North Carolina by Lucy

North Carolina by Lucy - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

Most teachers are either very friendly or the complete opposite. Well, then I met the King: Mrs. Latoya King, my AP Literature and English Comprehension teacher.
Mrs. King was notorious for being a strict teacher, and everyone seemed highly terrified of her. At first, I thought “How bad could she be?” That was my mistake. She was the strictest teacher I have ever had in my life, giving up to 4 tests a week along with 2 essays a day for only a 90-minute class. She also gave her AP students a summer project that about 85% of the students failed because she failed to announce that there was more online which she hadn’t explain to anyone but 3 people who shared the information with their friends. Of course, I, being a naïve 17-year-old thought my grades were decent, until the progress reports came, and for the first time in my life, I was failing a class! I didn’t know what to do or tell my parents, so instead I talked with Mrs. King as to why my grade was so low, she told me to look it up online (Our grades are available on a website with assignments and explanations) and I did as was told.
Flash forward the semester and our final assignment was due, she told us to write what we thought about the class using the format of a famous poem. We had to present that poem, and to say the least, everyone was dumbfounded, merely due to the fact that many people have never heard me speak, and I made a few people cry. The next day, Mrs. King said that she was shocked but what I said was true. I sent her an e-mail about why I thought I didn’t deserve the praise but she told me that I should raise my voice, and state my opinion more often, because the class loved my voice. She said my voice was powerful enough to move an entire class to different emotions. She told me that she struggled similarly by being the shadow of her siblings since she can remember.
I realized that she wasn’t being strict because she liked it, it was more due to the fact that people always looked down on her from childhood and she learned how to be strong. She strengthened people’s views about her and she isn’t strict but more of a dare-like demeanor. The last day of class, half of the class was gone and she ordered 17 pizzas, since there were only 7 people in the class we finished 10 of the pizzas and took 1 pizza each home. That day was fun and I understood that sometimes you have to strengthen yourself, for the sake of others and the King was the one who taught me that, and I’m glad I was taught by her.