Life Lessons in Unexpected Places by Emily

Life Lessons in Unexpected Places by Emily - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

Throughout the past 12 years of attending countless hours of school, my abundance of teachers have taught me so many important lessons. Apart from teaching us everyday subjects such as math and history, the majority of my teachers have found ways to incorporate ordinary morals and lessons into their long hours of teaching. Of course it is only human for us to forget what we have been taught over time, only to rediscover these certain lessons later in life. One time however, I most definitely did not forget a lesson that my 4th grade teacher Ms. Nichol taught me: the importance of responsibility. We constantly hear that it is important to be responsible, but I never truly understood what it meant until the extremely patient Ms. Nichol taught it to me.

It all started when we, as a 4th grade class, raised enough money to buy a class pet. Within two weeks of fundraising we were able to purchase the most adorable little mouse named Oreo, equipped with a pale blue cage and squeaky wheel for him to run on. The next order of buisness was to assign jobs to the students, such as who would clean the cage and who would play with Oreo on certain days. My assignment was to feed Oreo every morning before the commencement of class time. Sounds easy right? Unfortunately for me, not so much.

The next morning I walked into the empty classroom 15 minutes before the first bell to do my job and feed our class pet. I shook the tiny food pellets into his ceramic bowl, hearing the quiet jingle as the pieces left the box and entered the small bowl. Within two minutes, I was on my way thinking that I had accomplished my job with ease. A damper was placed on my confidence as Ms. Nichol pulled me aside just prior to the first bell. With a nervous glare on her face, she delivered the regrettable news that our class pet was a "master escape artist" and had broken free from his small cage. At that very moment it came to me that I had forgotten to secure the latch on Oreo's cage before leaving the classroom: this was my fault.

It was on that day that Ms. Nichol taught me how important responsibility is. I was absolutely crushed that I let the whole class down by allowing our pet to escape, never to be found. Although Ms. Nichol was disappointed in me, she used this experience as an opportunity to teach me about responsibility. As we grow up, more and more pressures will be placed upon our shoulders she said, and we will be given responsibilities much larger than feeding a mouse. She taught me that it is very important to recognize our duties and complete them to our best abilities, no matter how small or large the task. As I continue to go through life and am assigned various duties, I always reminisce back to Ms. Nichol's class in fourth grade, and our beloved class pet Oreo, and remember to try my very best in all that I do.