I tend to embarrass myself quite frequently. I know, what a tragedy. Anyways, I am convinced my 8th-grade science teacher still tells the most embarrassing story to calm students down before a presentation. You see when I did my science fair presentation I was a loaded ball of nerves. It was terrible. I wanted to throw-up.

Let me cut to the chase. All I remember from my presentation was feeling like I was going to pee my pants while simultaneously throwing up and saying the word orgasm instead of organism. Truly the most horrifying experience of my whole life. I can still remember my body freezing, but my mouth kept moving. I was stumbling over my words, and my heart was pounding heavily. Of course, the punk kids in my class were giggling. I hate myself, I thought.

Hold on, though; the best part is not here yet! My teacher stopped my presentation and said: "Ok, guys, let's be mature." Thank you for that! You have made it ten times worse now. I quickly finished my presentation and sat down. The kid behind me responded to my presentation by saying with a giggle in his voice "Nice job, Emily... It's okay we'll forget about it at one point." Of course, my inner thought was- they are never going to forget about this.

My teacher decided to tell the next class about my horrifying incident. He never said my name, but it's the fact that more people know about it. Depending on who asked me if I knew who it was, I would either tell them it was me or I would play it off like I didn't know. There's still more to this adventure of making me never want to talk in that class again. For about a week, every time I started to talk my teacher would say something along the lines of "Choose your words carefully." I hate everything. I truly want to leave this school right now. I'm so done.

Despite how embarrassing it was, I have learned to laugh about it now! I love telling the story. It shows how we all make mistakes. I have become comfortable with how terrible that presentation was. Sure, my classmates giggled at me, but it was funny.

In no way are humans perfect. We all mess up. Sometimes we mess up in front of one person other times we mess up in front of 25+ people. This situation has taught me a lot. It has taught me I can't take anything too seriously. It has given me fears of presenting to a class, but I know it can make it comfortable. People will find humor in it.

My mistake may still be talked about. That is okay. I'm glad I can make scared 8th graders feel better about their presentations! It is a story I will share with people who are afraid to present in front of their class because it is scary, but I know we can do it!

This one's for you, Mr. Carpenter! If you do share my mistake with your students, I hope it helps them. I hope it makes them feel better before they get up to the front of the class! Let your students know it is okay if they mess up. Even though I don't remember the grade I received, I'm sure you didn't dock me because I messed up the word organism.