A Summer Course: Life's Lesson by Emily

A Summer Course: Life's Lesson by Emily - May 2021 Scholarship Essay

I never imagined that a course I hated would teach me a valuable life lesson. I hate business law, with its Uniform Code and the federal laws that seem to spiral into a never-ending abyss. Business law was complicated, it was long, and it was twice as much work as I’d planned on doing over the summer. And yet, I refused to quit. Not because I had family or teachers pressuring me to stick with it, but because I was pressuring myself. If I said I was going to do something, then I was determined to see it through. If there’s one thing business law taught me, it’s that, as easy as quitting may be, sticking through hardship is its own reward.

The first clue this class wouldn’t be easy was when I picked up the textbook. It came loose leaf and required the largest three-ring binder in the house. It also weighed just less than a small turkey. The next clue, which really started the sense of dread, was when I logged in to check the first week’s readings. We had to read four chapters, which came out to around a hundred-and-fifty pages of material discussing the Uniform Code and increasingly obscure bits of federal law. We had weekly discussions to contribute to, exercises on MindTap, quizzes, exams-enough work that my eyes would hurt by the time night rolled around. Before the first week was over, half of our thirty-five-seat class had dropped out. Before the end of the course, most of the rest trickled off, until there were only ten or twelve of us left. Our professor congratulated us after the final exam for sticking with the class, as we could hardly have picked a more difficult course to take over the summer.

I had never wanted to quit a class so badly as business law. I’d planned on signing up for a nice, easy course over the summer that would leave me with plenty of free time. I’d imagined putting things off to the end of the week and finishing them just in time to submit everything. Summer was supposed to be relaxing. Instead, I spent the summer doing almost as much work as I did on a regular semester, when I usually took three classes. However, dropping this course meant quitting. It meant giving up and saying, “I can’t do this.” The thought of saying those words irritated my sense of pride. I am a 4.0 student. When I start something, I don’t quit. I wasn’t prepared to simply give in to defeat.

I don’t remember a lot of the specifics about business law. I can explain what the Uniform Code is, but I couldn’t quote any of its sections. However, I do remember how hard I worked to get an “A”. I remember how many times I would reread the same paragraph, trying to convince my brain it wasn’t gibberish. If there’s one thing I remember about business law, it’s the fact I persevered over the parts of me that wanted to just give in.

Quitting is easy. Staying with something that’s hard and non-enjoyable isn’t. Anything worth having in life, however, must be earned. There were a lot of classes I took that I got through easily, but business law was not one of them. It was hard. It was downright painful at times. Yet, it taught me some important lessons. First, never take a legal class over the summer. It’s destined to be hard. And second, it’s empowering to say “no” to quitting. It’s empowering to stay in the game and sweat to the end. I may never go into business law. I’ll probably never refer back to the Uniform Code and contracts may forever make my eyes cross. I learned more important lessons that summer than business law, though. I learned that I can do anything if I just say “yes” to hard work.