Education's Call by Brian

Education's Call by Brian - June 2017 Scholarship Essay

When I was six years old, I had no clear idea what I wanted to be. I probably wanted to be either a paleontologist or an astronaut due to my interests in dinosaurs, science, and space. But as time went on and my brain continue to matured, I was constantly exposed to other dreams and career interests. As I finished elementary school, I wanted to become a zoologist due to my interest in animals. In middle school, I abandoned my dream to become a zoologist because I lost interest in my study of animals. I didn't have any real career aspirations while in middle school, due to video games and my infatuation with one girl who had no feelings for me, let alone a desire for friendship. But once I started my freshman year, I began to dream again. I began develop a passion for reading, science fiction in particular. I thought I wanted to be a science fiction writer. But I learned that most writers only do the job as a pastime, and only dozens out of thousands ever become successful, let alone famous, such as Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, or Isaac Asimov. During my freshmen year I also became interested in astronomy.
During my sophomore year, I thought I wanted to be an astronomer. I saw it so clearly, I wanted to explore the galaxy, science fiction was no longer enough for me, I wanted to explore the physical universe. However, I had no love nor aptitude for mathematics nor physics, which I took a course in during my junior year. Then, fall 2010 came along, the beginning of my senior year. I had to pick a senior project. I was stumped when it came to ideas. I also felt pressure from my classes, it was my last year of mandatory school. I wanted to do well, but I had summer vacation and graduation at the end of the school year to look forward to. At the time, I was getting more into scripture and theology because I was a Christian and I wanted to have a better understanding of my beliefs. In order to satisfy my new found hunger for the Bible and work on a senior project, I decided to make a project an in depth research of the origins of various Bible editions, as well as their strengths and weaknesses. While doing the project, I wanted to become a minister. But that did not turn out, because I didn't have enough money to afford college, nor was I successful in finding a full time job straight out of high school. Fortunately, I was able to get a part time job. The job, however, didn't give me enough money to attend the school I wanted to go to in California. A year passed, and no progress was made towards my dream of becoming a minister. So I decided to go to a community college well over a year after my graduation from high school. I went to Portland Community College for three years. I gave up my dream to become a minister, so I had to find a new dream I started. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life when I first term at P.C.C.
One class that set me down toward choosing the career of history professor, was Career Advising. When I first started taking that class, I was still unsure of what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. All I knew for sure was that I wanted to graduate from college and find a job that I could not have without a college degree. I also wanted a job that everything to do with books. So after taking an aptitude test, I decided I would become a librarian. It was the highest match from my tests, and I thought I wanted to a librarian more than anything else. However, as I did more research on the changes taking place in the library due to technology, I became discouraged from pursuing this dream. I still wanted to work in the academic community for a living, so I decided that I would become a professor of English literature. However, during my first term at Portland State University, I realized that the English major had difficulty finding work after graduation, and I began to lose interest in pursuing the English major due to poetry and plays. That was when I decided to switch my major to history, with the end goal of becoming a professor of history.
I'm passionate about history as a subject and as a career. There are far more options for history majors than English majors. Unlike English, I'm interested in just about every facet of history, especially Ancient history, history of Japan, Africa, and Russia. Right now, I'm working on earning my Bachelor's of Arts in History. From there, I will earn my Master of Arts in history with either a minor in Russian or Business. Once I earn my Masters, I plan to move to another state and teach as an assistant professor while I earn my PhD. in history, with a focus on Western civilization. It is my dream to become a professor of History. I will achieve this dream, no matter how much time and work it takes to succeed.