Most thankful for my teachers by Alexia

Most thankful for my teachers by Alexia - November 2020 Scholarship Essay

Throughout my entire life, I have always enjoyed waking up to go to school and have been extremely thankful for my education experiences. In my opinion, there are so many aspects of education to be thankful for, from the skills I have learned in school to the overall learning environment with students, faculty and staff. If I had to choose the aspect of education I am most grateful for, I would definitely choose my teachers because of their support through my academic and personal struggles.
It was the end of my second grade when my grades suddenly dropped in school. Initially, I woke up one day with the inability to focus but didn’t think anything of it. Listening to others and processing information abruptly became so difficult. At this time, parent teacher conferences were approaching. That evening, my teachers expressed their concern for me, explaining to my parents that my reading level went down, along with my grades in math, science, and social studies. Additionally, they told my parents that I had seemed to be absent minded in the class, had trouble remembering one sentence after listening to my teachers or reading a book, and issues spacing out. From that day came malignant headaches, loss of vision, balance, and coordination in addition to emotional issues.
Thankfully, my teachers worked together with my parents to get me to NYU, where I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and hydrocephalus flowing through my brain, causing all of the dangerous symptoms. I stayed in the hospital for a little over a week and remained on medical leave for the rest of the school year. I was very surprised to see my teachers come visit me, delivering a fruit basket, a basket full of snacks, a bunch of cards from all of the students in my grade and all of the teachers in the school. After handing me these items, they each hugged me and started to cry. From that day until the last day of my medical leave, they called me every single day just to see how I was doing and some even made it to my house to visit several times. I made it back to school on the last day, all of the students and staff celebrating my return. I felt so thankful to be part of this school, with staff who treated me as their own daughter and for the years remaining at PS41, they have been so supportive. Today, I still keep in touch with most of them.
My teachers were just as supportive in IS2 and New Dorp. They always knew when something was wrong and so they noticed when I started to struggle with anxiety and depression, worked with me to get help, and made free time to speak with me everyday. It was really sweet of them not to lower my grades and to just help me through my courses that I was struggling with because of my personal issues.
I felt much obliged to be offered AP courses and college extension courses to challenge myself before getting to college. The first AP course I attempted was AP computer science and since then, I have been determined to become a computer scientist. In fact, I spoke with my computer science teacher and her boss to offer more computer science courses, and so they did. They were so happy to hear how eager I was to learn and pursue this career. Furthermore, they gave me the opportunity to help them teach the courses and run a java programming club, in which I tutored other students and so I was able to learn a lot. As I approached the college application process, they spoke to me about their recommendations for colleges that would best fit me, and here I am attending Rutgers University, that I love so much and have recommended to friends younger than me who also love it so much, which makes me so happy.
I remember having a really difficult time adjusting to college my first semester but I have had so many staff members supporting me from the beginning, along the way and even now as I am home during the pandemic. I have had the deans, student support staff and counseling staff check up on me for weekly discussions about how I am doing. Moreover, I have developed professional relationships with almost all of my professors who guide me personally, academically and professionally. Not only have they helped me during my courses, but they have helped me outside of the classroom with personal issues, in addition to internship and career opportunities. In fact, throughout my time at Rutgers, I have received two internship opportunities, one at Sterling Medical Devices and another at International Ivy, in which I taught an english and a computer science course.
Every morning and every night, I think about how fortunate I am to have so many staff members caring about me, especially the ones at Rutgers that I currently consider my second home. Because of how much I loved all of my teachers and courses throughout the years and because I enjoy school so much, I hope to become a computer science teacher one day, specifically in a college. I think teachers are extremely important and can totally make a difference in their students' lives.