Influences in every child's life: Father and Mother by Lauren

Influences in every child's life: Father and Mother by Lauren - March 2021 Scholarship Essay

Ever since I was a little girl, I always loved learning inside of the classroom, and outside of school. My mother and father have always encouraged me to choose classes that were harder than what the rest of my peers were taking. Along with the advanced language classes, I was introduced to many different math and science classes. When I took my first physical science class, I immediately fell in love with the STEM field and have conducted the course of my studies to include as many STEM classes as I possibly could.
For as long as I can remember, my father has been working in computer tech and fiber optics for the company Entergy. I have always grown up hearing about the importance of computer programming, as I was educated on computational mechanics. When I was six years old, my father taught me how to read coordinates on a coordinate plane. My father has stressed the importance of academic honesty and ambition to me in the past seventeen years, and this led me to value my education and continue it far after high school. Seeing my father so encouraged and excited about my academic potential made me want to push myself harder as I grew older.
My mother, however, has been the biggest driving force when it came to my future education. My mother has worked in radiology since the day I was born, but she recently accepted a job at CARTI (a radiology center for cancer patients). She has always told me about how much she loves her job and how she feels so rewarded at the end of the day that she could better someone’s life. I held an interest in the medical field for a couple of years, but after completing a training course at Conway Regional, I quickly realized that the medical field wasn’t for me. After this realization, my mother told me that I should consider being an engineer, I laughed at first because I wasn’t aware of my options yet. After researching my options and taking my first chemistry course I learned that a degree in chemical engineering was right for me and that the course work is challenging, but I would be ecstatic to pursue a career in the chemical engineering field.
If it was not for my father’s passion for furthering my future career and education, I wouldn’t be so excited about starting this new chapter of my life. Because of my mother's suggestion to consider engineering and the sciences I would have been misled in terms of the decisions I would make for my future. My mother and father have always been the most impactful driving force in my success, and I believe that their encouragement will last long past my college graduation.