Underlying Lesson by Augustine

Underlying Lesson by Augustine - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

Lessons can be taught in many ways. Some are through simple visual and audio relays to one from another. Others are through experience and words of wisdom. A few rarely seen however, are a simple guided realization. These realizations aren’t found by simple questions, failures, or even tutorials. These realizations are found through subtle hints and small beneficial actions. My lesson was one of these rarer realizations, and it was reached through simple praise and support by teachers throughout the years.

The beginnings of this lesson started in seventh grade. This was a time where I was excited about writing and would carry around notebooks with me everywhere. I loved to go to English class, to share my new ideas with my teacher, and to find new ways to improve my own writing. There were test days every few weeks. Some of my classmates did not approve of them due to their formatted and popular thinking. On the other hand, I liked these tests. I could write about the given topic in any way I wished, so it allowed my creative mind to be set free. It also seemed like a test, a challenge to see if I could use a single sheet of paper to create a full story or snippet that reflected the topic given. I started with simple things first, like writing about the topic of change from a squirrel’s point of view. My ideas turned more complex and poetic as the year went on, one of my writings later in the year becoming an idea for a standalone story. The change was so dramatic and improved that my teacher had wrote an extra comment in my report card saying how she loved to read my writings and how she’d never seen such writing from a seventh grader.

As I moved from seventh grade to eighth, I found out the same teacher was going to be my English teacher again. It was great to have the same teacher again, for multiple reasons. One, she knew how we learned, treated each other, and all of our names. Two, she could see us improve further and mentor our writing and language skills. This was especially dandy for me however. After the previous year of being praised for my creative writing style and impressing her, I knew I had to step up my game for this next year. This was when I became experimental and studious in my writing topics. Each one had to reflect or be connected with the last, or even referred to a separate writing piece I was doing in my own time. Eventually I left eighth grade and headed off to high school, taking with me the determination and writing skills of a teacher who truly appreciated my style of composition.

Here was when I grew out of writing as a main focus of my personal life. My composition had turned towards my other passion in my pastime, video games, and I began to have ideas on how to turn my already written stories into games to share with everyone. One idea stuck around for the longest time, and thus I decided to focus on expanding and nurturing this idea of mine. Later in my 11th and 12th grade years, I found a way to express my game mental object in the form of an interactive character creator. Sharing this with various teachers during that year and asking for advice, they came to the same conclusion; They loved my idea, became excited with what I could create, and gave me words of support to inspire the continuation of spewing out ideas.

I am now enrolled in a college in a large city, rated on a list of top fifty schools for Interactive Arts & Media, and pursuing my goal of Game Design and Development. I wish to bring the game I have thought of and tweaked over the last few years to the spotlight, even if that spotlight is a minuscule gleam in a single set of eyes. This wouldn’t have been possible without the realization that was unlocked through perseverance, support of my creativity, and simple praising comments from multiple teachers throughout my school years. This simple, but important realization has been the object of my inspiration.

No matter what others are thinking, doing, advertising, or conforming to, you should hold your head high and listen to your gut. No idea is too obscure. No idea is too stupid or simple. Ideas are what define a person, what leads them down the next steps along their life. You don’t have to think like everyone around you in order to make a difference. You don’t have to like the same things or wear the same things as they do. Just be yourself, no matter what. Difference and ideas make the world go ‘round. This simple but highly important lesson in life was learned through realization, after being triggered by simple words of praise from a single teacher.