Educational Experiences by Anaya

Educational Experiences by Anaya - December 2014 Scholarship Essay

While growing up there were many experiences that molded me into the being I am today; both morally grounded and ambitious, but also naive and presumptuous. Throughout my 17 years of life I have made many mistakes and have tried to learn from each one. I cherish every lesson that I have learned; whether it be from an elder, another child my age, advice that I’ve taken, or learned the hard way. While growing up I would sometimes take the positive things for granted and dwell on the negative. This would cause me to fall into a dark shell blocking everyone out. However, the valuable lessons I have learned help to release me from despair, making me stronger in mind, body, and soul. These character building experiences allowed me to blossom into my own unique happiness.

Noticing the flaws in something that you do can be helpful to reveal your true talents. When in elementary school, I made a decision to play the flute. When I told my parents that I wanted to learn music, they were thrilled and could not wait for me to start. In duration of taking the classes at my school, somehow I lost the motivation to continue. Playing the flute was peaceful but it caused me to become reclusive. During a home practice session, I decided to put down the flute and go play outside. With doing so, I realized that it was not playing an instrument, but singing, dancing, and entertaining that truly made me happy. Instead of joining the school band, I applied to audition for the choir. Being that I already knew how to sight-read, singing was very elementary for me. Sometimes in life the wind from a closing door opens another.

Some life lessons are built to cause you to fail, allowing you to restart and attack things with a different or better mentality. For example, though I learned dance and loved performing it, my natural ability caused me to become arrogant. Afro-One is my dance studio and some months ago we were prepping for an exclusive performance at a charity event. One of the dances that we had to perform was a piece performed in our previous recital. Me being a wiseacre, I thought that I had mastered all the routines and therefore, I missed some practices. When the show date arrived, my performance was subpar and my dance instructor noticed. This experience was a very harsh and embarrassing lesson for me to learn, but it formed me into a better student. Eventually I became more humbled and consistently attended practices.

Over time I have experienced many elements of life and I understand that there is a plethora of trials and tribulations I still have to encounter. Throughout my childhood I have been reclusive only to develop into being social. I have retained arrogance only to be lashed into humbleness. Today I am stronger, and with this strength I will continue to progress into a person that everyone that supports me can be proud of. In conclusion, the most important lesson that I have learned is that failure and dissatisfactions are just like concrete blocks on a sidewalk just waiting to be cracked, and within that crack sprouts a rose ready to take on the world.