17. Seventeen

Sometimes it feels like I am seventeen and a half and have nothing to show for it.  These people had done amazing things at seventeen:

Howard Carter

At seventeen, Howard Carter had begun his career in Egypt as an archaeologist.  His job was copying wall scenes and inscriptions inside tombs.  Seven years later, Carter became Inspector-General of Monuments in Upper Egypt.  He found King Tutankhamen tomb, the greatest Ancient Egyptian discovery.

King Tutankhamen also made his start at a young age.  He became Pharaoh at nine, but he died at eighteen.  I'm not in favor of dying next summer...

Robert Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr. had lived by the time he was seventeen.  His father was an actor, writer, producer, cinematographer, and director of underground films, and his mother was an actress. Downey had his stage acting debut at age five and his second at age seven.  At ten, he was living in England and studied classical ballet.

At seventeen, Downey dropped out of school and moved to New York to pursue a successful acting career.

George Washington

 George Washington's mother wanted him to join the Navy.  He was then fifteen.  Mrs. Washington soon found out the hardships on board Navy ships and dropped the idea. Lawrence, Washington's brother helped him find a job as a surveyor for Culpeper County through connections with the affluent Fairfax family. It was a well paying job that allowed Washington to know the country. With only an elementary level schooling, he became the first President of the USA.

Julie Andrews

Julie Andrews started her fabulous career very young.  The child of musicians, she began to sing with them at the age of ten.  At twelve, she had her professional solo debut.  A year later, she became the youngest solo performer ever to be seen in a Royal Command Variety Performance, at the London Palladium.  At seventeen, she was considerably famous for two years worth of work on BBC radio comedy show Educating Archie.  She then led an exceptional career on Broadway and in Hollywood.

Natalie Portman

Natalie Hershlag (stage name Natalie Portman) is the perfect example of someone who pursued her dreams while also pursuing education.  Her first major movie roll came at seventeen; she played Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.  She skipped the premier of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace to study for her high school final exams.  The same year, she co-authored two scientific papers that were published in scientific journals.  At eighteen, Portman turned down all new acting offers to go to Harvard University to pursue her bachelor's degree in psychology. 

"I don't care if [college] ruins my career," Portman has said. "I'd rather be smart than a movie star."  Turns out, she is both.

HRM Queen Victoria

 Queen Victoria was still Princess Victoria at seventeen, but just barely.  Her uncle, King George III was ailing.  Victoria was his heir, and he promised to live until her eighteenth birthday to avoid a regency.  He kept his promise.  Victoria was Queen.  At twenty, she proposed to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.  Her reign, 63 and a half years, was the longest of any British Monarch and the longest of any female monarch in history.  The time of her reign is known as the "Victorian Era".

Susan Rice

Susan Rice. What am I?  At seventeen, I am a student.  a basketball player.  a sister.  a daughter.  nothing spectacular. I have dreams for the future, but they seem impossibly far away.