“Hard work beats talent  when talent doesn’t work hard” is not  just a quote for former TALK English Schools student, Sara Varela. It is an approach to life which she lives by  and which has informed her success, as she explains here: 

From ESL Student to English Newspaper Journalist – Sara Varela is a TALK Success Story!

I think I should start by introducing myself and giving you an idea of who I am. My name is Sara and I come from a beautiful country called Venezuela. I came to the United States in January 2012 to study English before starting my major back in my country.  However,  I then decided to stay and pursue my degree here. For those of you who do not know this, Venezuela has witnessed major socio-economic problems recently and many of us have left the country of our birth to search for opportunities elsewhere.

For me, it wasn’t any different. I came here and realized that here I would able to achieve all my goals if I worked hard for them. After studying English for about a year at TALK English Schools, I was finally ready to move on to college to get my degree.  I’m studying Digital Media/Multimedia Technology at Broward College. After I had attended BC for 2 years, I began to explore work experience opportunities that were available to college students.

The Rewards of Hard Work

One of those opportunities was working for The Observer, the college newspaper. They were looking for writers, photographers, designers and editors. I sent in my résumé and couldn’t believe when they called. Since I would like to become a photographer I was beyond happy to work doing what I love. However, they wanted me to write too. Since I have been taking English classes for what seems like forever (almost all international students feel the same way), and I have been told by my professors that I’m good at the language, I decided to give it a try. It turns out that I enjoy every single aspect of it! For the first issue after I started working for The Observer, I pitched in three ideas that I would like to write about. They had enough faith in me to let me write them. And, they liked the articles. All three were published.

I had never imagined, not even in my wildest dreams that I would be writing for a newspaper – even in my own language, let alone in English. But one thing I have come to understand is that nothing in this life is impossible. Opportunities come and go and you have the capacity to take them all. It depends on you to work hard and focus on getting the work done.

I have felt at moments that I want to give up and try  pursuing something else that I may be better at.  However, although it’s true that talent helps, even if you have that talent , you will never get anywhere is you don’t work hard.  So now that’s why I believe that you can achieve everything and anything you want –  if you put your energy into it. Don’t give up on yourself. Believe you can do it. The mind is a very powerful thing.

“Success is no accident.
It is hard work, perseverance,
learning, studying, sacrifice,
and most of all, love of what you are doing”