"My Role Model" by Abigail

"My Role Model" by Abigail - March 2021 Scholarship Essay

Every day, we come across amazing people. Some we meet for a moment, some longer, but amazing people do not just come and go like the wind. They do not come into your life, and then in instant vanish. No, amazing people tend to stay deep inside the hearts of those they meet. They are the motivators, the encouragers, the people that remind you that goals are attainable, and dreams are never impossible. After reading the essay prompt about "Who is your academic role model, and why?" I have no hesitation in saying that my older sister, Katelynn, is the biggest role model to me in my education and in life.
My sister, Katelynn, is one of the smartest and nicest people you will ever meet. I have never meet someone more determined, motivated, and hard-working in my life. She not only went to college early, but graduated with all A's and one B for her entire Associate's degree. I remember seeing her spending late nights studying physics, just to wake up and see her studying with the same book early the next morning. She spent more hours studying than she did sleeping, yet her grades and determination never wavered. She had a full schedule at college (7 classes) plus her high school, yet she succeeded. I remember her getting so stressed with her full workload that her hair started to thin from the stress, yet even then, she laughed about it. She always found a way to find the joy through the stress, and yet she succeeded and graduated with an Associates in Arts degree before she graduated high school.
I watched her write forty-nine page research papers for her Bachelors in Healthcare Management degree from Western Governor's University. I watched and coached her on how to stand in front of her webcam and face a big fear of hers, which was giving a final presentation speech. She constantly faced obstacles, yet she graced through them as if they were only a small bump in the road, whereas I would have crumbled under the stress. I watched her excitement as she put her Bachelors degree plaque right on the shelf, exactly where it belonged.
Then, her determination did not stop there. She saw the bar and scaled right over it. She went to WGU's Masters degree program and graduated with a Masters of Science in Leadership Management to fulfill her promise to our late Popaw Wayne, and has been the only one in my close family to ever do so. She received her Masters degree almost a month after he passed in October last year. She not only showed how to do it proficiently and quickly (she worked incredibly hard and received her degree in less than a year), but she showed how to handle difficulties and tragic hardships outside of education.
Although I could write a book about my sister,Katelynn, and all that she means to me, I could never fully tell you how much she has influenced me. From being my big sister, my motivator, my biggest supporter of my dreams, my role model, my "Einstein," my proof of what determination gets you, to my best friend, she is more than words could ever say. She has been, is, and will always be one of my biggest role models in my life.I hope that I succeed in being at least half as good as she is.