Hillary in High School

Every now and then, little chances arise where people can test their luck. Sometimes people are in the mood to win – be it some sweet swag, concert tickets on the radio, bets between friends, or the lottery.

Hillary Bernhardt

Deep down, we all want to beat the odds; I am no different.

Flipping through an issue of TeenVogue, I noticed a fashion contest for American Eagle. To enter, each participant was required to submit three ‘looks’ that mirrored the American Eagle style.

My friend Shireen almost telepathically knew to bring her entire closet of adorable, spring clothes over to my house. We sifted through clothes, meticulously picked out accessories, and styled our hair. Then, after a photo shoot of more than 200 pictures, we each submitted three model-like photos, one for each look. I must admit our photography was disgraceful relative to how many photos we took, and our outfits not much better. Alas, we were shocked when we did not hear back from TeenVogue.

This was only the beginning. Our ideas soared through the roof and often landed right back on our heads. To keep all our plans straight, we needed a list. Our grandest, most outlandish scheme was attempting to break a record in the Guinness Book of World Records. Oh yes – we wanted to make the World’s Largest Gum Ball! Shireen and I bought $30 worth of gum from CostCo and proceeded to try to chew it.

An hour into chewing, our jaws ached, our mouths were permanently stained with sugary flavor, and our eyes grew numb at the sight of both the gum we had chewed and the gum yet to be chewed. The result of our extensive chewing: a multicolored, slightly sickening blob. After that, we split the remaining hefty stack of gum and went back to the other (only slightly more realistic) options on our list.

Yearning to be on TV, Shireen and I brainstormed friends who would agree to be on Trading Spaces: Boys vs. Girls with us. We also wanted to be in a movie! As extras, of course. We were forced to move on from both these ideas when our offers were rejected, leaving the two of us dejected.

I’ve done other silly things too, but all in the realm of normalcy for the average teen. This includes religiously entering contests at Seventeen.Com, and hoping to win free stuff.

To conclude this massive list of fruitless efforts to win, I will explain but one more contest. A brief promotion in the newspaper called for a video documentary from middle school and high school students about a current political topic relating to the election. I tossed the paper aside – too much work. Then, a couple of weeks later, a burning flame ignited.

After gathering a group, Shireen, Sam, and I started to make the movie, very slowly. Our deadline loomed, and we had almost nothing done. Right at the start, we faced a disadvantage from choosing a difficult topic, teaching evolution in schools. After a few interviews, we started working on the project. We searched for C-Span footage, wrote voiceovers, found pictures, brainstormed music, debated titles, sent emails, and edited the interviews. We also argued, fought, and fussed more than I thought possible.
The night before we express mailed the documentary, the three of us (exhausted) stayed up past four o’clock in the morning putting the finishing touches on the DVD. This contest was the best one I ever entered.

It turns out monetary prizes were given out for this project, 92 winners to be exact. And for the first time, the scheme worked! The three of us won $250 that we will be splitting evenly.

I was shuddering and shaking when I received that magical email from C-Span. For the first time in my life, I thought that had beaten the odds…but I know what really happened.

Instead of entering a random, seeming pointless or impossible sweepstakes, I worked hard. I took charge of the matter. Instead of trusting chance and luck which are such fickle friends, I trusted my abilities. And for the first sweet time, I won!