During my senior year at Millington High School, our Varsity football team had a slogan, “Believe & Achieve.” To us, it was more than just any old slogan. It was the truth.

We lost our first game of the season to one of the worst teams in our conference. We knew we were supposed to be better, but we let ourselves down. That one loss brought our team together, and we focused on our new slogan. Every time we entered or left the locker room, we smacked our hands on a poster with the slogan written on it. We knew that we had to believe in ourselves—no matter who we were playing—in order to have a successful season. We ended up beating the defending state champs (Montrose) in the playoffs, only to lose to the eventual champs (Detroit Country Day) in a close game. We didn’t win the state championship like we hoped, but it was a great experience because we all came together and we believed in ourselves.

“Believe & Achieve” is also an important slogan for everyday life. In order to make any great accomplishments, we need to believe in ourselves. The second that you doubt yourself, you will begin to fail. If you really believe that you can do something, and you put the effort into it, it will become much easier to accomplish. This is something I’ve believed in since that football season.