Never Give Up by Madison

Never Give Up by Madison - June 2019 Scholarship Essay

Encouragement is a huge part of education. For me, my middle school English teacher, Mrs Joni, was my encouragement. She taught me to enjoy English and appreciate what was written on each page of a book. However, the most important lesson that she taught me was perseverance. I went to a small Christian school for elementary and middle school. We were pushed to our limits. We were reading seventh grade books in third grade and doing ninth grade geography in sixth grade. Needless to say, school was not easy. There were times that I wanted to quit, but Mrs. Joni would never let me. In her gentle voice she would just say, "Now, if I just told you the answer, would you learn anything?" I would reply with a solemn, "No, ma'am", and rephrase my question. Oftentimes, she would look at me and just smile. That was all I needed to keep on pushing. She expected the world from me and my classmates, which made us frustrated at the time, but we respected her so much that we knew we needed to push on for her. Yes, Mrs. Joni taught me how to diagram a sentence and write my first research paper, but most of all she taught me to NEVER EVER GIVE UP!

As I moved on to high school, I found myself craving that same encouragement. When I would get stressed I would still turn to her for help. Her prayers and consistent love and encouragement pushed me on through my Early College career. I just graduated this May. She was there along with my pastor (her husband) just to make sure that I knew that she was always going to be there for me. Through all the years that she taught me, Mrs. Joni has encouraged each and every interest like I was her own child.

Years after I left her classroom, I was offered a tutoring position at my local community college. After I had been assisting students for a few weeks, I found myself teaching the same way that she taught me. I would encourage my students without even thinking. I found myself recalling the techniques she used to teach us, sentence structure and the proper essay writing process. I remembered outlines and reading comprehension skills, but most of all, I remembered her smiling at me and saying, "Keep going". Not only did Mrs. Joni's encouragement impact my education and love for English, but it impacted the students I tutored as well.