The pandemic disrupted all our lives and put a lot of things on hold. One of them was our Failure Competition. For several years, we asked students to talk about one of their biggest failures, how they overcame it and what other students could learn from their experience. The pandemic forced us to focus on survival and talking about past failures seemed trivial by comparison. With things returning to “normal” and a few years of post-pandemic experience under our belts, it’s time to bring the competition back. Today, starts our 15th edition.
The competition is designed to destigmatize failure. Everyone fails. It is part of life. Rather than pretend it won’t happen, you should count on it and know what you will do to recover from it. Getting comfortable with failure is a key step in becoming a better risk-taker and successful leader. That is why we celebrate failure and persistence in the college. Entering our competition is simple:
- Write an account of a career-related failure you have experienced in the past. Your failure story has to focus on a time you stepped out of your comfort zone to experience something new: the farther you stepped out of your zone, the better. Tell us why this was such a stretch for you, the failure that resulted and what you learned from the experience that would be of interest to others. It needs to be genuine; people can spot a fish story a mile way.
- While the Failure Competition began with students in our Capstone class, it is now open to any UCF student on campus: undergraduate, graduate or EMBA, business, education, engineering or whatever. The only requirement is that you currently be enrolled at UCF.
- Need inspiration or guidance to tell your story? Search my blog. We have posted many stories about failure over the years.
Here are the ground rules, complete with important deadlines:
To enter, you must post your essay in response to this blog. If you are a Capstone student this semester, include your section number and name of your instructor. If you are not in this class, tell me your class standing (e.g., freshman, senior, graduate student) and your field of study. You must complete this exercise by 5 p.m., on Monday, Oct. 30. Don’t worry if you don’t see your submission posted right away, I have to accept it first.
A panel of college staff will choose no more than three finalists for me to consider. I will select three finalists by Monday, Nov. 5 at 5 p.m.
The finalists will be asked to submit short videos based on their essays. Those videos must be sent to me by 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 20.
I will feature one video each day on my blog, starting Nov. 27. Readers will get a chance to vote for their favorite story and determine the winner Friday, Dec. 1.
The winner will get a letter of recommendation from me along with a $500 prize. Second place will get $300, third place $200. These monies are awarded through our financial aid office.
Good Luck!
Paul Jarley, Dean 