Keep Moving Forward: The Only Thing Disney Ever Helped With by Maria

Keep Moving Forward: The Only Thing Disney Ever Helped With by Maria - May 2014 Scholarship Essay

I personally love Disney, I love Mickey and his crew and how they chaotically interact with one another. Yet they always manage to stick together. Nonetheless, there is nothing better than sitting down, singing along to “A Whole New World” while watching a classic Disney film. Yes, they are animated films made for entertainment, but if there is anything Disney Movies ever taught me, it was to essentially “keep moving forward”, in the words of the amazing Walt Disney.

Entering high school was really an obstacle I strongly believed I could not overcome. My sweet grandfather had passed away that summer due to cancer in his brain. At that time he was my world and my motivation, and all of that had disappeared because he was gone. Although I was a very smart girl for a freshman, taking Algebra II instead of Geometry or Pre-Algebra, I struggled maintaining a motivation that, for the most part, did not exist. This lack of motivation caused me to keep to myself and keep myself from asking for help, both emotionally and academically. It wasn’t until my sophomore year when niece had recorded “Meet the Robinsons”; even then I refused to watch it and only watching segments when I walked across the living room.

Towards mid sophomore year, I decided to sit down and watch it. Like every Disney film, the movie began with the fireworks, the castle, and the catchy “Disney anthem” as I like to call it. Then it accumulated to a hopeful and inspiring song, and the motion picture of a mother leaving her baby at the doorstep of an orphanage. Little did I know it would be the film that changed me forever. Through the adventures of Lewis and Wilbur through the future, Lewis constantly runs into the phrase “Keep Moving Forward” as the Robinson’s are always stating. After his difficulty with wanting to know whom his mom is, he soon realizes that he doesn’t have to know whom she is, but instead he learns to leave it in the past and keep moving forward. The film ties everything together by playing Rob Thomas’ “Little Wonders” and with Lewis, who is now named Cornelius, moving out of the orphanage and into a new home with his loving new parents only to become the successful man he found out he was. Finally, the curtain is dropped with an inspirational quote:

“Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
-Walt Disney

They intelligently highlighted “keep moving forward”, and it automatically touched me and I felt connected with those three words in a way I had never been connected before. I took that with me everywhere, and it was the motivation I was missing throughout the beginning of my high school education. These words ultimately helped me through the rest of my sophomore year up until what is now my senior year. Yes, sometimes it is difficult to stay motivated in your education, especially senior year because it is your last year and slowly there is only one month left, and you just want to get things over with. The game to success is not over yet, so keep moving forward, keep pushing for that A, keep pushing for a strong ending. Ultimately, if you don’t take the initiative to do it, nobody will do it for you.