A Bird Pushed Out of Her Nest by Hope

A Bird Pushed Out of Her Nest by Hope - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

This past year, I took AP Calculus. I hated myself for signing up for the class from the moment I did it, and even more so when I received a summer preparation packet of one hundred and eighty questions that I had to complete in order to gain entrance to the class. Despite this, I knew it was the right decision so I stuck with it. My first day of my senior year, I was on my way to my fourth period, dreading the moment I had to step into that classroom, when my new Calculus teacher, Mr. Phan (pronounced fawn), walked past and said, “Hello, are you having a Phan day?” At that moment, I knew that I could survive his class. When class began, he decided to tell us a little bit about himself; he told us that he was not married, and he did not have a family, so he dedicated his whole life to teaching us, and to running. I cringed at this because, to me, both of those things sounded completely awful. He continued to tell us that he runs about eight to ten miles per day, then he gave our class a heads up that towards the end of the year, we would have to come in on Saturdays to prepare for the AP exam. At this point, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cry or just leave the classroom forever. I decided to save myself a tremendous amount of embarrassment and do neither of those things, however, and I stayed, determined to take the class. At least every week of my senior year, Mr. Phan reminded our class that “A day without calculus is a day wasted,” and “If you have time for (blank), you have time for calculus.” At first, I hated it; it drove me nuts! However, over time, I realized how dedicated Mr. Phan was to the things he did, and how his dedication and persistence could only make things better.
Mr. Phan’s class was the hardest class I have ever taken. It was also the most educational class I have ever taken. It did not just teach calculus, or how to pass the AP exam; Mr. Phan’s class taught me life lessons. When I was a baby, I was given everything I needed; when I was a child, I was given everything I needed. As a teenager, I had to work harder to get what I wanted, but I was still provided with everything I really needed. Now, however, I am being pushed out of the nest, and I must provide for myself. The problem is, that like most incoming college freshmen, I feel like I am falling instead of learning to fly. I feel like I don’t know what I am doing, or how I am supposed to figure it out. When I feel this way, I think of when Mr. Phan told us about when he began running. He told us how he struggled to run even a mile, and how he had to work his way up a little bit at a time to run further and faster. He also told us, with a triumphant smile on his face, how it felt when he ran his first marathon. What I love about Mr. Phan, and what he has taught me about working hard and not giving up, is that it is obvious that he loves what he does. I aspire to be like Mr. Phan, find what I love, and work hard to be the best that I can be at whatever that thing is. What helps me when I feel like I am falling, is to think of how Mr. Phan flies.