Sweet Valley High by Alyssa

Sweet Valley High by Alyssa - July 2023 Scholarship Essay

I was almost blind in the first grade. A piece of ceiling fell right into my eye, making me nearly blind. But I was a stubborn child and never had them take it out for about two weeks. As a result, I had a learning disability; for my early educational life, I couldn’t read, plus it didn’t help that I had terrible grades in most of my classes. To make matters worse, the school put me in the same reading class as my younger brother, who is in 2nd grade, and I’m in 4th grade! So yeah, I stopped caring about my education; nothing interested me. It wasn’t until I went to my 4th-grade reading class that I changed.
Our regular teacher wasn’t there that day, and we had a substitute. She told us to find a book to read and tell her about it; I sat there with my head down, knowing I would fail this class. However, something strange happened; she approached me and helped me find a book I could at least engage with. After 10 minutes, I found a series called Sweet Valley High. It’s a romance series about twin sisters’ experiences in high school. The concept was appealing, but the issue still stood that I couldn’t read. The substitute must have noticed that I needed help, and without me even asking, she helped me! I felt my passion for reading not only with the words on the pages but also the meaning. I slowly learned more about myself; I saw that I have a good memory that translated well with History and English classes. Suddenly, my grades started to get better, not as good as my siblings; I still got Cs and Ds, but it was better than before. To this day, I still have the Sweet Valley High series; I want to remind myself about what I could’ve become if it wasn’t for that series.
That is my mom’s first experience with failure. She made education her main priority to me with anything for my education; if there was an issue with my school, she was the first person to be there and advocate. Without those books, I wouldn’t care about school or going to university; I wouldn’t have found a passion that I want to do for my career. Once my mom and I find her Sweet Valley High series, we’ll read the book together.