Passion and Purpose by Dianna

Passion and Purpose by Dianna - July 2019 Scholarship Essay

When you have a passion, you have something that burns inside of you because it is something that you can not resist. You should always want to chase something that you are truly passionate about. For me, it is knowledge. I always want to learn and I strive at being better than the person next to me in anything that I pursue. All throughout high school, I have proven that I am strong and effective when I set my mind to something. I was committed to my sports, which was shown through leadership and improvement as the Track & Field Team Captain. I was committed to my extracurriculars, which was shown through my Presidential role in the California Scholarship Federation and being a Varsity member on the Academic Team. Most importantly, I was committed to my education, which was shown through the courageous act of becoming a full International Baccalaureate candidate and handling the rigorous courses that comes with it. I have shown my passion in education by wanting to achieve a higher education, which is why I will be attending the University of California San Diego in the fall.
I am full of hope as I take on this next chapter of my life. I am excited to have made it this far and overcome many obstacles along my journey. There has always been the obstacle of living with a low-income budget. My dad has struggled for many years trying to raise two kids on his own, and living paycheck to paycheck has been the usual situation for us. Knowing and understanding my dad's hard work is what pushed me to mature at an early age. It has also been silently encouraging me to go to college and earn my college degree. I was completely on my own when it came to researching for college and filling out my college applications because my dad never attended.
Even as a little girl, I noticed that my dad would always downplay how smart he actually is. We would watch different game shows together and he was always quick with numbers or remembered something from history. He never believed in himself enough to go to college and settled for any work he could get after high school. I don’t think that he ever realized how much he inspired me over the years. It was because of him that I wanted to be smarter, I wanted to beat him in these game shows. He challenged me and wanted to see me thrive. He thought I was crazy when I took on more and more as I got into high school. His iconic phrase to me would be “You already passed me in high school” no matter what class or club I was talking about.
My dad is a huge influence and one of the main reasons that the passion for education burns inside me. I don’t think that I will ever forget the little girl inside of me who recognized how amazing her dad was at such a young age. Now, being that I’m practically an adult, I know that I can be so much more. I know that I can take everything I have learned and apply it in the real world. I am definitely ready to complete my higher education and make a difference in the world. I am ready to show my dad that he raised someone who has passion and purpose.