School Visit - Mid-Columbia Seventh Day Adventist School

I had a fabulous visit with the 1st-4th grade class of the Mid-Columbia Seventh Day Adventist School. We jumped up and down on one foot, we talked writing, we talked books, we had a blast. This is a rough outline of what I said - I try hard not to read from the paper, but with two little boys running around my feet these days I don't have as much time to practice my speeches.

I’ll start my personal adventures of when I was in 4^th grade. I was living in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. It was a really hard year for me. In the classroom I didn’t feel very good about myself. I was the worst in the class – the worst. In my class we had a chart with all our names on it. Every week we took a spelling test. If we got a hundred on our spelling test my teacher would put a star next to our names. All my classmates had at least four or five stars next to their names for getting a hundred on their spelling test, but not me. I never got a star. My chart stayed blank the whole year. During reading hour, when we finished our assignment we could go up to the teacher and get a candy sucker. I always finished last and by the time I got to pick a candy all the good flavors were gone. In the classroom I felt stupid, really stupid.

In 5^th grade we moved to Boston Massachusetts. I started at a new school, with a new teacher where I had to make new friends. On one of my first days in school my teacher asked me to read out loud in front of the whole class. I just sat at my desk and looked at the book because that was all I could do – I couldn’t read – I didn’t know how to read. I felt even more stupid. But, my teacher was wonderful. She took me aside and had me tested by a professional for learning disability. My results said that I was reading and spelling on a first grade level and was dyslexic – a common learning disability that affects people’s ability to LEARN. I was told that being dyslexic did not mean that I couldn’t read and spell – it meant that I had to learn how to read and spell differently. With this new knowledge my teacher and after school tutor taught me how to read and spell. I didn’t learn overnight. It was years of hard hard hard work, but by 8^th grade I finally caught up. I was finally reading and spelling on an eighth grade level. In high school I graduated near the top of my class and a member of the National Honor Society. In college I graduated near the top of my class with a near perfect grade point average of 3.98 and was awarded the highest academic honor available to an accounting major.

I am so proud to tell you that I am dyslexic. I believe it is the greatest gift I was given because it forced me to learn how to work really hard. If school had been easy for me I don’t know if I would have ever learned how to work really hard. And it’s through my hard work that I have found success. You see, starting at age of 13, I had the goal of making U.S. Olympic Team in the sport of Whitewater Slalom Kayaking. And through my hard work in sport I ended up on the US National Team, ranked second in the country, a world championship silver medalist, and the first alternate to two US Olympic Teams.

My point is this: our greatest weaknesses – mine being reading and spelling – we can all find something that will help us become better at whatever we set out to achieve.

I would have NEVER in a million years thought I would stand in front of you as an author. Even though I worked so hard to over come my dyslexia I am still really scared of words! Commas, nouns, adjectives – grammar in general SCARE me. But, I had a dream – I wanted to write a book, so I put aside my fears and worked really hard to write this little book. And again, if I hadn’t been dyslexic, if I hadn’t learned how to work really hard in school, I would have never been able to write this book.

So to sum up my personal adventures I truly believe that my greatest weakness in life – being dyslexic - truly became my greatest strength because it taught me how to work really hard. 

A huge thank you to Stacey at Mid-Colubmia SDA School. It is amazing teachers like you that help unlock the wonders in every book. Thank you - Thank you - Thank you!

To view Sarah's middle grade fiction book click here: Paperback and Kindle 

Corbett, OR Grade School Visit

Today I visited with all the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th graders at the Corbett, OR Grade School. I was so honored to be asked to visit their school. My heart absolutely MELTED when I saw so many kids holding my book. I was truly touched when one boy told me he loved King Torin and thought I should write 51 books about him! Another boy told me that he thought Torin should be nicer to Agnes because  it seemed like Torin liked Agnes... Very insightful kid!

I've spent so long writing The Ancient Realm and there were so many moments when I wondered why I am doing this... no one is ever going to read this book, much less like it. But those 30 minutes I spent with the Corbett, OR Grade School, made all the hard work I put into this book 100% worth it. Thank you Corbett, OR Grade School for making my dream come true by reading my book, telling me you loved it, and groaning when I told you I hadn't completed book 2 yet.

Below is the speech I gave (please excuse poor grammar - the best part about giving a speech is the written form doesn't have to be grammatically correct;):

Ever since I was a little girl I dreamed of going to the Olympics. In 5^th grade we had a career day and everyone dressed up as what they wanted to be in the future. I dressed up as an Olympic athlete.   

Starting in my freshman year in high school, I spent over ten years training in the sport of Whitewater Slalom Kayaking for a chance to compete in the Olympic Games. For most of my career I stayed ranked 2 in the US with multiple top ten finishes in the World.

I really really wish that I could sit up here and tell you how amazing it was to make the Olympic Team.  I wish I could tell you how unbelievable it was to walk into a huge stadium with all the best athletes in the world.  I wish I had a shinny Olympic Gold Medal that I could show you.  

But, I never won a gold medal and I never made the Olympic Team.  In Whitewater Slalom only one female athlete per country gets to race in the Olympics.  In 2000 I placed second at Olympic Trials – one spot away from the team.  Four years later in 2004 I placed second again at the Olympic Trials and again missed the Olympic Team by one spot.   

I retired from racing in 2004 having never fulfilled my childhood dream of making the Olympic Team. Every four years I am a little sad watching the summer Olympics on TV knowing I will never get to compete in such a special event.  BUT, I am living PROOF that it is far better to have dared, to have tried, to have gone after my dream and to have failed than to have never tried at all. At the end of the day I realized I that even though I was heart broken I didn’t make the Olympic Team, I was still incredibly happy and very thankful for the opportunity to train for ten years, travel around the world and racing against the best people in my sport.  

I’m currently trying to pursue a new dream – the dream of becoming a successful author. As you heard earlier, I recently published a The Ancient Realm an action and adventure book written for your age. But it is still yet to be determined if I am a good writer, it’s yet to be determined if The Ancient Realm will become a successful book – I only published it four months ago.   

It’s funny because this dream of trying to become a successful author is almost more of an impossible dream than of my first dream of trying to make the Olympic Team. 

When I was your age I was reading and writing on a 1^st grade level and the teachers didn’t know why. Finally right before I entered my 6^th grade year I was tested for learning disabilities and the results came back that I was dyslexic.  

I spent the rest of my middle and high school years working my tail off trying to catch up. And I did catch up – I went on to college to graduate amongst the top of my class with a 4.0 GPA. 

But even though I had done well in college, I’m still scared of reading and writing – dyslexics to do not think of words as their friends. But I love dreaming up stories, I love imagining characters, and I love the mission of my book – the mission to show readers how incredibly precious the Natural World is.  And I’m here today having a great time trying to become a successful author.

I might fail again – just like I didn’t make the Olympic Team – I might never become a successful author. But I know from experience, from my past failures, that happiness isn’t defined by our end results – its defined by all the time we spend trying to achieve our dreams, our goals.  

If the day comes when I have realized I will never become a successful author I will be a little sad, but I will be far happier having tried than having not tried and spent years wondering “What if – What if I could have become a successful author."   

If there is one thing I hope you take home from listening to me today it’s this:None of us should ever leave our dreams on a shelf for fear of failure.  We should all GO for them – no matter how impossible they seem.  None of us have any idea of what we are capable of until we try. And I promise – life really is about the journey not the destination – not the final result.  SO go for it and see what your capable of! 

To view Sarah's middle grade fiction book click here: Paperback and Kindle