The Lesson of a Lifetime by Derrick

The Lesson of a Lifetime by Derrick - June 2019 Scholarship Essay

This is an informative essay about bullying that addresses the context of character building. I chose to explain in full detail of the dangers of bullying. If it had not been for one of my very own professors, Dr. Morsheda T. Hassan, I myself probably would have became a suicide victim. Bullying is in fact the #1 leading cause of teen suicides in the United States. High School and Elementary students are prone to bullying due to the fact that the bullier has some insecurities that they may not have dealt with –which forms the bullying. Therefore, I would like to share my informative essay with the committee of Varsity Tutors in hopes to inspire someone that may be experiencing bullying as well.
It must have been the Spring 2014 semester at Wiley College as I was entering my sophomore year when I came into contact with on-campus bullies for the second time. I remember vividly the year before when I was a freshman there at Wiley College for the first time. It was Fall 2012 and I was new to the university. Of course, everyone has their first year “blues” but for me it was a nightmare. I still resembled a high school student and did not look like a college student. First it was the teasing and then the bullying got worst with offensive names. I remember following a set protocol (which did not help the situation) of telling instructors, then the student services office of academic affairs, and finally campus police. The only advice I was given by an officer was that “it is not much we can do because they are not physically harming you.” This lasted until December 5, 2012 with feelings of hopelessness. My grades, of course, were not the best as I hope. No victim of bully can fully focus in school when they are being bullied. In fact, those that are affected by bullying shows signs of decreased school enrollment. As a result, I didn’t go back for a year and began to re-think my life and college because I had came to the conclusion that bullying is twice as harsh in the collegiate environment compared to high school. I almost wanted to end it.
After realizing by Fall 2013 that the Department of Education was ready to start billing me for college payments because I took out loans and was past the six (6) month deadline to be billed, I had no other choice but to enroll back in school at Wiley College. Flashback of the bullying I received from current students attended the university pained me. However, by Spring 2014 I was in fact a Wildcat again and knew that the bullies would be awaiting. Therefore, one incident in particular where I was punched to the ground by one of the basketball players at the college, I remember crying in so much agony and making threats at the same time because this persisted a second time. Although I remembered that now I could press charges with campus security due to the fact that physical harm had occurred, it would not hold up accordingly. I was dealing with a student that would be minimally reprimanded because he is a college athlete on a full-ride sports scholarship. However, I was reprimanded for the threats because some students overheard those threats and believed them to be serious. Consequently, I went to see Dr. Morsheda Hassan, Dean at the School of Business, whom known me since the first day of classes at Wiley College. We spoke for several hours about how to approach this. In particularly, “Go in there with confidence and ensure that you are as humble as possible to the plight of your situation, she said. In retrospect of following those directions, I superseded at not only getting the reprimanded suspension for one-year at Wiley College, but that student had been handcuffed and taken to Harris County Jail.
In conclusion, bullying is a form of mistreatment by peers or a subgroup of people that no person should ever have to endure ever in life. In my situation I became the aggressor and allowed the bully to win the battle at that very moment of pain and agony. Often those affected by bullying can sometime retaliate and be held responsible for their actions seriously. However, as a survivor of bullying and suicidal thoughts, talking to someone allowed for me to open up and regain control of my life that Spring 2014 semester. As a result, people of campus remembered my name and my story and dare not bothered me anymore on campus. My grades slowly increased and I was able to graduate in the Spring 2016 semester as a Presidential Scholar and Magna Cum Laude of my graduating class of 2016.