A Widening Mind Thank You by Aria

A Widening Mind Thank You by Aria - October 2019 Scholarship Essay

Dear Audrey,

During this past week that I got to spend with you I learned so much about, not just Monte Cristi, but life from a service-learning perspective. On this ten day trip with a mission of helping those in ways that they, from their own knowing perspective, understood and asked for. Teaching their future generation English was what they wanted, teaching English I could do. However, how could I convey something so large that it would change their minds, change their worlds when I did not even feel comfortable with myself in the situation I was in. How does one change the world without understanding the world they are changing? You, nevertheless, helped me feel comfortable in a country thousands of miles away from my home, away from my basis of knowledge.
All the authentic aspects of Monte Cristi that I got to see while I was there and all the information I got to obtain was because you wanted to show it. You wanted us to see the best and worst parts and it helped me fall in love with the little town. In America I hear things like one day you will change the world or one little thing you do can change the world and I could never get my head around how that was possible. However, in one of our talks you explained to me how you looked at it. You told me that on Earth there are over 7 billion different people, 7 billion different minds, 7 billion different perspectives, which means that there are 7 billion different versions of the world. One world per person. That gave me hope and it helped me grasp that maybe I could do something to change the world for others, because the potential to understand each child individually is something more attainable, with a little bit of empathy, than a whole country itself. Your outlook on this helped me feel more free to be me and to be able to focus on each child individually. Thank you so much for giving me a path I had the ability to take.

Sincerely,

Aria Mascall