A Snail's Pace by Kaitlin

A Snail's Pace by Kaitlin - July 2019 Scholarship Essay

Having a passion for education is a lot like delectably eating snails; they are preferred to be sucked up and taken with a grain of salt. Although that is quite an unappetizing comparison, what I'm trying to say is that having a passion for education is defined by how far a person is willing to go, the sacrifices they make, and the risks that propel them into the future. I know that I have a passion for education because it causes me emotional strain everyday, especially when it comes to mathematics. My first year in college went great, I will say that to anyone's face with confidence but that does not mean that it came easy. When I wasn't eating or sleeping or keeping up with my personal hygiene, I was studying. I would have loved to go to all of the parties or campus events, but I knew that I had to keep up with my studies in order to do well in college. Making those choices were some of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I had such a comfy bed and it was so nice to just sit there and scroll on my phone, but I knew that I had to stop sometimes just to make sure that I fully understood what was going on in my classes. I was very passionate about making sure that I was ready for the next lecture, even if it meant that I couldn't play Super Mario on my Switch or go hang out with one of my friends.
My biggest challenge yet would be my precalculus course that I took in my winter semester. The class was so hard that sometimes I would cry in the workshop out of sheer frustration. It was embarrassing and I didn't understand the material as well as my other classmates. Frankly, I felt dumb and I wondered constantly what I was doing wrong because I was doing the same things that worked well in my other classes. But for some reason the laws of SIN ("sign") and Pie were just not sticking in my brain. I started stress eating and I even began to skip class. I was slacking... but I knew I couldn't act that way forever. I am passionate about my education, I knew it wouldn't be easy, this is just a curve ball. So instead of skipping or eating a bowl of ice cream after lecture, I would go to the tutoring center. It was awful I'm not going to lie, but I did it because I was passionate about my education and I was determined to do well in this class. I went everyday for two months just so I could get extra review on the material I learned. In the end, I got a C+... while that might not sound very impressive and is a bit of a mediocre ending, I still passed and got credit for the course towards my degree. I would not have been able to do it if it wasn't for my passion for education. What I want everybody to understand is that having a passion is not always a happy and romantic thing, it takes real sweat and vigor and I fought everyday to make sure that I understood enough material to pass the course...even if it was at a snail's pace. That is what having a passion for education means to me.