Stay Kind by Kaelee

Stay Kind by Kaelee - April 2016 Scholarship Essay

If I were to look back at everything I have learned in my last 13 years as a student, I would have a novel of advice that rivals the length of Don Quixote. Each teacher I've had has taught me something new and incredibly valuable to my success as a student. I have never entered a year of schooling where my mind has not been open to the new possibilities that have awaited me along the way. However, there are a few lessons that stick out in my career that I have found to be the most important lessons that I have learned in my time as a Ram and I would be adamant in teaching young students. Among these few include: Mr. Conn's lesson in refusing to give up, Mr. Snethen's lesson in keeping an open mind, and most importantly, Miss Boston's lesson in staying unwaveringly kind.
When I was a junior in high school, I was enrolled in pre-calculus. As many other students, I did not have a particularly smooth experience in this specific math course. To be frank: it was the lowest grade I've earned. Chapter after chapter, I could not catch a break. Eventually, I was starting to give up when one day, Mr. Conn stood in front of our class, like he did everyday, and said, “So many of you are looking at this class the wrong way. The answer is never going to present itself to you with a bow on its head, you're going to have to work to find it. You might not get it the very first time you try, but you'll get there eventually.” Since that day, I've looked at everything in life like that. The best possible scenario will never just drop in front of you and if it you really want to, you'll fight to get that scenario and it will be even more satisfying than it could ever feel when it's given to you.
This year, as my high school experience is drawing to a close and I'm taking the remaining credits I need to successfully graduate, I am enrolled Mr. Snethen's third hour AP Literature class. One would call Mr. Snethen an eccentric man. He exudes knowledge and relaxation so naturally, it makes one wonder if he had to work to get so smart. One thing that this man did that not one single English teacher in our school has done, is teach us that there is always more than one way to interpret anything. In school, you're taught one pre-conceived notion about a subject or type of writing and everything else is either wrong or irrelevant. However, in Mr. Snethen greeted every new idea or style or interpretation with open arms, never making anyone feel unintelligent, and this energy spread to everyone. It has been liberating to sit in a classroom with 20 other students and feel like your idea is just as relevant as the genius three seats over, and I strive to keep that open-mindedness in every classroom I enter.
The last piece of advice I would share with younger students is most definitely the most important lesson I learned in my 17 years in this world. I learned this lesson in the third grade from Miss Boston. To this day, Miss Boston is the teacher I credit most of my success as a student to. If there was just one thing I could advise others to do it would be this: stay kind. Always treat every single person you meet the exact same way: the way you would treat your best friend or your mother or whoever else you would consider the most important person in your life. Every person you meet deserves that kindness until they prove otherwise. That lesson is one that I remind myself to follow each and everyday and one I hope to instill in my little brother and every other young person I come across in my life.
While I could not come up with just one piece of advice for younger students, I think I narrowed it down to the most important ones. Each of these teachers have instilled something in me that I hope to one day pass on to others. Without these lessons, I would not be the same person I am today, much less the same student. So, this is the advice I would give to any young student willing to listen.