DO NOT READ THIS ESSAY by Michael

DO NOT READ THIS ESSAY by Michael - September 2014 Scholarship Essay

Bravo, you’ve shown precisely the gravitas celebrated in this writing. Please, read on.

Some folks will insist that hard work is everything. It’s not, nor is motivation. Heck, even pure smarts will only get you so far. Put them all together though, now you might be on to something. However, the skill MOST important to success in college is a term difficult to put into words, and even more difficult to put into practice. Luckily, I had a mentor who did just that.

One of my former professors, a department chairman and revered scholar, was an aging Italian man whose sharpness of wit was rivaled only by the sharpness of his suits. Let’s call him Dr. C. He was grey in the mane and long in the tooth that’s for sure, but old Dr. C had more spring in his step and zest for life than most of his 20 year old students. As far as Dr. C was concerned, the alphabet began with the letter B, but there was much more to be gained from his course than a hike in grade point average: as an educator, he radiated graceful intelligence, causing everyone around him to absorb it. He truly encouraged thinking both freely and richly. His favorite sentiment, one not often uttered since the days of drive-ins and Rat Packs, defined success. When something really impressed him, (no easy feat mind you), Dr. C would exclaim ‘Now that’s moxie!’ In his classroom, showing moxie meant presenting a hardiness of spirit; boldly stating an opinion, or exploring a variable that posed uncertain. It is this virtue, this willingness to expose oneself to the possibility of failure that is essential to success. By taking risks academically, creatively, and socially, one can create circumstances that will foster success in college. That’s the power of moxie.

Too often, college students are afraid to take risks. They worry that going out on a proverbial limb will lead to a negative result; academic deterioration, creative annihilation, and social humiliation. But it is crucial to let go of that fear, or suffer mediocrity and regret. Unbound by the fear and anxiety of failure, students can truly express themselves and explore undiscovered facets of their intellect and personality. After all, one’s college experience is not just about making the Dean’s List: it’s also very much about developing one’s sense of self: a separate but profound kind of success. In my own experience, I uncovered the deepest understanding of my identity only when faced with a challenge or after suffering failure. Surely, no one intends to make mistakes, but therein lays the importance of abiding with that moxie: picking one’s self up, growing when there is wisdom to be gained, and pressing on. Those feelings of failure will soon mutate into feelings of hope and opportunity once you see where they lead you. Sometimes it’s appropriate, even necessary to ignore convention in order to create a beneficial context. Sometimes a little moxie will take you a lot further than playing it safe.

Showing moxie in Dr. C’s course paid off for me, and I earned the coveted B+. Life has been equally as receptive, and it’s brought me to places I never thought possible. I urge every student to do the same. So take your tenacious work ethic with you to college, take your unrelenting motivation, and take your smarts with you too; you’ll need them all. Now, take the moxie you’ve had all along and “don’t read" a few more essays.