“Why did I sign up for this?” I ask my parents as they walk me backstage, in front of everyone else in the show, older and more experienced than me. Each one with a higher chance of success. “We’ve practiced for this, you’ve got it.” says my dad. His words seemed to go past me like wind through my hair, his opportunity at encouraging me fruitless. Everyone seemed to stare at the little first grader in the room, a cub amongst a pack of lions. Slowly, they began to be called up onto the stage, each one ready to show off their talents. I tasted the dryness in my mouth, remaining as each second, minute, hour seemed to tick by, closer and closer to my performance. Then, after what seemed like after forever, I hear my name uttered into the loudspeaker. “I’ve practiced this,” I think as I slowly walk up the stairs, yet fear still dripping down into my stomach, each step I took, it seemed to only get more intense. I walked up to the stage with my microphone in my hand and my hands sweaty with nervousness. I’d never done anything like this before and talking in front of a crowd just wasn’t for me. I was just too shy and I felt as though messing up was inevitable. After all, I had to name every U.S. president. Seemingly there was no way I could do this perfectly. I felt like a tadpole about to leap out of the water for the first time. I knew I should never have signed up for this. Next, the talent show director comes up to me as I stand behind the curtains, waiting for the next act to end. The talent show director came up to me. “Are you nervous?” she asked. I nodded yes, my heart picking up speed as the person before me began to wrap up their song. The girl out there seemed so confident and prepared for her act. “Most people are,” she said. “Just go out there and enjoy it, and everything will turn out better than you expected.” It was hard to believe that the singer out there had any signs of nervousness. I was prepared. All that was necessary was courage. Still, it felt as though the stage was taunting me, ready for me to embarrass myself in front of an enormous audience. I wait for a second behind the curtain, chest pounding as they turn on the audio for the technology behind the stage. Soon, it’s time for me to head up. They hand over the microphone, my hand gripping it tightly with fearful intensity. I slowly walk toward the curtain and peek out. My fear only becomes more intense as I see the entire auditorium filled, people standing in the aisles, all ready to watch me make a fool of myself on stage. But it’s time for me to try. I take a deep breath and introduce myself as the audience quiets down. The spotlight turns and flashes at me. The sound of the lively, excited crowd come to die down as they prepare for me to start. Cameras flip out and start recording and it seems like I’m live to the whole planet. “You’ve practiced and learned this, Elliot. You got it,” I think as I begin. I take a deep breath, and then I just begin to recite what I remembered. ”George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison…” the words seem to flow out of my mouth like a river heading down the stream as I just remember what I practiced and I begin to feel a sense of confidence and tenacity like I’ve never felt before. I speak louder. It seems like I’m at the top of the world right now. I never thought I would complete it, but I did. “…George Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama.” Then, the audience claps and a few even cheer. I only can feel extraordinary as I seem to nail something I never thought I could do. As I walked off, the director came up to me behind the curtain. “You did great!” she exclaimed. “I knew you would.” My lips were now curled into a half-moon grin as it seemed like I was headed down the Walk of Fame, eyeing my star on it as I walked off the stage. I named all the presidents and I was only in first grade. I walked out of the building with congratulations and cheers to me. It seemed that now the whole city knew my name, and what I accomplished on stage. I will never forget that night because whenever I face adversity now, I remember when I truly realized that sometimes, you just have to shoot your shot and go for it.