Joshua Hadfield FHS 1500 Final Project Final Project

I was born on Halloween Day, October 31, 1991, in the McKay Dee Hospital in Ogden Utah. I was born to my loving parents, Gary and Jennifer Brimhall Hadfield. They had just married ten months earlier when I was born. As young parents, Im sure they felt the nerves of having their first child at their young age. My father was 25 years old and my mother was only 21. I was followed by four more children; Melissa, Ryan, Tyler, and Abigail. Melissa and I are 14 months apart, and Ryan is three years younger than me. With all of us being so close in age, we became very close. There was never a dull moment in the home. Tyler was born when I was seven, and Abigail came six months after my tenth birthday. I lived in Ogden near my grandparents home until I was seven years old. I remember being able to establish a strong relationship with my grandparents. My mom would fall asleep during the day and I would sneak out of the house and walk to their home, where they would pamper me and help me learn and grow as a young boy. We moved to Layton when I was seven years old and I started attending public school in first grade at E.G. King Elementary. This was very influential in my life. At E.G. King, I created lifelong friendships, established a foundation for education in my life and met my wife, Tasha. I then attended Central Davis Junior High School and became involved in sports. I played basketball, golfed, wrestled and ran track. I developed a love for competition and for the games that I played. At the end of my seventh grade year, my class voted me as the 8th grade Vice President for the school. At the end of my eighth grade year, I was elected to be Student Body President.

I began attending Layton High School in 2007 where I chose to take my athletic experience to the next level. I was a three sport athlete. I played football, basketball and ran track. I continued my education taking college courses to help prepare me for my future. After analyzing my life, I have decided to write about three different times that have had the biggest impact on my life. The first started with the last three years of my Elementary experience, where I met my wife. Next was in my ninth grade year where I gained experience and decided who I wanted to be. Last, I will talk about serving my mission, and how my religious beliefs have shaped my life and principles. When I began fourth grade I was a troubled young boy, I had sneaked by the third grade and was well behind my other peers academically. I didnt have any friends and struggled to find where and who I fit in with. I dont know what caused me to fall in my academics , but I remember that I didnt have any interest or see importance in my grades. I was more concerned with other things. I was trying to identify myself with a group of my peers, fit in and develop skills that would help me do these things. Like we studied this semester, this age is a critical time for children to begin identifying themselves with peers as they are beginning the transition into adulthood. They need to relate to other kids that are going through the same things. (Berger p.305) As the book stated, because of my lack of friends, I began to push others away in a very aggressive-rejected behavior. Ive noticed now that other kids avoided me because of confrontational behavior. Although it started off difficult this year of my life, it ended up being very important. Half way through this year I had two neighbors my same age move in to the neighborhood. Matt Bell became my best friend. For the next few years, Matt and I did our homework

together. We told each other our deepest secrets and desires, spent the days fishing, playing football and basketball. Tasha, now my wife, moved in next door and we began to develop a close relationship. She quickly became someone I could rely on. I could always talk to her and relate to what was going on in her life. She had a huge impact on my life through the rest of elementary, junior high and high school. We spent our summers swimming and hiking, and sometime we would even spend the whole day together. Often times I wonder what changes would have occurred in my life, if I would have continued in this path of loneliness and self identification. These people helped me establish who I was, and who I wanted to be. I gained confidence to be able to share my feelings and opinions with others. Because of that, it gave me an opportunity to serve in leadership positions. The next couple of years were great, but also extremely crucial, as the next few years would become very difficult. My ninth grade year an announcement was made that they were to divide the school boundaries. This meant that many of my friends would be going to Northridge High School, and others, along with myself, would be going to Layton High School. Most of the kids I was affiliated with that were going to Layton were already becoming involved in serious things, such as alcohol and tobacco. My father had just been diagnosed with cancer and one of my best friends had just passed away from a heart defect. With all that was going on around me, it would be understandable for some to fall into bad habits. As this is a pivotal time in a young persons life, and with so many negative things surrounding me, I needed help. I needed to make decisions quickly. I made the decision to stay close to my family and to forget about most of my friends. I noticed that what my peers were doing would lead me down a slippery slope. This was a very mature and nontraditional way to react. Most adolescents

identify themselves with their peers and being antagonistic towards adults makes theme cool(Berger p.341). What happened to my friend and father was devastating, but it turned out that through these trials, I was able to give my life a little perspective. It made me realize that my family was the most important thing to me and it turned out this decision greatly impacted my life. We had always bickered and fought, both signs of a healthy relationship. We felt comfortable with eachother and that didnt seem to change much. There was just an unspoken respect for each other that was stronger than before(Berger p.361).My friends, at this point in their lives, have to face difficult consequences for the decisions they began to make when we were just in ninth grade. Divorce, drugs and jail all plague their lives. I can see that the decision to rid them of my live has had a huge positive impact on me. I learned that you truly do become the people you surround yourself with. After high school I chose to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Young men in this church, eighteen years and older, have the opportunity to do service in various parts of the world. The prime responsibility is to help others apply the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ to improve the quality of their life. They are also part of humanitarian projects throughout the world, and learn many leadership skills through training and helping other missionaries. I was called to serve my mission in the Monterrey Mexico East Mission. This experience has had the greatest impact on my life thus far. I learned a second language and the important skills of obedience, perseverance and hard work. (Berger p.450) The practical intelligence I learned through adapting to new people and an unknown world was priceless. Learning these principles has given my life direction and purpose. It has helped me to know

what is important to me, and my life will be better because of it. Many kids my age havent yet learned the importance of the decisions we make at this time in our lives. I have learned that they have a huge impact on who we will become and the successes we will have. The decisions that have helped shape my life, have been difficult decisions. When I made these decisions, I didnt realize the magnitude that they would have on the consequences of my life. The most important decision Ive made, was to marry my lifelong neighbor and best friend, Tasha. I have not yet been able to see the consequences of doing this because the time that has passed has been so short.

Bibliography Berger. Kathleen Stassen. Invitation to The Life Span. New York: 2010; Worth Publishers