Beyond the Classroom: How Informal Learning Fueled My Academic and Personal Success by Christina

Beyond the Classroom: How Informal Learning Fueled My Academic and Personal Success by Christina - June 2024 Scholarship Essay

Informal education has been the key motivator in my journey to academic success. From a young age, I was an avid reader, and this self-exploration of books ignited a passion for learning. This passion encouraged me to be curious and to seek knowledge beyond the confines of a classroom. As I grew older, this drive to learn extended into the practical world, where real-life experiences provided invaluable insights that formal education could not fully convey.

One of these experiences in particular involves my family’s restaurant. My family runs a Chinese restaurant in my hometown, and in recent years, we have been trying to regain the business we had prior to the pandemic. Towards the end of the pandemic, my family had the opportunity to reopen our restaurant. However, a large issue that we noticed was that much of our old customer base was not returning which was hurting the amount of profit we made.

At that time, I had some knowledge about marketing and advertising from the courses I had taken at school, so I used this knowledge as a starting point and started brainstorming ideas our restaurant could take. I noticed that we utilized a lot of digital advertising; however, those ads were not connecting well with our old customer base since many of them were older in age and were not online frequently. Because of this, I started reading about other forms of marketing and found that billboards would be a great tactic for us to use. We decided to invest in a billboard placed on the busiest street in our town. This billboard highlighted our restaurant's reopening, special offers, and safety measures in place. The impact was significant. The visibility and constant presence of the billboard in that high-traffic area effectively reminded and encouraged our old customer base to return to our restaurant.

This is one of my most meaningful achievements and biggest learning experiences because I was able to utilize the information I gained from my formal education and learn to apply it in an informal setting to help my family’s restaurant succeed. It also made me realize my passion for business which is why I am pursuing a higher education in business. I really enjoyed seeing the real-world applications of how marketing tactics helped my family’s restaurant. My goal is to continue expanding my knowledge of marketing and other areas of business while I am at university. This blend of formal knowledge and informal learning has not only driven my academic success but also shaped my personal and professional aspirations, proving that education extends far beyond the classroom.