Looking Up and Speaking Out by Jennifer

Looking Up and Speaking Out by Jennifer - January 2017 Scholarship Essay

Sophomore year of high school, a friend all but yanked me into a debate team meeting. “This year, we have to do it,” she said. The year prior, both of us had conspired over joining the team. By September, we had chickened out. I found writing to be easier than speaking. In writing I could think through my reasoning and perfect my phrasing. Like anyone, I needed my thoughts to be heard, too, but my experience with public speaking had been full of ignominy.
A few months later I would find myself at a debate tournament, wearing a suit and dragging a fuchsia backpack into a classroom full of people who speak in public for fun on the weekends. I trembled behind my packet of notes and refused to make steady eye contact with my audience. Over the next three years, I lifted my eyes and looked at my fellow debaters. I built up the confidence to teach my teammates what I had learned and I earned my spot as team captain. I learned that my voice had power, that researching and debating legislation that would raise the minimum wage, restructure public education funds, or ban pharmaceutical advertisements was about more than saying smart stuff so that people would like me. It was about engaging others in intellectual, meaningful conversation to transform viewpoints.
Nowadays, while on my college speech and debate team, I remain committed. I listen, I research, I ask, I teach, I speak. I’m someone who takes concepts apart on instinct. I pick up idiosyncrasies in logic and communication. This means that watching commercials, movies, speeches and news briefs next to me might be both irritating and informative. It means I think sedulously and I write extensively. I scrutinize everything. Debating helped me develop the confidence to take my analysis beyond paper, and I began contemplating a career in law.
Last semester I enrolled in the closest course my community college has to an introductory law class (Introduction to Paralegal Studies), and I found myself at the top of my class. One class into the course, I knew that while the paralegal is a noble profession, if I can afford to go to law school, I could not settle for a career in which I am legally barred from practicing law as an attorney does. I was drawn to law because of advocacy. Researching, writing, and eventually, speaking, were the tools with which I had learned to advocate the needs of others.
Next semester I will transfer to a four-year university with a concentration in writing and rhetoric. By continuing to advance my understanding of language and persuasion, I will be better equipped to become an attorney. People deserve to be understood, but the only way to be understood is to be understandable. This means communicating our thoughts to others: reasons for litigation or reasons for defense. I’ll have the chance to answer my clients’ questions about a case, to prevent foreseeable problems, and to help people to be understood.
In my clients’ moments of anxiety, I will listen, I will research, I will ask, I will teach, I will speak. I will engage others in intellectual, meaningful conversation to transform viewpoints. I will help people to understand and to be understood.