Uncovering my Potential by Kelli

Uncovering my Potential by Kelli - July 2014 Scholarship Essay

I made a choice last year to return to school and continue my education. It was going to be expensive, it was going to take up two years of my life, and it was going to be hard. But I had absolute faith in my desired field of study—dental hygiene. After graduating in 2011 with my Bachelor's degree, I was unsure of what my career would be. I got a job and weighed my options, and finally found a program at a local community college that seemed perfect for me.

Going back to school was just as difficult as I had imagined. I had forgotten about late night study sessions and that little bit of anxiety I felt before taking an exam. But my instructor, Mrs. Smith, was there to guide me along. She co-taught my first semester Head and Neck Anatomy lab. It was an intense class, studying skulls and tooth models, with pages of material covered on each exam. I will never forget Mrs. Smith’s teaching style; she was calm and collected, and explained every detail in a way that was easy to understand. Before going on to the new material, Mrs. Smith always made it a point to reiterate the previous lesson’s material. Instead of lecturing, she made the students actively participate and answer her questions, which helped us remember the information. After several classes with her as my teacher, I learned that going back to school was something that I should not have feared, because she helped me realize the amount of potential I had. It takes a special teacher to make a student feel motivated to do well not only for themselves, but to make the teacher proud. I worked hard that semester to prove to myself that this was something I could accomplish. Mrs. Smith gave me the confidence to continue on with my schooling and showed me the value of my continued education.