Education for the Willing by Brooke
Brookeof Coeur d'Alene's entry into Varsity Tutor's December 2014 scholarship contest
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Education for the Willing by Brooke - December 2014 Scholarship Essay
A majority of my classmates hated school. They thought it was “too difficult” or “completely useless.” My idea of school was on the opposite spectrum. I felt like a black sheep, and so, I buried my love for school like a dark secret. There was so much to be learned, from World War I heroes to the anatomy of an unborn pig to the dystopian works of Ray Bradbury. Knowledge was addictive to me in the way parties were addictive to my peers. I wanted to know more—needed to know more. College only amplified that experience, especially in the realm of literary art. The discussions on Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club challenged my mind in ways it had never before experienced, and I craved more.
The knowledge gained from my secondary and post-secondary education defines the person I have become. I am a writer of fiction and nonfiction novels with four completed works ready for publication. A literary agent in New York represents my work and is currently seeking a publishing company for my second and fourth novel. My love for education and school gave me the ability to craft sentences and stories without a moment’s hesitation. My learned knowledge fueled me, not only to write, but also to have success in my field. Thus far, I have won two national writing competitions, including the Nicholas Sparks’ Writing Contest for The Best of Me Movie and the Freshman Fifteen’s Writing Contest. I have also gained three thousand followers on an online writing website, along with nearly seven hundred thousand reads on my online novel, Sink or Swim.
Though reading and writing were passions of mine from a young age, the learned knowledge from school sharpened my thought-processes and amplified my writing abilities. My teachers, both past and present, continue to shape my life every day. Without their guide and assistance, I would not be the successful writer I am now.
