The image is taken from this article . I'm a millennial, but an older one. I was born in 1984 which I believe is the beginning point of the millennial generation. I want to talk about a specific aspect of growing up millennial: participation trophies. These were somewhat regular in my childhood. Although they were not always guaranteed, they were around enough to matter in critical times during my development. I had some participation trophies, while I also had some other earned trophies. However, those participation trophies had an impact on the "earned" trophies. For me getting participation trophies taught me to devalue all trophies. When I was a junior or senior in high school, my mom found several awards I'd won shoved in a drawer in my bedroom. One such trophy was a writing award, another was my "Rookie of the Year" plaque I'd earned for diving into the Youth & Government program gung-ho even though it was my first year. I'd just jo