Optimism by Kingunge

Optimism by Kingunge - May 2022 Scholarship Essay

Adversity?, I am in the middle of one. My car's engine knocked. I need my car to go to classes and to my part time job. What am I doing about that? I have applied what I have always heard growing up, "motion attracts more". Meaning, one should not just sit down and accept defeat no matter how tough the situation is. By trying to do something about it, even if it is just writing down the plan, talking it over seeking advice and ideas to overcome it, or selling things one does not need (here I am trying to jump start the funds to repair my car), eventually a solution will materialize.

If anything, I think the Covid19 pandemic gave us all a dose of optimism - a skill I use to overcome tough, challenging times. I was a senior in high school when the lockdown happened. We did not know if we would be able to graduate on time, or walk at the graduation ceremony, let alone having that graduation ceremony happen at all. But collectively we rallied, with the help of our teachers' support and guidance, to keep studying, encouraging one another not to give up and drop out of high school despite various personal difficulties some faced, because the more we stayed in school, the higher the belief, the possibility and the optimism to have a graduation ceremony got. We had our graduation ceremony in the end, as zappity-zoom (we tried to minimize time spent in big crowds as per CDC guidance) as it was.