Math Made Easy by Colleen

Math Made Easy by Colleen - October 2016 Scholarship Essay

If I could teach any class, I would be a math teacher. This past year, I earned my Girl Scout Gold Award which is the highest award in Girl Scouting. To earn this award, I had to complete a journey, which is a booklet that takes around 10 hours to finish. Then, I had to generate an idea that would help my community and be sustainable. I chose to create a free tutoring program at the local library after I spoke with the librarians who said that there was not such a program in place. After completing my paperwork, including several essays, I interviewed before the Toledo Girl Scout Council to pitch my idea.
After a forty five minute interview, the council approved my program, TMI: Teach, Mentor, Inspire, and I was able to begin my project. I created flyers to hang up around my town, put ads in the newspaper, and delivered a speech to a local civic group, The Omnibus Club. The Omnibus Club donated an abundance of school supplies for my program. I distributed these supplies to the students in my program, the school, and the library. I will never forget the smiles on the students’ faces when I gave them a new notebook and pencil; they were so excited!
In addition to all of the paperwork and interviews, I also had to have 80 hours of volunteering to earn my Gold Award. I tutored every Monday night at the library from 6-7 pm for 10 months. Additionally, I tutored different hours throughout the week by appointment. Overall, I tutored eight students regularly. Most of the students were third graders whose parents were worried about them passing the end of the year test for third grade.
Once I completed my project, I had to have an exit interview with the Toledo Girl Scout Council. After I presented my power point on my project, they officially told me that I earned my Gold Award! All of the hours of hard work had paid off. I was most humbled to be honored at a local council meeting for earning my Gold Award. The mayor of West Unity presented me with a key to the village and a day named in honor of me. It was phenomenal; I will never forget it.
Another one of my favorite experiences in my project came when I was tutoring a little girl. To help her learn multiplication and division, we would take skittles and divide them up into groups. If she got the problem correct, she would be able to eat some skittles. I would be a math teacher because she helped me realize that I am lucky. Growing up, math has always been my favorite subject. Math comes naturally to me; not all students are that fortunate. I absolutely loved teaching her math, and not just because of the candy. Math is a fundamental skill that needs to be mastered. I would be honored to help share my skill with others. At our final tutoring session, she gave me a plant and a special handmade card. I was so touched that I was able to make a difference in her life. After the session, I realized that my actions, big or small, can mean the world to people and that I can make a difference in the world today.