Broaden Your Horizons by Charity

Broaden Your Horizons by Charity - August 2016 Scholarship Essay

My high school was rather small and not especially diverse. I graduated with 70 kids and 68 of them were Caucasian. This lack of miscellany did not allow us to grow as individuals until one specific teacher came along. During my senior year, a new teacher was hired. She was unlike any other history teacher in the school district. Her class, Global Issues, really allowed us to dig deep in various cultures and social classes. She went beyond the standard curriculum and exposed us to the very real issues prevalent worldwide.

This teacher not only allowed me to grow as a student, but as a person as well. She graded fairly tough, almost as harsh as my professors do now. Until her class, I had breezed through high school. I rarely studied and still managed to get A’s and B’s. She prepared me for college by making me work hard for a decent grade.

Not only did she prepare me for college academically, she prepared me socially. Once you leave your hometown, intermingling with various races, social classes, religions, etc is inevitable. Since we were always secluded to our very closed minded community, no teacher had ever cared to educate us on diversity. My Global Issues teacher had a different agenda. She educated us on various cultures and how similar they are to ours at the end of the day. She informed us how great a person can be if you do not judge them by their looks. She even showed us how difficult life can be for those beneath the poverty line. The biggest lesson I took from her class cannot be found in a book, but instead found in my heart and in my mind. I have opened my mind and grown as a person thanks to her class. To this day, I still carry those lessons and use it to teach those around me.