Lost and Found by Avery

Lost and Found by Avery - February 2024 Scholarship Essay

As a senior entering the next stage of my life, I have had to make an abundance of decisions that will affect my life for years to come. I had to decide the university I want to attend and the major I want to explore. I committed to Shippensburg University to study education. My journey towards this decision was nothing less than...interesting.

Sitting in the back seat of a police car, I thought about how I got stuck in this situation. My parents brought me and my siblings to Rutgers Day along with a couple of our family friends. The sun gave us a warm hug as a slight breeze passed through our hair: The Perfect Day.

My sister and I were only four years old, wearing our matching tie-dye shirts with our coordinated colors: her in purple and me in green. We looked like a proper pair of twins. We begged our father to take us around to see all the activities that were being offered. My dad grabbed our hands to keep us with him in a giant crowd of people. However, in an attempt to be independent, I shook off my father's hand and continued forward.

We decided on going to look at the ponies that were trotting around, or so I thought. My dad and sister made their way toward the bouncy house, and I ended up following a man with the same ratty gray shirt and black hair my dad had. I only noticed it wasn’t him when he turned around and had a very different face than I was expecting. I walked back in the direction I came from until I came across a police golf cart with an officer leaning against the hood. With tears forming in the corners of my eyes, I told him I was lost.

My parents immediately noticed I was missing and began to search everywhere they could think of. My dad grabbed the attention of another officer and told him the issue. He held up my sister as a perfect description of what I look like. I was sitting on the burning leather of the seat of the golf cart for almost an hour. The sun was bright in my eyes, and I had a headache from crying so much.

Finally, I saw my dad running up the street toward the police golf cart with the rest of my family in tow. After thanking the officers profusely, we left the event and went back home. In hindsight, if I had accepted help from my dad when he had originally offered me his hand, this whole situation would have been avoided.

Accepting help from others has always been something I have had a hard time doing. I felt it made me look weak when I was not capable of doing something on my own. As I grew through elementary and middle school, I became more comfortable in asking my teachers and family for help, advice, and assistance when I found myself struggling. A specific time I found myself asking for help was during field hockey season. I struggled with a certain hit, a drive, and I asked my coach for help. Since that practice, I have scored multiple goals during games using that shot. Academically, with the help of my teachers, I have been on the Honor Roll for each semester of my high school career.

As someone looking to go into a career in education, I am going to make it my goal to help others learn to accept help and be sure my students understand that needing guidance every once in a while is not something to be ashamed of.