Learning to Learn by Adelyne

Learning to Learn by Adelyne - September 2024 Scholarship Essay

After frantically searching for where room 221 was in the engineering building, I finally found it as I turned a corner. As I walked in, to my shock, there were no less than 200 people in this massive room. I found an open seat, and the professor gave us a curt greeting before diving into the 75 minutes of non-stop biology material he had prepared to cover. During this class, I peered around and saw my classmates either dozing off, doing crosswords on their computers, or staring mindlessly into the void. This was my first experience with a lecture-style college course, and it was a culture shock. Taking college courses as a high school student gives you whiplash as you go from engaging activities with high school teachers to college lectures that make watching paint dry seem interesting. But these large lecture halls are the traditional learning methods for many college courses.
These experiences with traditional learning have made me value unconventional learning styles much more than I previously had. The most impactful class I’ve ever taken was U.S. History, in my sophomore year of high school. My history teacher expertly incorporated unorthodox learning styles into this class. Whether he made us write and perform a song about the Civil Rights Movement, create our own political cartoons like the propaganda made for World War II, or make a radio broadcast detailing how life was in the Roaring ‘20s, my teacher always made class interesting. The incorporation of the arts into our learning helped more than any traditional method ever would have. Our class's history state test scores were some of the best in the state, and I even got a perfect score on this test. I believe that this was all because of my teacher’s dedication to finding a learning method that kept us engaged. This class showed me that the marriage of creativity and knowledge is my favorite non-traditional learning method.
I have also embraced this learning method outside of school by trying to pack as many creative opportunities as I can into my schedule. The main creative skill I am learning outside of school is linoleum block printing. Essentially, I take a block of linoleum, carve a design into it, and then use it as a giant stamp. With this stamp, I can print my unique designs on paper or fabric. This medium of art came with a big learning curve, but within the couple of months since I began this craft, I have gotten better with each stamp. I even got the opportunity to design, carve, and print t-shirts for my church’s youth group. This was a massive undertaking because I went from making 1 or 2 shirts every once in a while, to printing 50 shirts within a week. This was quite overwhelming and at the beginning, I made several mistakes; I splattered ink all over my table, dropped my ink-covered stamp face down on my floor, and almost printed the design on the back of the shirt several times. Eventually, I found a rhythm to my process and managed to complete all 50 shirts. My plentiful mistakes and eventual success taught me to keep trying even when things get hard. I’ve taken this message of perseverance from one of my hobbies and applied it to my life. It is my hope that I can continue to keep learning no matter how I arrive at the lesson.