One Step at a Time by Anna

One Step at a Time by Anna - July 2024 Scholarship Essay

I never thought of myself as an impatient person. I didn’t get overly angry at waiting in line or getting my food, but little did I know patience is more than how long you can wait for something.

I recently just finished my freshman year of college and am currently interning with a local newspaper.

Looking back on my first two semesters of college feels surreal, I couldn’t believe how slow everything felt, yet how fast it went by. I learned a lot about the importance of being compassionate towards myself, of understanding what I wanted, and taking on more responsibility. It pushed me to look at my beliefs and who I actually was. It was uncomfortable, but it has helped me to be more resilient. Even though I had learned a lot of valuable lessons, I felt like something was missing from my perspective.

Presently, working with the newspaper has put me in a lot of situations where I have to step outside of my comfort zone. This can be taking pictures of a serious car accident or interviewing everyday people. In the process I have gotten to learn a lot about my community, and just how much goes into maintaining a small town. Being with the newspaper I got the chance to report on issues related to my local and state gov’ts. I talked with people who understood the systems and others that were frustrated with the systems slowness. It made me realize that change happens slowly, most of the time. I was frustrated at first, but seeing the people in my community believe in continuing to advocate for themselves on issues that were important to them, helped me to understand that I should be patient.

I’m not going to have an aha moment about what to do with my life or my education. Even so, I understand that I can control what I do, and create change for myself one small step at a time.