Differences in Passion Allow the World to Run by Alexandra

Differences in Passion Allow the World to Run by Alexandra - July 2021 Scholarship Essay

I would have never guessed that those same four walls would have taught me the most valuable lesson yet. I was sitting in my bedroom, literally on my bed as I watched presentations in my Gifted Seminar class. These presentations were the ones that we had been working on all year just for this moment. Though I was just in my room, through the computer I was connected to the classroom. I watched through the Google Meet as one by one my classmates took their turn to present. First there were hurricanes, then fast fashion, then "white saviorism" and more. Each was presented from a student’s perspective, but these were real issues in our world.
When it was my turn, I projected my 50-slide presentation on women’s discrimination in sports. It was soon over and I could feel the stress of the class fade away. Yet there was something else too. My passion for my project had shown through my presentation, and as I watched the remaining few, I had an important realization that my passion was matched by everyone else.
This revelation was not a new concept. In fact, it should have been realized from the start. In the beginning of the class we all were asked to choose a topic that we would write a semester long research paper on. When I chose women’s discrimination in sports, I thought I was special. I simply believed that everyone else just chose a topic that they liked, rather than they were passionate about. On the contrary, everyone was just like me. They had chosen a topic that they were so intrigued about that they could not stop thinking about it.
I’m not saying that the girl who presented about hurricanes would one day hope to become a meteorologist just like I presented on sports because one day I hope to be a sports broadcaster. However, she may want to study science in college. But even if I am wrong, science and weather is still a topic that she finds very important in her life.
I realized through watching each presentation that these interests are what makes up humanity. The passion in each individual is reciprocated in their appropriate industry or hobby. As I aspire to become a sports broadcaster I will likely begin to be surrounded by others who share my same love for sports. Likewise they’ll be people in all sorts of industries that will find the people that they are meant to be with.
Though this ongoing division may be there, it does not completely separate us. Friends and family members could all have different passions. In fact, these differences allow for the world to keep progressing.
It may have taken me all 90 days of the semester to get out of my own head and see what was really going on, but I finally saw the equality in passion and the necessity of those passions in our world.