Lesson Carried by Brooke

Lesson Carried by Brooke - June 2019 Scholarship Essay

My high school biology teacher, Mr. Charlick, shared a lesson with me during my junior year that seemed frivolous and unimportant at the time, but actually left a huge impact that I have carried with me into college. It was the first week of class and instead of diving into his rigorous biology curriculum, he took the time to explain the importance of control. While I thought this was a waste of time because I knew how to handle things, the more I look back on that lesson; the more I realize how much I needed to hear it.
He basically summed up life into two circles; the inner circle and the outer circle. The inner circle was everything in life we could control ourselves, on a personal level. The outer circle was everything out of our control. The inner circle included things like the way we behave, the way we think, our actions and emotions. The outer circle included the situation itself and how other people react; their thoughts, actions, emotions and behaviors. However, it wasn’t the analogy of circles that left such an impact; it was what was said afterwards. It was being told that what matters most is where we choose to focus our attention, which circle we choose to stand in. When situations don’t go as planned, do we stand in the outer circle and become weighed down by the situation or how other people react, or do we step into the inner circle and focus on the things we can control.
Personally, education is my number one priority, I have big educational and career goals that lead me to becoming a veterinarian. However, some subjects in school do not come easy to me and I can be particularly hard on myself in terms of my grades. Math and some sciences require me to buckle down hard to study, and sometimes I still do not get the grades I expected or wanted. Yet, instead of becoming so consumed in my classes and exams of which I have no control over the rigour or grading systems, I take a step back to see what I can control. I know in terms of my education I can control how much time and effort I put into a class, I can control whether or not I study for an exam and I can control how I react to the grades I received. It took me a while to grasp the understanding that reacting badly to a harsh grade won’t change the grade, and that getting a grade I didn’t expect is not the end of the world. Coming to college, I did not realize how often I would have to pause a school situation to take a step back and figure out which circle I was choosing to stand in. For a while I was standing in the outer circle, I was letting the situation (the grades and exams) control me and when I finally noticed; I jumped into the inner circle and started gaining control back.
Looking back on my first week of junior year, I am so glad my biology teacher decided to teach us a thing or two about control; because while the ‘two circles’ turned into a class inside joke, the lesson behind it kept me sane, happy and in control of my education during my freshman year of college. It was a lesson I needed to hear, have carried with me and will continue to carry without throughout the rest of my educational career and life. It doesn’t just apply to education; there’s always going to be two circles and what matters is where you choose to stand.