Passions Become Professions by Braden

Passions Become Professions by Braden - July 2019 Scholarship Essay

When you ask a five-year old child what he wants to be when he grows up, you will get a multitude of answers from policeman to doctor to firefighter and everything else in between, and every child will change his mind at least a hundred times. I was the same when I was little, except I wanted to be an artist and a cowboy. In fact, I wanted to be one specific cowboy, Woody from Toy Story.

The key to nurturing a child's desire to become something he dreams about is a quality education. It is the foundation to one's success in life. From the moment, I nervously walked through the door of my first Preschool classroom and even until now as a high school Senior, I have been inspired to do whatever it takes to earn an education with the end goal of becoming a successful contributor to society. My parents, who have always had my best interests in mind, have pushed me to make good grades, and teachers have driven me to score well on standardized assessments, so that I would earn a ticket to a prestigious university.

I truly think that education is the key to success just like Nelson Mandela, who once said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." However, I passionately believe that we must find PURPOSE in our education. I once read a story in an article about an eight-year old boy from Taiwan, who was eager to learn and was even told by his teacher that he worked harder than anyone in his class. As just a young child, he was motivated by a desire to succeed. When a gentleman approached him and asked why he was working so hard, he flawlessly answered with confidence, "I have a duty to my family and country to do the best that I can." The love of learning and a sense of responsibility encompassed a positive attitude and a sense of curiosity in the young child. The more he learned, the more curious he became to learn more. After reading this story, the way that I thought about my education somewhat changed. I began to explore my real passion and moved my focus from just getting good grades and test scores to learning what excites me and how to use my creativity to express my ideas. Imagine what each individual child could accomplish and contribute to a class and the world if they were encouraged to express their intellectual curiosity by means of their individual way of learning. This would help them to build confidence in their own abilities and work, as well as in themselves. Children need to understand that they are special. In a classroom where students are given the opportunities to share their knowledge in solving problems, they develop a burning desire to explore and learn. Billionaire Naveen Jain says, "Teachers today cannot say, 'I can only take my students to the water, I cannot make them drink!' Teachers have to ask themselves, 'How can I make them thirsty?' And if the teacher succeeds in making the students thirsty, he or she doesn't have to worry about taking the students to the water and making them drink."

As a young child, I wanted to grow up to be an artist. I haven't lost that desire today. From the time I was big enough, barely out of diapers, to hold pencils and crayons in my hands, I have had that desire burning within me to express myself through art. It is a God-given talent within me, like lava inside a volcano, waiting to explode into beautiful and creative pieces for others to enjoy. So you see, my passion for education doesn't stop with just the core academic subjects, such as Reading and Math, but includes electives, such as The Arts. There are students, like myself, who have this creative talent, but often it goes unnoticed. As a matter of fact, each individual has some type of creativity within, waiting to be explored. Pablo Picasso thought so as well, "All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." I believe the problem isn't once he grows up, but as he is growing up. There is a strong connection between The Arts and other curriculum areas. It's just waiting to be discovered.

Education is a gift that is being given to me and how it will nourish me depends on the way I choose to employ it. Education is an imperative instrument for success and will help me meet goals to make it to college, a college, where I will study art and design, and where I plan to turn my "Passion into a Profession." Education is a companion that will escort me in the journey of life, when one day I'll look back and say as Jean Piaget once spoke, "The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge, but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men who are capable of doing new things."

There is a dreamer in all of us, and I plan to share my dream and the journey it takes me on with future generations to encourage them to use their education, along with creativity and curiosity, as a stepping stone to believing, "Nothing is IMPOSSIBLE!"