The Front Seat by francesca

The Front Seat by francesca - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

For me, everything has always been a lesson to be learned. I remember when I first got to high school, and it was a hot sunny day. The first day started off with all the students huddled around their groups starting with A-K and L-Z. Being that my last name started with an S, I was with group L-Z. All the teachers were frustrated, searching for all the new students coming in and the heat was not helping.
As I began that day, I was going to each class figuring out what was need and expected from each of the subjects. Every teacher was different; some wanted to give a ton of homework and study for over 5 hours, and others were relaxed and just wanted you to behave.
Throughout the day, I was just hoping the day would end so that I could play with my dog. It was a hard day being a freshman, unaware of who your true friends were. Till this day, I still think about this teacher, and her name was Ms. Tina.
Ms. Tina, was a great teacher and I could feel it from day one. At the time, she had been teaching math and a cooking class; However, I was seeing her for math. Now, it was the first day of school where I learned my important lesson about making mistakes. As a freshman in high school, I would hide at the back of class, and try not to get in anybody’s way. Immediately, Ms. Tina started off teaching chapter one because, she did not want to waste time. That day, I learned to never sit in the back of Ms. Tina’s classroom or anyone’s classroom. The first question on the board was a simple algebraic equation, except for me. The first person she called on was me, Francesca Santos.
I stand up from my seat, all the way in the back of the class, and began walking towards the front of the classroom to complete the work on the board. Once I got to the front, Ms. Tina began to explain to me that, “If you ever want to succeed in school, you must sit in front of the classroom to get a better view of the work. Also, if you want to avoid being called on, I suggest you start sitting in the front”.
After that day, I began to sit in front of all my classes not just Ms. Tina’s math class. Not only did it improve my grades in class, but it improved my memory on what I learned and I focused a lot better. I thank Ms. Tina for making me a better student by just having me complete one simple thing every day for class.