Embracing a Passion by Kayli

Embracing a Passion by Kayli - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

Book in one hand, pen in the other, I grinned as I watched my English teacher practically fall out of her chair in excitement. “Incredible,” she was saying. “Listen to the way he describes this scene.” Our class was reading William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying, and my teacher’s enthusiasm for the text was contagious. It was my junior year of high school, and I was still experiencing moments of embarrassment when I felt too nerdy, or too enthralled by academics. The most important lesson I learned from a teacher was to allow myself to be openly passionate about that which excites me.

A distinct memory of mine is reading aloud in my sophomore English class. The poem was To His Coy Mistress, by Andrew Marvell, and I volunteered to read. I could feel everyone’s eyes on me or gazing out the window in boredom. The truth is that I genuinely love reading, dissecting a paragraph, and analyzing tone and diction. Simultaneously, however, I knew that sometimes, not caring about school was the popular route to take. Gushing in class about an author’s use of pathos and ethos made me feel self-conscious. Early in my high school career, I struggled between my love of literature and passionate discussions, and my ability to maintain a façade of nonchalance.

However, when I reached my junior year, my English teacher showed me, through her own expressive love of words, the importance of sharing your passion. My teacher was highly respected by students and faculty alike, so she served as an example of someone enthusiastic about her work, and highly regarded as well. When I was able to follow her suit, and express my awe of the novel, I was rewarded by discovering that other students actually felt the same way. Other students validated my love of words by accepting my eagerness and sharing their own.

For me, this lesson has not been limited to English, or even to academics, alone. The value of openly acknowledging and chasing a passion can be applied to every realm of life. In my high school experience, it meant being truly enthusiastic in class. In college, it may mean starting a club about something for which no one else has yet shown interest. Regardless of what I am passionate about, I now accept the challenge to embrace it wholeheartedly. I learned this life lesson from someone who used her position as a teacher to serve as an example of genuine enthusiasm, encouraging other to do the same.