Being big is something I've always struggled with. I was always the biggest kid in class and have always been the butt of jokes.I never responded, but these jokes ate away at me. I always believed that it was my fault and my size came from eating toomuch, not exercising enough, and having bad genetics. I spent my summers at basketball camps, not to have fun, but to loseweight. This worked temporarily, but the minuscule amount of weight I...

Reading has had an incredible impact on my life. As a young child I fell in love with reading. As a toddler you would be hard pressed to find me without two items, my stuffed animal Jon and the popular Doctor Seuss book A Cat in The Hat. I soon expanded beyond picture books and acquired a taste for more complex works. When the time came to take a reading placement test at the beginning of my second grade year,...