Everything has a Purpose by Jessica

Everything has a Purpose by Jessica - July 2014 Scholarship Essay

The start of high school seemed torturous with AP classes and a change in atmosphere. To top it all off, I, the straight a student, did not see the point of high school. I had seen the high school genre movies, with all of the hurtful mean cliques, and that is honestly how I thought high school would be, and since I'm not good at sports, the only thing I had to look forward to was the bus ride home. It took my freshmen history teacher to open my eyes that high school is more than a bunch of teens sent somewhere since society isn't ready for them yet.

Freshmen year was very hard for me. Many of my friends decided to put education on the back burner, and I had a big choice, would I join my friends or would I put education first? The first few weeks really seemed to test me, with every teacher deciding that their class was more important than others. I had so much homework and AP classes that I started to hate going to school. This was a huge change from Elementary and Middle School because I loved to learn. I was confused and didn't know where to turn. After the first few weeks though, I really started to enjoy World History Class. The work wasn't easier than any of my other classes, no it was actually my hardest class, but the teacher made the material so enjoyable that it didn't bother me. I started to want to go to class and learn more. All my friends laughed at me for not dropping the class. They couldn't understand how having hours of homework was worth it. My teacher told history like a story, one connected story that was partly written but not completely finished. The passion and love he put into his work really affected the whole class. Here is a teacher who acts out history, who has the students so engaged, so of course I began to love school.

Not only did I see that high school is for one's own personal goals, the more effort you put in the more you get out, but I was able to conquer my fears. My history teacher pushed all of his students to be the best they could. I hate public speaking, if I could capitalize and box hate I would, but somehow I was able to get in front of my world history class and deliver not one but two debates. At the beginning of the process the only thing going through my mind was why do adults hate us? Is it really necessary to have a debate on the Byzantine Empire? But I learned that the debates weren't about learning the material, besides learning facts for a test later to forget, but it was about the experience. The fact that students were able to get in front of each and speak without be judged, because in the real world you will have to give speeches and there they will be judging you.

I am so grateful that I had such an amazing teacher freshmen year. He allowed me to see past the high school stereotypes that the quarterback and captain of the cheerleaders are an item. I was for the first time able to see that high school was about the education I could get and the more work I put in the more I would receive back. My teacher helped me love education again and helped me realize that everything teachers do have a reason, besides torture.