Andrew Breault
Mrs. Pennycuff
Personal Statement Essay (Rough Draft)
30 August 2012

“Should I run?” “Yeah, get the hell out of here!”
One spring night in March of 2010 I made the worst mistake of my life that turned out to be one of the biggest turning points in my short lived existence on this earth. During my life there have always been lessons, achievements, and faults. What is interesting about those three aspects is that you have to have all three of them in order to have the others. One cannot learn a truly valuable lesson without a previous fault; therefore you cannot achieve and accomplish goals without the knowledge gained from the lessons learned.
Learning lessons and values is the key to understanding who you are, and what you are going to do. Yes, learning is great, but it is what you do with that knowledge that in fact defines the person. The lessons I learned from this event are always with me, they have made an indescribable impact in the person I have to grown to be today. This is the incident that changed my life and gave me the greatest wakeup call I have ever known.
BMW manufactured a sport crossover called the X5. The X5 has a powerful engine and has remarkable handling. My father had always driven SUVs’ and wanted to try something new so he acquired a 2008 BMW X5. On this spring night I decided to try out the speed of the car. There is a street called West Parkway, which is approximately three quarters of a mile. This street is long and straight, perfect for speed. My friend and I had made three passes down the street earlier in the evening, reaching speeds of 110mph. We decided to make one more pass, which would be our last. Unfortunately we had not noticed the slight mist that had accumulated on the road. The car is floured, 80, 90, 100, 110, finally 120mph! Ok, time to slow down. As I pressed the brake pedal I noticed that we had slowed down a little, but not enough. Continuously pumping the breaks, I had come to realize that they were not grabbing. We eventually ran out of road and skidded across a three way intersection, then burst through a wooden fence. In the split second that I could control the final move of the car before the impact, I had thought of turning to avoid the curb and the fence, but thank God that I had not done so or I might not be telling this story. If the car would have turned it would have it the curb then flipped and would have rolled. My friend and I walked away from the crash with only minor bruising from the seatbelts and airbags that had saved our lives.
After the entire ordeal I had come to realize just what I had done. I did not sleep for three nights because of the thoughts that went through my head. What if there had been another car? What if someone had been walking their dog? I could have ruined my life, but more importantly the lives of innocent people. From these sleepless nights I also became aware of what I could take away from this. One being the lessons I learned, two being the fact that I am alive, and three being how I have changed. I learned that one decision, good or bad, can lead to matters of life and death. Life is so valuable, and living on the edge is not worth the consequences. One thing that has pulled a 180 degree turn is my attitude towards authority. Before the crash my attitude was rebellious and I did not have respect for authority. Today I can say that my attitude is extremely respectful and observant to the presence of authority that demands respect. I also gained motivation and determination because of the fact that 14 years went by like nothing, so you need to use the talents you have to the fullest potential. I am proud to say that I have exponentially grown from this experience, and am glad that the world will remember Andrew Michael Breault for something else other than a local tragedy on the evening news.
“The only person who is educated is the one who learned how to learn and change.” –Carl Rodgers