My Favorite Aspect of School by Andrea

My Favorite Aspect of School by Andrea - November 2015 Scholarship Essay

Throughout my four years of high school I had never had the chance to truly practice and participate in a class that I enjoy. Recently, however, due to certain events, I have had the opportunity to join a class that I am both grateful for joining and constantly in awe on the classes’ current teachings. This class not only shows me how to continue on in a career that I enjoy but also teaches me both independence and logical thinking for both real world and virtual issues.
Game design, it doesn’t seem like much of a class, considering that it is merely an elective, taken as an extra class; this class has taught me many skills that has further prepared me for the future more than any of my previous schools. For example, currently in the class of game design we are typing a personal statement essay, where the professor has taught the class how he personally writes essays. Beforehand, in the same class, students were required to create a personalized game using the scratch coding, in order to program, then present the newly created game. This class has not only taught me leadership skills by encouraging me to lead in a variety of situations, but also taught me the importance of paying attention to detail and handling criticism. For example, during the process of my games creation, I was required to take hours to read through scripting in order to find a solution to any possible bugs and correct any mistakes made. Afterward, once all the noticeable bugs were fixed, I had a neighbor, peer, or family member play the game and attempt to find any hidden bugs that I had yet to discover; I’d then return to the scripts of the game to fix any more notable bugs. Finally, during my presentation, the class was allowed to play my game and critic it based on factors such as character, background, and plot coinciding with one another. The other students would also write comments on any discovered bugs or changes that the player would make to the game. Finally, peers would rate how fun the game was to play and tell whether or not they would play the game again.
This class, supposedly based on the designing of videogames, has not only taught me the importance to details and the logical thinking behind any type of both real world and virtual situation, but also has taught me skills in leadership, independence, and handling criticism. To this day I am grateful for taking that class and being given the opportunity to attend both the school and classes for they have taught me more of the necessities for life decisions and goals than any other school has taught me in my high school career.