From Perseverance to Promise by Mauri

From Perseverance to Promise by Mauri - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

In theatre, one of the most important things you will ever learn is perseverance. This is a lesson I learned my junior year of high school from the most influential teacher I’ve ever had, Mr. Joshua Long. Mr. Long was my theatre teacher, and I got to know him pretty well during my high school career through late night rehearsals and introspective acting lessons. Just as I got to know him pretty well, he came to know me on the same level. I was a part of the advanced stage crew as well as a student in advanced acting acting classes all three years of high school.

My junior year, I was selected to serve on the theatre presidency as the vice president of the advanced stage crew. I was ecstatic; I had so many ideas for the stage crew as well as the theatre department as a whole and I was excited to voice these ideas to the rest of the presidency. However, my desires were quickly shot down. As a presidency, we weren’t working well together. There were major communication issues, we were dropping deadlines and not following through with all of our responsibilities. I didn’t feel like I was living up to Mr. Long’s expectations for me.

We managed to band together and finish the year strong, leading our theatre competition team to a first place state championship. I felt like this had redeemed all of our mishaps and disappointments. The end of the year was rapidly approaching, which meant that the deadline to submit our application to be on the following years presidency was also rapidly approaching. I re-applied to be on the theatre presidency; I felt that even though it had been a tough year, I had personally shown what a responsible student I was and that I was capable of redeeming myself. I felt confident that I would be picked to serve on the theatre presidency for another year.

When our end of year gala rolled around, and we came to the time in the evening where Mr. Long would announce the next year's theatre presidency, I remember feeling very confident that my name would be called and I would be next year's stage crew president. I stood backstage and listened as the name of every single student who was eligible to be on the presidency for another year was called, except mine. The position had gone to someone else, and I was absolutely furious. I felt angry, sad, disappointed and betrayed. I had so many thoughts going through my mind that weekend, and by the time I walked into the school on Monday morning, I had decided that I would not be attending Hillcrest my senior year because I hadn’t been chosen to be a part of the next year's theatre presidency.

When I entered the theatre room, Mr. Long almost immediately called me into his office. He shut the door, which I knew was never a good sign. He told me that he wanted to talk about what had happened on Saturday at the gala. I thought I knew what he was going to say; he was going to tell me how disappointed he was in me and the work that I had done and that's why I didn’t make theatre presidency. Surprisingly, he wanted to apologize to me. He said that he realized I deserved some type of warning that my friends were all going to make presidency and I wasn’t. He also wanted me to know that he was proud of the work and effort that I had put into the department. He made sure that I understood that just because I hadn’t been selected for presidency, didn’t mean that he didn't value my effort or want me to stop giving everything I had to this department.

After this conversation with Mr. Long, I thought long and hard about my decision to leave Hillcrest, and ultimately decided to remain at Hillcrest my senior year. Looking back on it now, I am so glad I made that decision. At our 2016 end-of-year gala, I was inducted into the Thespian Circle of Hillcrest. Mr. Long talked very movingly of all my accomplishments over the years and how proud he was of me for persevering through my senior year, even though I’d had to deal with the serious disappointment of not making presidency my senior year. Knowing that the person who I strive to be like was proud of me was one of the most incredible feelings in the world.

I look up to Mr. Long immensely; he inspired me to become a theatre teacher. He taught me how to persevere, which is an important lesson to learn when you work in the theatre, and I want to impart this lesson to my students just as he did for me. Because of the lesson that he taught me, I can move forward to my future without fear, because I know how to overcome difficulties and persevere.