When thinking of a literary sponsor that influenced how a write and read today, I had to think of times when I needed to make a decision that would affect me down the road. The following stories show how I have decided to overcome difficulties and external forces that would have affected my attitude towards reading and writing.

When I was a freshman in High school, I struggled finding a motivation to write in my English class and my teacher, Ms. Grant, was hard on me in that class. It was one of the last days of class and the teacher pulled me and other out into the hall to talk. She told us that we will be attending summer school to get credit for the class or else we would have to repeat the class. Time seemed to stop at that moment, I looked back at what I have done and realized that it wasn’t my ability reading and writing that got me here, I just needed to put in the effort to do the things I needed to. I knew I wasn’t a terrible writer so was disappointed in myself because this was my own fault for not turning in an assignment I was supposed to do as a final.

I felt my face get red hot, I was embarrassed and was already thinking of how I would explain this to my mom. As our teacher told us the news, she pulled out contracts we were to sign agreeing to the situation we were in. When one of my classmates saw this, he snatched the paper then left, he represented how I felt on the inside, but I knew I had to see this through. I took the contract and put it in my backpack, I felt my stomach drop thinking of how I will have to pull it out again to show my mother. The walk home took a little longer than usual, playing music in my ears trying to calm myself down, I suddenly find myself at the front door of my house.

My mom was sitting on the sofa watching her novela, she greeted me, and I said hi, it was almost instant how she noticed something was off. I slowly pulled out my contract and explained what happened at school, she scolded me at first but then realized that wouldn’t get me anywhere, so she sat me down and said to do well in the summer class, then she signed the paper. My mom understood how upset I was and had faith in me to do well the next time. I’m thankful for my mom for always supporting me and understanding the difficulties that I go through.

Ms. Grant acted as a wake-up call to my laziness and was an influence creating a person that will be on top of his assignments from that moment forward. At the time this was a negative experience with reading and writing because I failed, yet I used that failure as a catalyst to become successful. Ms. Grant acted as my literacy sponsor by pushing me to act on my mistakes and I realized I needed to get my act together or else I wouldn’t get anywhere the way I was now. My teacher gave me all the tools necessary to succeed in her class, yet I disappointed her and caused myself to suffer in summer school because of it. My mother is a literary sponsor in her own way that isn’t directly connected to my reading and writing skills because she wasn’t able to read and write in English, but she gave me the resources and motivation to do well in whatever I wanted to achieve.

My Literary sponsors were people in my life that have influenced how I approach reading and writing to this day. Ms. Grant is now working at a different high school, but I still remember the work ethic she pushed on me during summer school. My mom is still one of my main motivations for pursuing college and encourages me to give it my best everyday.