#Perservere by Kaitlin

#Perservere by Kaitlin - April 2018 Scholarship Essay

I took a deep breath and stared down the metal handlebars into the deep abyss that lay before me. Never had I attempted a route this treacherous. The long grass concealed giant branches, and hidden potholes that to the naked eye were nearly impossible to spot until is was too late. I slid my helmet on (knowing the teasing I would get from my neighbors would be nothing compared to my mom’s wrath if she spotted my without it properly secured). I gripped the handlebars, went over the path I would take for the last time, then took off. As I accelerated down the driveway the excitement swelled inside of me, “Faster” I thought to myself. Before I knew it I had begun the downward incline into the grass, a wave of joy and adrenaline passed over me immediately, but as I made my way further through the yard the harsher conditions made it harder and harder to steer. I was losing control. The wooden playscape was fast approaching and I gripped the handlebars for dear life as I attempted to swerve between the playscape swings. Success! As the bike slowed down I turned my head around to see the cheering neighborhood kids in the background. Not only had I made it down the backyard hill on my bike unscathed, but I had also done it faster and gotten further than anyone else. Glancing down at the scars that littered my knees and elbows, I was reminded of the pain and failures that had finally led me to this moment. I was even more proud.
Ever since I was a kid I prided myself on the fact that I never gave up. Maybe at that time it was because no broken bone, scraped knee, or bloody cut seemed important enough to phase me. But as time went on I grew to appreciate the feeling of accomplishment that came with persevering through the tougher times, knowing that what I had worked so hard for would somehow be in reach if I truly tried hard enough.
Entering high school that drive to succeed became an even bigger commitment as I challenged myself in more difficult classes. In subjects such as math and science I had always felt most comfortable, but other courses such as French became more difficult for me. In French there were no equations and concepts that I could easily grasp like math and science classes, but instead blatant memorization of which I was not particularly good at. My heart sunk the first semester of freshman year as I received Cs and Bs on my first assignments. However, what set me apart from my peers was my drive to understand the material. Instead of getting flustered and angry whenever I did not totally understand a lesson or couldn't remember new vocabulary, I made sure to keep pushing myself. That meant extra time for homework, many study sheets, and lots of reviewing when it came to tests and quizzes; I would enter a certain state-of-mind, always doing what I had to do to succeed and pushing myself until I reached success, or in this case an A.
Although I have shifted my focus from being the best neighborhood bike rider, to an accomplished high school student, what I have learned to develop the last four years is my persevering nature. Education is not simply about gaining knowledge and information, but more importantly about developing skills that will help you to persevere through tough situations throughout life. I feel that outside of the subjects that I have learned so much about over my past four years I high school, my educational experience truly centered around my development as a hardworking and dedicated person. Based off of this, #perservere is the best way to describe what education means to me.