The Little Wallflower That Could by Jodi

The Little Wallflower That Could by Jodi - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

I was a freshman trying the blend into my new school as most freshmen try to do. I did not join any clubs or sports. I just wanted to survive. My English teacher, on the other hand, decided to do the opposite during her first year. She wanted to make a change. As I was settling into life as a high school student, the bell rings and I hear the dreaded words: “Jodi, may I speak with you after class?”

This is the moment in time that my life changes. She continues to tell me about a new club she wants to form. It will be called “Grant-A-Wish” (a clever spin on the name of my school). We will place boxes throughout the school to collect wishes from students and then we will make them come true. In other words, we will grant them. She named me Project Coordinator and so we began on our mission.

We assembled a group of students and I named them all Project Coordinators because we were equally a team. Over the course of my high school career, we granted many wishes. To name a few, we collected supplies for a local animal shelter, lowered the price of cafeteria cookies, and with the help of volunteers we sent a sick child as many birthday cards as we could.

This amazing woman wouldn’t let me blend in and lose my potential. She set my life on a course of compassion. I also joined Environmental Club and Student Council during high school, my loving family became a registered foster home for the local animal shelter at my request, I donated my first paycheck after completing my associate’s degree, and I became an American Red Cross volunteer nurse at a clinic twice a week. I have changed so many lives because she saw who I was meant to be.