I Have The Boondocks to Thank by Ebony

I Have The Boondocks to Thank by Ebony - July 2014 Scholarship Essay

As a high school graduate, I have seen my share of teachers throughout my elementary school, middle school, and high school career. I have experienced different teaching styles and methods, but there is one teacher that particularly stands out in my eyes. In the eleventh grade, I signed up for a social psychology class. The teacher of this class, Mr. Williams, was well known around the school for being an ecstatic, blunt and hilarious teacher. He even taught my older brother two years prior, so I already knew some things about his teaching methods.

On the first day of class, like most teachers, Mr. Williams prepared an ice breaker for the class to do. However, it was far more hands on then other classes. All of us students were told to hold hands, and play a game of ‘Never Have I Ever’. Instantly, everyone was laughing together and learning new things about each other.
Mr. Williams is never afraid to hold things back. In my senior year of high school, I took the other class he taught, African American Studies. African American history was his specialty, and he never held anything back when teaching us. Considering he was barely thirty, Mr. Williams spoke like us, dressed like us and experienced the same things we did. He made it easy for students to relate to what he was teaching, whether it took place in the 1800s or the early 2000s. Mr. Williams honestly made learning in his class fun and engaging, always preparing an activity for us or having a video for us to watch (The Boondocks cartoon is his series to use for teaching). I was also excited to visit his classroom on the third floor, anxious for what we were going to do next.

Before taking Mr. William’s class, history was never really my strong point, mostly because I could never focus on the material. His class showed me how all aspects of history eventually come together, and that it can actually be incredibly interesting. For the field I want to go in, which is veterinary medicine, I will eventually need to study the history of different medicines. I have Mr. Williams to thank for being able to make the subject engaging and fun to learn about.