Prodigy by Any Other Standard by Caroline

Prodigy by Any Other Standard by Caroline - March 2021 Scholarship Essay

This is not a particularly heartwarming story, but it is true. My academic role model has always been my older sister. While age and the distance of college have done good things for us and our relationship, the driving element of conflict has also been removed. Competition.

Competition does not seem a fair word to describe it as it was very one-sided. She never had to enter a classroom and disappoint teachers because she was not the carbon-copy of her brainiac sister. I was smart and my family always tells me in any other family I would be a prodigy, but I was not born into another family. I was born into a family with a smart older sister and a life of comparisons to follow. Instead of finding individuality, I worked to meet the expectations she had set for me academically and I did. The competition has faded now that we are in separate areas but so have the comparisons.

This is mainly due to the fact that we go to different schools. If any of my professors knew my older sister it would be a bit strange, Atlanta is a long way off from rural Milledgeville. The other part of the competition waning is the difficulty in comparing a mechanical engineer to a future teacher. If my education classes have taught me one thing it is that every learner is unique.

With distance and the difference in studies between us, I have been able to recognize and appreciate my sister for what she is. Not a competitor. A role model and a friend. My sister is the perfect candidate for an academic role model because while I know she is smart I have also been a witness to the work she puts in behind the scenes. Her success is not a fluke, it is earned the same way I am working to earn mine. While my peers are majority female given my field of study, watching my sister tackle and conquer a male-dominated field fills me with pride and determination in my own studies. For the first time, it is not my accomplishments against hers, but we can celebrate them together.