Growth by Leslie

Growth by Leslie - June 2017 Scholarship Essay

"Mama you can be anything you want to be". Those words my mother always told me became the inspiration for me to open my 6yr old mind to the countless number of things I could be. Out of the hundreds of possible careers my heart was set on a pastry chef.
I remember our living room tv screen would always have some type of cooking show on. It was the never-ending re runs of baking shows -such as Cupcake Wars, Amazing Wedding Cakes, and The Cake Boss- that would capture my attention. The way their hands could take a picture of a rough draft idea and make it come to life wooed my creative little brain.
As soon as I told my mother my set-in stone career and plans of opening my own bakery she planned a weekend run to Michael’s. We went first thing in the morning to purchase a culinary kit for me to mess around with. It came with the piping bags, multiple decorating tips, a practice booklet for my piping skills, and all these other supplies to help me grow my desire of becoming a top-notch pastry chef. That kit was the propane that lit up my fire of ambition that I have today. I practiced with my pink icing filled piping bag to create squiggles and designs any time I had the chance. Of course, I was only 6, so I was bound to not be the greatest baker I had hoped for. But if it wasn’t for those times of me having to clear practice sheets of messed up icing lines and throwing away deserts that came out a little crispier than intended, I would’ve never learned to work hard to accomplish any dream I would ever have.
I didn’t become the owner of a bakery named Cake Stars or become The Cake Boss’s best employee he hired, but what I did do was grow my strength I need to pursue anything in life. In any dream, I have I will always need to have faith in myself, strength to get over my failures, and joy in whatever I choose to do. It wasn’t until my freshman year of high school did I realize I wasn’t meant to be a baker. I practiced and practiced, but my burnt cakes and awful buttercream designs showed I was still a 6-year-old trying to bake when I was actually the age of 14. The eight years of working hard at that dream became the base of my work ethic and determination I have today. It grew my endurance to the ups and downs I have and will face as I continue to strive to my dream of becoming the first person in my family to graduate high school and attend college to become a Radiation Oncologist.