Pizza Hut Book It Prizes Change Lives by Michael

Pizza Hut Book It Prizes Change Lives by Michael - March 2014 Scholarship Essay

Test scores, academic accomplishments, and awards can have an uplifting effect on students and their overall perspective towards school and education. Failures have a similarly important impact on students, but for far different reasons. My greatest academic failure came at the early age of six, in the kindergarten. From my perspective; however, my greatest failure and moment of academic humiliation became the motivation for a lifetime of “winning” in the classroom that would make Charlie Sheen jealous.
Twenty kindergarten through fifth graders sat in eager anticipation of Book It prizes in a pizza Hut in a small, agricultural community in northwest Nebraska. The elementary-aged students from a rural school system long lost to the annals of history sat in anticipation of pizza and prizes. The mood was joyous and the occasion fulfilling, but when award time arrived, one child was left heartbroken. I was the only student of the twenty to not receive the Book It yearly award for reading. From a home perspective, there had been no room for concern; I had received the coveted personal pan pizza certificates for months without fail. The problem ran back to the first month of reading prizes from the pizza chain. My mother, a first time mom, had filled out my paperwork incorrectly. While not a large mistake, this mishap had a large effect on my life.

The problem was not the mistake, but rather a series of misplaced, careless, and potentially dangerous words from an older classmate. After the prizes were awarded and I sat empty-handed, one of the fourth graders let me know the reason for my absence from the award list. According to him, I was, “Stupid and could not read.” This absolutely devastated me and I cried for hours when I got home. This may have been an over-emotional reaction by a six year old, but it shaped my outlook on education for the rest of my life.

Ever since this moment, I have remained laser-focused on my educational endeavors. My sense of academic competition has been fiery and intense since this moment and has led me to success at every step on my educational journey. In the eighth grade, I completed my third consecutive year of middle school with a 4.0 GPA and the Top Gun Award. The Top Gun Award was awarded to the Chadron Middle School student with the best grades in his graduating class. Next, I continued this success with a 4.0 GPA in high school and our class’s Valedictorian. I developed intense study habits and did not settle for A’s, but wanted to have the best grades in every class. Then, I moved onto the hardest challenge of my academic life at the collegiate level where I received a B for the first time in my public school years. This failure came the first semester, but I vowed to never allow it to happen again. I ratcheted up my study habits and finished college with a 3.98 GPA and graduated Summa Cum Laude. All of this resulted in my greatest academic achievement, a top one percent national score on the Praxis II Social Studies Content Knowledge Exam for prospective teachers. I felt this score on this standardized test for all social studies teachers was the proof of a lifetime of dedication to school and my education.

Our greatest achievements may come about as a result of our greatest failures; I certainly believe this statement fits my life. I never compromised my social life, always working to find time for my friends and future wife. Despite my dedication to school, I did not allow for a disintegration of other aspects of my life. In the same way, I competed in three sports at the high school level including: football, basketball, and track. My football career even extended four years into the Division II level at Chadron State College. I believe that I have accomplished a lot academically, athletically, and in terms of overall life success, but when it comes to school, the words of that young boy almost 18 years ago still ring. Walt Disney may have said it best when he uttered the line, “You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” The world is not necessarily an easy place, but I truly believe that a young mother’s paperwork error shaped my view on education and my educational accomplishments more than any single achievement in my life.