National Honor Society Essay

My name is Austin Abell and I am autistic.

I think this is important to know because to know me is to know my disability. It doesn’t define me as a human being, but it can explain why I have taken the paths I’ve taken.

Despite autism, I am easy to be around, honest, fun, sensitive, ethical, helpful, optimistic, hardworking, and generous. I believe in helping people and doing the right thing.

Autism has caused me some grief when dealing with life more than other students, but it also makes me able to see details more clearly than my peers. Some examples of my unique abilities include remembering dates, love researching anything, calculating time and measurement from my mind, and memorizing weather from previous years using the website Weather Underground.

First I’d like to address my weaknesses, because I am not ashamed of them, in fact they make me a more determined individual. It took a lot of work to get to where I am as a person, such as ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis), speech, cognitive therapy, PT (physical therapy), OT (occupational therapy) and more.

It’s hard for my peers to understand that some daily tasks that some of them take for granted are more challenging to me. For example, making friends and small talk. I compensate by surrounding myself with other students with similar disabilities, and similar interests. This, however, makes my world very small. It also makes community outreach hard for me, but that is what National Honor Society is all about.

Might make you wonder, “Why would I be filling in this application when I don’t have a long list of community outreach to brag about?” Easy, because I want to become a bigger leader beyond the autism community. National Honor Society seems like a great community of students that can help me grow as a person and help me move forward in my social development.

I’ll be honest with you, it’s not easy being me. It’s lonely, frustrating, confusing, and constantly challenging, even with my hobbies. However, as I creep closer to my graduation it makes me realize that I want to be more confident with my obstacles, and start connecting on a personal basis with my community.

During my free time, I ride a horse named Criquet in Essex at Turning Leaf Farm. I have been riding for seven years. Owning and maintaining a horse is time consuming, and takes up most of my week. I usually go to the barn Monday-Wednesday and free ride on Friday-Saturday. When I start preparing to ride Criquet, I have to brush her off, pick her hooves and put her equipment on for each of my rides. I need to put the saddle and pad on her, I put girth on and tighten it, and I need to put the bridle on her mouth and bring her into the rink as soon as I’m ready.

This process can take up to 30 minutes. Then a 30-45 minute lesson or ride. Then I have to do the whole prep process over again. I never leave the barn (in) less than two to three hours. I also compete in two or three horse shows in the summer and fall. These are all-day events starting at 6 a.m. and sometimes ending around 6 p.m. This is also a long time for Criquet, so my responsibility is to keep her comfortable in the trailer and provide constant food and water.

I have gone through many challenges during my time at Turning Leaf Farm, from learning to trot on a horse to jumping a nine jump course. I’ve had, in the past and even recently, challenges that include; trying not to pull on the horse reins, managing Criquet’s bad behaviors, shows, and avoiding some minor distractions, including heavy winds and other things going on inside the ring. My psychologist Dr. David told me to conquer some of the personal obstacles, including trying to talk to myself about the good things that will turn out during my lesson. I usually say “I can do this!” and “As long as I’m calm Criquet will be calm, too.”

My quality of riding varies from time to time. Sometimes I can do good or decent, or I can do a mediocre job at riding depending on how I feel. Mainly because of my autism, things can be way more challenging to me than most people. Such as whenever I obsess over something, it’s extremely hard to stop thinking about it and getting over what I’m obsessing about. I’ve been learning and implementing various ways to conquer my anxieties and obsessions while I’m on Criquet. I’m improving, but I know everyday can’t be perfect especially when working with a live animal. I am a better person from riding because I still attempt very hard on my goals and I get to learn from my mistakes, so if I make a mistake, I learn not to do it again.

The main reason why academic achievements are important to me is because of what I’m able to accomplish at school and I’m not a failing student. Achieving just feels great because it actually proves how hard I’m trying in school. Failing isn’t fun because this proves that I didn’t get the chance to try hard enough to achieve anything. Whenever I do excellent in English or social studies, it actually proves that I’m trying harder and harder at those subjects, especially since those are my toughest subjects. Whenever I am at clay works, I really love making things such as teapots, piggy banks, and little holders. This also means I’m also improving in hand making various things, which isn’t usually the easiest thing to do.

Hopefully, these academic achievements can help my future since they’re helping me prepare for what I’m going to do. I’m thinking of becoming a meteorologist when I’m older since I love looking up weather. I can use this job to predict what weather is going on in certain places and warn everyone if a major storm will affect their areas. Every time I see someone, I always tell them I know what weather it’ll be like in the upcoming week including my Italian-exchange student Cesco.

I feel like service and leadership are together because the more you help people, the more people follow your lead. I usually try to help others in time of need like my grandfather who lives next door. He’s 68 years old and has cancer, so we have to help him out with various things like taking him to the doctor, shoveling his driveway after snowstorms and visiting him with the “therapy” dogs.

I always keep him company after he has his surgeries and chemotherapies also. I love to make him happy and smile! Another way I help people is when I go to Camp Spotlight run by the NSARC each summer, since 2015, where I usually learn my special types of social skills using games and theater. Sometimes I try to help other special needs students, who struggle more than me, when they are in need of assistance.

A few years ago at elderly housing, I often sang Christmas carols along with my grandfather during their annual tree lighting. I would also interact with them by having conversations and playing games. My grandfather always tries to make them tell me their birthdays and which day of the week each fall on, it’s my talent of being able to do that right away in my head. This is definitely one of the moments where I can interact with other people that one of my family members know very well and enjoy.

One of the most important reasons why I might be able to go to the National Honors Society is because now since I’m very good at having responsibilities, I will be able to face the responsibilities at NHS. One of the responsibilities I will have there is to help other kids with special needs. I will also be an inspiration for the special needs kids who are born with those disabilities.

Hopefully, I will be able to help them with their problems like how people used to help mine. These are the reasons why I will most likely be a member at NHS.