I Always Believed in You by Madelyn

I Always Believed in You by Madelyn - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

Entering high school after I graduated middle school terrified more than being surrounded by a bunch of sharks did. Even more so, thinking about signing up for college classes as a freshman terrified me the most. For the first time that year my high school was offering a four-year college program for those who wanted to pursue a medical degree once they finished high school. Due to the fact that it was new, the teacher in charge of teaching it could only tell us what to expect based off of the training that she had in order to be certified to teach the class. As I was listening to her speak about it, I felt extremely overwhelmed but knew that I would regret not taking it come my senior year; so I signed up for it.

The first week of class was rather laid back just because it was a lot of explanation about what the program was about, what to expect, and an overview of the class itself. Once the year started to get rolling, the curriculum started to become more intense. There was no holding back like some of my other classes entailed; you were truly taking a college level course. I started to become discouraged after my grades started taking some hits and talked to my teacher about possibly dropping her class at semester. To my surprise, she looked at me and told me to think about it but she wouldn’t recommend it. Little did I know how correct she would be. After first semester ended and second started up, I decided to stay in the program and push through the next three and a half years. Man, was that the best decision of my life and one of the most important ones too. Throughout the next three and half years in this program, my teacher always encouraged me to do my best but also challenged me because she knew that I could persevere and complete any task, project, or experiment I put my mind to.

Although she wasn’t my teacher my senior year for the program, she still was heavily involved in what I worked on during that time. One of the biggest projects I worked on my senior year was called “Project 8”, which was an individual presentation in front of every student and faculty member involved in the program about my experience when I shadowed Pediatric Oncology professionals and what it looked like to be one for the day. Throughout the whole 6 months I worked on this project, she always asked me what I was working on next, how I would go about certain situations if they arose, and if I was confident enough to present my work. Not only did this challenge me, it also gave me motivation to put everything I had into it because I knew that she believed I could do it, even if she didn’t directly say it. The day of my presentation I was absolutely nervous to deliver all of my information and started to doubt myself immensely. She saw that I was starting to pace back and forth before I went up and came up to me in the break before I went on and told me:
“I know how scared you are right now. I would be too. But throughout these last four years I have watched you work harder than you ever have before and I am extremely proud of you for not dropping your freshman year and sticking through with all of this. I always believed in you and your abilities in this program. Shake off your worry and go give it your all out there. You’ve done so much now go and show everyone else what it looks like to put your heart and soul into something.” – Gina Greil

If there was one lesson that I took away from a high school teacher, it was the lesson that no matter how discouraged you may get in their class, if you are trying your hardest everyday they will believe in you and push you to be the greatest student you can be. Even in college I see this lesson working its way as a reality and pushing me to be a better student while also knowing that my professors believe in me.