I still froze up, but whenever that happened I had my teammates there to save the day. 

Having this opportunity was amazing. In the end, I take one quote from my favorite Christmas movie, The Polar Express, very seriously: “One thing about trains. It doesn’t matter where they are going. What matters is deciding to get on.” In other words, enjoy the journey as much as possible and grasp at all the opportunities available to you. Never give up on things that you may have thought as too far gone to continue doing. Keep going, as much as you can, and strive for the things that matter to you.