The Hidden Gem by Alli

The Hidden Gem by Alli - November 2022 Scholarship Essay

I know I shouldn’t be overthinking but I wasn’t even sure if I was in the right mind when I signed up to take this class. Out of all the electives I could choose from, I thought that AP Computer Science was the one for me. I am not even interested in computers and the class didn’t have to start for me to start second-guessing my choice. My friend who took it last year told me it was easy but then again it was AP Computer Science A and she was smart. I don’t know why I didn't take that into consideration before checking the box for asynchronous computer science. Ahhhhhhh! I could just scream. I didn’t even have a teacher, just horrible lesson plans that made me doublethink life and gave me headaches and back pain.

After I told you how much I hate Computer Science, would you believe me if I told you that my computer science class was the source of my inspiration this year? I don’t even believe myself when I write these words. But my classmates, my teacher, and the memories I am making in that class right now inspire me to not stress about things that I can not change. Sometimes, you have to live in the present to enjoy the future.

In all honesty, if my counselors allowed me to switch out when I requested it, I would not be there. Nevertheless, I am glad they said no because even with all the struggle and nights of crying and headaches, it has inspired me to work harder and find the small good things in life.

The first day of school, it was a complete mess. We sat in the room with our teacher wondering what online platform to use and after a few days of complete boredom we turned our energy to a friendly but competitive game of Uno. They say senior year is supposed to be one of the easier years because you are almost “done”. However, stress was building in classes with unprecedented amounts of homework, and time seemed to speed by as deadlines for college and scholarship applications came and went. With this, uno became something that I looked forward to.

Friday was game day. Once we spent four whole days stressing, trying to get ahead of our computer science assignments and assessments, we could destress. We had tallies of our wins and it got very competitive. We bonded over the games and I am proud to say my classmates are my biggest inspiration. With only 5 people in my class including me, I found some new friends who could push me past my boundaries and inspire me to try harder. We would share artwork, our stories about books we wanted to write, do fortune telling with tarot cards, and encourage each other to keep going and to live in the moment. They inspired me to apply for scholarships. I could always show them my work, and get reliable feedback on how to improve it. With all our different personalities and interests, it was entertaining and relaxing. There was not a moment when I was not smiling or laughing. Even if we cried trying to figure out how to do “public static String,” we got through it somehow. We learned that hard work makes the time you get to rest more enjoyable and fun.

Just as important, is my teacher. Although she was just there to supervise us and even though I had her a few times as my economics and AP world teacher, I never really got to know her. However, with a class so small, she became our main source of advice. She had opinions and they were always the best. Those opinions got my classmates and me through some tough decisions such as what school to go to, what career options to explore, and just tips on living in the real world. We also got to hear fun stories and learn some real-life lessons. I will say, this is what made my class Computer Science. It was not the awful, brain-numbing coding, it was the people in it. Their competitiveness and energy pushed me to study harder, and work harder but also inspired me to take up art once again and make sure that I make time for myself.