Inner Strength by Haley

Inner Strength by Haley - May 2022 Scholarship Essay

School has always come easy to me, so as a junior, when given the opportunity to take a dual enrollment class for English, I jumped at the chance. The teacher gave us our first assignment with minimal instruction, which was my first clue that this class was going to be different from my other high school classes. Throughout my academic career, we were often given a writing rubric telling us exactly what was expected. But this was a college-level course, designed to prepare us for college, and clearly the teacher was not going to be taking it easy on us.

As I approached the assignment, I felt secure in my understanding of the instructions and wrote my essay with the confidence of someone with a solid writing track record. I do not think I will ever forget the shockwaves I felt when I saw that big red 50 glaring at me from my computer screen. It was by far the lowest grade I had ever received in my life. I was devastated, embarrassed, and humbled, to say the least. I quickly closed the tab on my computer screen, and waited until I got home to read and reread my teacher’s comments and corrections.

I did not like the class at all and wanted to switch out immediately. I would talk to my parents about moving out of the class constantly. However, I am not a quitter, so I chose to push myself and not let one grade define me. Then and there I made the decision that this essay would be my wake up call to the fact that life was not always going to be easy. For my next essay, I made sure I knew what to do, and I made an A. I was so proud of myself, not just because of the grade, but because I had allowed failure to teach me a very valuable lesson. Having faith in myself was crucial in getting me through this challenge. Directly after receiving the 50, I felt extremely bad about myself. Nevertheless, I quickly learned that one mistake does not make me a complete failure, and I should stop shaming myself. I stayed in the class because I believed I could do better, and I proved myself right. Working hard for something made my success so much more meaningful. This experience taught me that failure is a great teacher, preparing me for college and life thereafter.