Perseverance by Chase
Chaseof Salt Lake City's entry into Varsity Tutor's January 2016 scholarship contest
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Perseverance by Chase - January 2016 Scholarship Essay
Perseverance
There are many New Year’s resolutions that came to my mind that I believe would help me become a better person as I pondered this essay topic. To become a better son, get in better shape, or maybe to even learn another language were all goals I have thought about over the past year. However, in this new year I have made many sudden changes in my life which have precipitated the resolution I believe would help me the most – to become more committed to persevere through difficult challenges in my path.
In life we often face many obstacles that can set us back. In school, we are given assignments we really don't feel like doing, teachers we don't see eye to eye with, and maybe even a grade we don't agree with. But one thing is for certain that we must roll with the punches and keep pushing forward. I have been telling my mother every year for as long as I can remember that I am going to quit school. Obviously I have always said it as a joke, but in some deep part of my soul I have wished that I could. I am a good student, but I don’t particularly enjoy sitting still in a classroom and learning. However, I have always known without a doubt that I need to push through and continue my education for a brighter future. Perseverance has always been my motto – it has just been harder to find my inner perseverance recently as I have faced many changes in my life.
Not only have I changed schools, majors and my residence in the past two months; I also walked away from playing college football, a life long dream. I have had to reach deep within to find the perseverance that has always been a part of me. At times I wanted to pull the covers over my head and let someone else make my decisions. However, I know that unless I dedicate myself to continuing to persevere during the hard times, it will affect my future paths in ways I do not want.
Perseverance in my mind is defined as the ability to push past an obstacle and continue on your desired course. I have grown up playing sports my entire life. In sports, you get pushed to a point where you think you can't keep going. But you learn to push yourself past your breaking point until you achieve success. I believe we can learn a great lesson from sports to apply in schoolwork as well. And that lesson is, when you think you are about to give up, keep going. Success is just around the corner!
There are many aspects that play into achieving success such as: a natural ability to succeed, inner strength, wisdom and knowledge, and an ability to work with others. I believe perseverance encapsulates all of these attributes and is probably the key component to excel in school. Some times you might get a grade that you aren't pleased with, or read a chapter you just don’t understand – yet to truly succeed in school you have to keep pushing past the obstacles to get a better grade or learn more completely. Perseverance teaches you how to work with your teachers, employ different techniques to better understand the material, find inner strength to study for another hour, or even to learn patience to work with tutors to help you learn. Perseverance is in everything we do to achieve success in our studies.
At this pivotal moment in my life, perseverance is more important than ever for me to employ as I continue my education. I believe the lessons we learn in school apply to us more than just shaping our future careers; we can also learn a lot about ourselves along the way. We can learn to keep going, we can learn to never give up, and we can learn to find joy in the journey. We can learn to persevere through any obstacle placed in our path.