Woman of Inspiration by Marianna

Woman of Inspiration by Marianna - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

Throughout one’s life, he or she will encounter several men and women that will influence his or her life. The majority of these influential individuals are teachers and professors. Teachers provide numerous words of encouragement and advice for young women like myself to apply in life. One of the most important lesson I’ve learned was from my high school sophomore teacher, whom stated, “to rise. Rise higher than those fools who cannot see your worth because of the clothes you wear, or the music you listen to, or even the spelling of your name. Be a different kind of fighter. Be the change.”
This always stuck out to me due to the circumstance my teacher was in that made her state it in the first place. My instructor made a promise to us students that at the end of the school year she would rap her favorite hip-hop song to us if we did well throughout the year. As the end of the school year approached, she fulfilled her promise to us. As she was rapping a fellow student recorded and proceeded to post it on social media. The video instantly grabbed the attention of thousands of viewers. Amongst these views was a man who was not fond of the video and stated that my instructor should have chosen a “whiter song” and that “rap has no place in the classroom,” along with further racial comments. My teacher, who is Caucasian, was furious with this statement and replied to his comment with an explanation as to why she was rapping and how one’s racial and ethnic background does not define who he or she is and how well he or she performs in school. She then followed her comment with advice to all of us students to “rise above.”
This was one of the most important lessons I learned because despite the anger and hurt she felt, she decided to look past that and rise above in order to stick up for her students and for what she believed in. Life will throw many obstacles my way, even when I am not prepared and I must stick to what I believe in and rise above in order to pursue my goals. In addition to this I am a young woman of color with an abundant amount of societal odds against me that I must rise above and push through in order to complete my goal and educational plans for my life. The clothes I wear, my background, and musical choices does not define my academic performance or intellectual level. I will graduate high school with my diploma and associates degree this fall and will continue to rise above individuals and statistics that try to degrade and knock me down. I thank my teacher for not only sharing this lesson with me, but for demonstrating it first hand.