Working Hard or Hardly Working by Colin

Working Hard or Hardly Working by Colin - February 2023 Scholarship Essay

"Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard." — Tim Notke, basketball coach. This quote is usually saved for the first practice of the year when the head coach wants to let the team know they will be looking out for the kids who hustle and give it their all one hundred and ten percent of the time, and that those kids will be the ones who get the playing time during big games. This quote is equally compatible when looking at a classroom setting in the year 2023, where many students like to blame their extracurricular activities for why they're falling behind on essays and homework assignments. This is why in my understanding I believe that effort is the soft skill that has the biggest impact on a successful education.

Effort isn't something we can teach, because if a person is not passionate about what they are doing their effort will be minimal. For example, everyone has that one task they keep putting off because they'll "Do it tomorrow" and that tomorrow never comes. It's not that they don't want to do that task, it's just that there are better things to do than that one subliminal task. For certain students, it's the math sheet that's due next period, which they forgot to do after wrestling practice. It may even be that test in a couple of days they need to study for, but can't take the time because Black Panther 2 just came out and their buddies are all going to see it opening night. When it comes to the classroom teachers have to be passionate about the subject so students feed off that energy and actually do their homework.

A teacher I would like to highlight who exudes passion in his class is Mr Hales, a history teacher at Plymouth North High School, and the class I had with him specifically was an elective called "Irish History". I was going to like the class just from the fact that I am a ginger who is around 95% Irish, but Mr. Hales is a one of a kind teacher, classes felt informative, quick, easy to digest, and sprinkle in some fun games related to the subject and you have an A- average class. Back to my original statement though, you can't be successful in classrooms or really anything unless you put actual effort into it and show you want to succeed. I myself am going to the University of Maine Farmington to go play baseball at the Division 3 level, and couldn't be more excited, I was never naturally gifted at sports but I put passion and effort into everything and got to the spot I am at today. That same level of gift in sports relates to the classroom as well, I'm not naturally smart, but you for sure know I'll be after school trying my hardest to pass and will try and understand homework always. Effort is the key to life, and the classroom.