Rudy Ruettiger by Grace

Rudy Ruettiger by Grace - March 2017 Scholarship Essay

If I could give a speech to a school wide audience, I would talk about the 1993 movie Rudy. I know it sounds strange but stick with me.
The question of making money in the future, while still following a worthwhile career is the million dollar question for students my age. There are two statistics that I believe are important to this discussion. The first one, is that the average tuition for a 4-year degree is between $100,000-$200,000. The second is that on average, a person spends 68,000 hours of their life at work. While seemingly unrelated, these statistics are daunting when put together. No one wants to spend that many hours of their life doing something they aren’t passionate about. Yet, at the same time, the idea of beginning your life that deep in debt is terrifying. For students my age in this situation, the money usually wins. We’d rather spend that sum of money on a degree that will earn us more money, even if it means we don’t particularity enjoy the job. However, it doesn’t have to be like this.
Take Rudy Ruettiger for example. The Notre Dame football player who is famously known for being carried off the field at the end of his movie. I once had a teacher who adored that movie. He showed it at least 3 times a year, and every time he did, he would go on and on about hoe much easier life would be for all of us if we were like Rudy.
For a while, I didn’t understand him. Life wasn’t easy for Rudy. He came from a low-income family, was 5’9, and was stubbornly set on becoming a Notre Dame football player. For years he got the baloney kicked out of him by some of the best college athletes in the US. It didn’t make sense to me until around the 3rd time we watched it. Rudy didn’t have the best of anything, he just made the best of everything. He had a deep rooted passion, and he made it his only focus. Every hit he took, on and off the field, meant that he was one step closer to his goal.
If I could say one thing to a school-wide audience, I would remind them to be like Rudy.
It’s not about what you do, it’s about how you do it. All Rudy had was a passion and a ridiculous amount of perseverance. I would tell my peers that it doesn’t matter what you major in or what your career prospects are. If you follow your passions with strength and stubbornness, the rest will follow.