How informal education has impacted my success. by Hunter

How informal education has impacted my success. by Hunter - June 2024 Scholarship Essay

When I was in kindergarten, I was a busy child. I struggled to sit still in school, and that hampered my learning a bit at first. I had an amazing Kindergarten teacher that helped my parents navigate this stressful time for them and me. In a sense, she helped mentor my parents on how to help me so that I was successful in school. That led to me seeing a tutor once a week until fifth grade. She is awesome, and really helped me learn how to focus on my schoolwork and helped to relieve the anxieties I had trying to learn, by keeping it fun. Being a schoolteacher herself, she helped me learn how to study and apply techniques on how to calm my nerves. She showed me many ways to apply these types of techniques, and I still use these lessons today. I approached my mom in fifth grade and advised her that I no longer felt like I needed a tutor. I have been maintaining academic scholars every year since. I am proud to say that although I needed those years of help that it has only made me more focused and stronger throughout the years.
I have taken those experiences from my childhood and have used them to help me within the 6th Man Mentor program. My experience as a child that needed help has allowed me to understand our incoming first-year students and the anxieties they have moving into high school. In a sense I have tutored six freshmen with learning the ropes of high school. That gives me a sense of accomplishment and has provided me a sense of giving back as my tutor gave back to me. Although it may not be the same type of tutoring, both scenarios provided a mentor to someone. When I was a freshman, I had a 6th Man mentor that helped me acclimate and learn the ropes to high school. I learned from them by experiencing their involvement in my acclimation to high school, and I wanted to share those helpful experiences with others. I feel that I have provided a safe place for my mentees to ask questions, confide their fears, and helped them to overcome those fears. I take pride in the interactions, the games, activities, and personal connections I have made. I have learned from my mentees, compassion for feelings, anxieties, stress, and how to help them manage all those feelings. I will be using those experiences as I move forward into my next chapter.
I am moving on to Kent State Stark working towards a BSN in Nursing. The experiences from 6th Man have helped me step out of my comfort zone by allowing me to teach, listen, be empathetic, and collaborate as team amongst many other life experiences. One of the most important lessons I have learned from my experience being mentored is being a mentor is the ability to apply empathy. This is a necessary skill for being a nurse. The amount of empathy that I will use daily with patients is going to be unlimited. I have taken my experiences with my freshmen, and already started applying those skills with my current job shadowing at our local hospital. I am experiencing all those anxieties, stresses, and fears working in this exciting new environment. I think back to how I have impacted my mentees and hope that as I move into this unfamiliar environment that I find a mentor that will show me the same courtesies as I was able to provide to my mentees.
I want to thank you for the opportunity to share my experiences with you and with the freshmen that I have had the opportunity to mentor. I know the experiences I have had from the 6th Man Mentor program, both as a mentee, and a mentor have significantly impacted and improved my life. I will apply the skills and benefits of this program for the rest of my life, and I appreciate all the many mentors that have come before me and certainly will come after me to help guide our community into the future.