Teaching Students, Changing Lives by Maggie

Teaching Students, Changing Lives by Maggie - January 2025 Scholarship Essay

Strict, a hard grader, incredibly intelligent, funny, intimidating, kind, demanding, enthusiastic, and passionate. Meet Mrs. Cardwell.

At my high school, students pass down stories about Mrs. Cardwell, “the English teacher”. She is often simultaneously students’ favorite and most challenging teacher. I was no exception. In high school, I had Mrs. Cardwell from freshman through junior years and what I learned from her went much further than textbooks and dates. She was the first teacher who showed me the beauty and strength in education. In her own intelligence and literary skill, she showed me what I could hope to one day attain through hard work and diligence.

When I entered her class as a ninth grader, I knew I was about to be challenged beyond what I had ever been. She required multiple readings from the long texts and deep analysis into characters and concepts. I had never done so much work for one class. I had also never felt so drained and tired of this work before. She never assigned more than I could do but I had to be disciplined to complete it all. However, class with Mrs. Cardwell made all the work worth it. She made old texts come alive in a way that I had never experienced before. Her energy in the morning was unrivaled and she always strove to bring her students to new conclusions and ideas.

These are just some of the ways that Mrs. Cardwell had an impact on me in the classroom. However, I learned many more lessons from her as a person. She was not only incredibly smart and a good teacher, but an extraordinarily kind human being and mentor. I learned so much just by silently watching the ways she interacted with other teachers and students. From her I learned the skill of being present in a conversation. She would take time out of her break periods to come and talk to me. She would not only ask me questions, but would remember what we had talked about previously and follow up. When you talked with Mrs. Cardwell, you were the only person that mattered to her, and once I noticed, I was always grateful for that attribute she displayed.

Another characteristic I observed in Mrs. Carwell was her servant’s heart towards others. One of my most vivid memories was seeing her clean messes in the bathrooms and hallways. She was in no way responsible, but it was her heart to serve both the children that made the messes and the janitorial staff.

Mrs. Cardwell inspired a love of learning in me, but also showed me how an educated person acts. An educated person knows others’ value and serves them in their words and actions and I learned this from both the classroom and watching her love others.