From Misstep to Mastery by Adrian

From Misstep to Mastery by Adrian - July 2024 Scholarship Essay

The most important lesson I learned this year was making and accepting mistakes, learning from them, and keeping myself resilient and focused on my path. I learned this from a series of personal and professional events. Every mistake I experienced, whether in my relationships with friends and family, keeping a good academic record, or more professional careers, helped me better reinforce important lessons, perseverance, and self-improvement. Over the next sections of this essay, I will share some personal and professional experiences that have shaped and reinforced this essential life lesson.
To begin, in my senior year of high school, I took a class called “MakerStudio”. The main takeaways that I learned from the class were how to use the Autodesk software, and designing objects. I had an assignment where I had to sketch a physical object using Autodesk. I designed my blueprint wrong and I didn’t respect the professor’s instructions which resulted in the system malfunctioning. In the end, the professor gave me a second chance. I had to remake the project and I aced his class after I learned from mistakes. My main takeaway from this event was I had to listen to my professor and follow the instructions.
Another experience that got stuck to me and I still remember vividly to this day about learning from my mistakes happened in my junior year of high school when I was a Muay Thai fighter. I was selected for a major sparring match against someone who was very talented and with much more experience than me at Muay Thai. Two nights before the match, my Muay Thai coach advised me to keep my hands up, but due to overconfidence I did not listen to him. Then unfortunately, my coach’s warning became a cruel reality during the first round of the match when I got hit with a right hook to the neck which resulted in me falling to the ground and getting knocked out. The referee and my coach picked me up and made sure I was okay but at the same time, they also ended the match. Then after a fortunate turn of events, I found out that there was going to be a rematch. One week later, after some intensive physical training, I realized that was not enough and I should focus on the mental training as well, so I reflected on the past events and asked my coach for guidance. In the end, I listened to my coach’s advice about keeping my hands up. In the upcoming week when the fight was due, I stepped in the ring and thought about all the tools and wisdom that I had gathered. The judges announced that the fight was about to begin and so the referee told us to touch gloves. In the first round, I hit my opponent with a jab cross to the ribs. In the second round, I managed to hit him with a jab to his back. Lastly, in the final round, I hit the opponent with an uppercut to the chin which resulted in him falling instantly to the ground. The referee came running to the center of the ring, grabbed my hand, and announced the winner. He put my hand up and the whole crowd started to clap for me. After the match was over my coach was happy because I finally listened to him. What I learned from this event was to listen to other people’s advice, especially if they have more experience than I do.
To conclude, all the experiences I went through during this year I was able to accept and learn from my mistakes and maintain resilience and focus on my path. Whether it was the missteps in my MakerStudio class or the overconfidence in my Muay Thai match due to making mistakes now I learned to understand the values of perseverance, humility, and growth. These lessons have not only shaped my personal and professional development but also prepared me to face future challenges with confidence and determination.