To be a Caretaker by Jia

To be a Caretaker by Jia - March 2021 Scholarship Essay

We traditionally mark the origin of modern feminism with the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, but women have been offering their talents and wisdom to society since the beginning of time. Women are seen in our school history books as far back as antiquity, but women have been essential caretakers, teachers, and innovators since the beginning of time. When I think of leading women in the workplace, I am inclined to envision the role models who inspired me to pursue medicine—the ones wearing the lab coats or wielding expensive pipettes. However, I have learned the value of the underrecognized female leaders in my community who fuel such pursuits.
Elsa Moore is a tiny woman in stature and voice, but it doesn’t take long to realize her brilliance and passion for mathematics and teaching. If asked to describe the classes she teaches, her student might protest “It’s so much work,” or wail, “I wish I would’ve gone the easy route and taken statistics.” In fact, her class was an experience so universal to my school that upon hearing her name, a student might whine, “Good luck dealing with that!” As much as I myself might have complained, the two years I spent in her classroom reflect in the way I conduct myself as a student today.
Mrs. Moore is notorious for the exorbitant amount of work she assigns, whether that be homework during the first week of the semester or 10-page packets of practice problems over Winter break. However, she put in just as much time out of class as we did. I still think about her genuine excitement during after-school tutoring, the cheesy math jokes she would make about the material (Why should you never let advanced math intimidate you? It’s as easy as pi), or the times I emailed her questions at 11:00pm and lighting up upon seeing her immediate replies. In addition to this, I learned that she didn’t simply assign homework to torture her students, but instead to learn the material inside and out. Her desire to see the best outcomes for her students has helped me fully appreciate all that educators do for their students and encourages me to return the amount of enthusiasm and hard work that my professors put in for me in the classroom and in the extreme amount of time I spent doing her homework.
Not only was Mrs. Moore a teacher, but she was a faculty advisor for my high school’s chapter of National Honor Society. With an organization exceeding 100, I was initially surprised at her laid-back, amenable personality. “Shouldn’t a society this large have a strong leader?” I first asked. A few months after my induction, I finally understood that a strong leader doesn’t necessarily mean loud and bossy. Mrs. Moore turned the primary goal of the club into a service-centered endeavor, teaching those in leadership roles to use their office as a way of organization and encouraging students to use the time that might be spent doing “team bonding” or chapter meetings out in the community serving instead. She herself presented numerous service opportunities for every type of student: tutoring for the academically oriented, Habitat for Humanity for the tactile, or even puppy raising for animal lovers like myself. Her enthusiasm for organizing service events made me excited to serve, which ultimately contributed to my goal of becoming a physician so that I may serve others through a knowledge of medicine.
As a high schooler with lofty goals of becoming a physician-scientist, I never believed that a high school math teacher may not seem entirely impactful on my potential career goals. However, I believe that Mrs. Moore is a leading woman in our time in the ways that she teaches me to treat all parts of life, whether that be school, service, or simply my social life with intentionality and genuineness. Although this essay highlights all of her wonderful traits, I believe that the Varsity Tutors scholarship will help fund my goal of someday becoming like her in any capacity.