Building A Dam by Kortney

Building A Dam by Kortney - October 2022 Scholarship Essay

Education is something each person can relate to in some way, shape, or form. We all need to be educated whether it's culturally, ethically, emotionally, or logically, we all share the basic need to learn. Education is presented to us from our birth to our death but in school we experience it from age 4 to age 22. From learning the alphabet to what a fraction is and how to write a research paper or who Aristotle is, education prepares us for what life has to offer.

Think of it like a beaver building a dam. We the people are the beavers and the pieces of wood are education. Whether it’s small sticks or huge branches, they all work together to make this single thing. Our education brings us protection from making bad decisions like paying high interest on a car or switching your major for the fifth time that semester. It protects us from predatory people who want to attack us and use us. Our education protects us from drowning. It controls the high tide that can suck us in and leave us under the sea. With education, we can merely wade in the water.

Education to me isn’t just associated with school, it applies to our entire life. With learning we are able to grow our minds and our interests. We have the power to make incredible change around us whether it is through the arts, humanities, sciences, or even hospitality. Through education we are brought together as a society to work and flourish, and it all begins with learning.

Beavers build dams to create deep water that protects them from predators, we build our education for the same reason. Though we’re not being hunted for our flesh or bones, there’s still something to hide behind and why not let it be the strongest piece of armor between titanium and gold?