Lessons from Mark Dean by Kenneth

Lessons from Mark Dean by Kenneth - October 2021 Scholarship Essay

At age 10 my mom decided to teach me a Black History Month lesson about several black inventors such as Benjamin Banneker, James Edward West, George Crum, and more. As I admired the various inventors and other famous people of the world, there was one person in particular named Mark Dean that interested me more. He is a computer scientist and engineer who as a child had a desire to change computers to make video games play faster. Mr. Dean also enjoyed building a tractor as a child with his dad whom he later worked at the Tennessee Valley Authority in Knoxville, TN went on to become an inventor, innovator, and now a professor at the University of Tennessee also in Knoxville, TN.

I strongly connected with Mr. Dean because of my interest in computers and the general concept of basic internet operations even as a child. The information I learned and researched about his journey was even more interesting. Not only did Mr. Dean attend the same college as my mom, but he worked in the same city where she grew up and she has met him. Hopefully one day I will be able to also.

As a child, Mr. Dean was teased at school and questioned if he was Black because he was so smart. Mr. Dean went on to achieve many degrees, honors, patents, and other successes and didn’t look back. That was hard I am sure, but an inspiration that leads me to what really caught my attention about Mr. Dean who quoted “A lot of kids growing up today aren't told that you can be whatever you want to be. There may be obstacles, but there are no limits.” To me, that quote, more specifically the latter half of the quote resonated with me so much. While I was never told that I could not be whatever I wanted to be, often time there were some doubts on a few things based on me feeling I was unable to complete the task. That caused me to not try as hard with certain goals.

Learning more about a guy that had a similar interest to me motivated me to give things another opportunity to do things that I originally never would've considered trying again. Among those activities would be understanding the concept of coding. I was mediocre at reading in general and have learned to read more and keep up with multiple tasking. Giving myself the chance to slow down and learn to progress without rushing and to understand the fundamentals has helped me further my computer science skills and interest which is a strong passion, and I am proficient at doing. Mr. Dean's multitasking included an interest in swimming, and he won awards and I enjoy basketball and community service. Some are told to pick and choose, not do both.

It may be likely to have learned these lessons eventually, but it was a very important quote that still helps me during difficult times. While it is a simple quote and nothing particularly special, it is a lesson that many people need to be told often due to various hardships in life bringing people down especially today’s youth who many have given up on. Grateful that I have parents that encourage me often as I hope to do as well. Who knows, maybe one day someone will be writing about me in a scholarship essay on a person in history.