The Life of RyLynn Graciella May by Michaela
Michaelaof Muncie's entry into Varsity Tutor's June 2014 scholarship contest
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The Life of RyLynn Graciella May by Michaela - June 2014 Scholarship Essay
If I were given the opportunity to write a book it would be about a teenage girl named RyLynn trying to find her way through high school and college while keeping her faith. She would have to overcome extreme obstacles such as a parent dying or leaving, cheating boyfriends, and disloyal friends. So often in books high school is romanticized, not showing what it really is, but the author’s idealistic view of it, also it is hard to find good books about Christian teens going through life, doubting their faith and coming back to it.
RyLynn would start as a typical high school student involved in band, theatre, choir, and working twenty to thirty hours a week trying to help support her family since her father had died two years before. During her sophomore year of high school a close friend of hers from church, a senior, would ask her out and she would say yes. He would be her first boyfriend and they would become very close.
During their relationship he would try to put pressure on her to push their relationship physically. She would be able to stay strong and push him away, but would not be able to end the relationship because of fear of what her mom and his parents, family friends would think of her. As they transfer into the next year and he leaves for college their relationship would grow distant. One day she would call him and his other girlfriend would answer his phone. RyLynn would finally have the courage to break up with him and lose one of her best friends in the process.
After RyLynn and Matt broke up, RyLynn would struggle to understand why God had let these things happen to her, why he let her boyfriend cheat on her with her best friend, and why she couldn’t feel him close to her anymore. She would then begin to doubt that God existed because if he did, surely these things wouldn’t be happening, but they are. When her friend, Luke, who had led her to Christ dies of bacterial meningitis the church will come around her and show her love she hadn’t felt in a while.
RyLynn ends up graduating high school with an honors diploma and in the top twenty percent of her class. She starts college at an extremely small and strict Christian college and begins with the major her father had wanted for her and her mother does now. She struggles because she strongly dislikes it. She stops praying, reading her bible, and spending time with God on a personal basis. She later gets kicked out weeks before the end of the semester because of meeting a boy off campus at a Walmart near her school.
When she comes home things with her family are very rough. She hates being home and all she wants to do is move out on her own. She starts hanging out with the wrong group of friends and loses all faith she has whatsoever. When she finally returns to church she is told to sit still and listen to God’s voice, and is strongly convicted. After talking to another college age student she realizes that God wants her to pursue nursing and someday missions no matter what the cost may be to her personal life, as she feels led to pursue this at a large state school.
The reason I would write my book about a girl who went through this is because it is a combination of the story of my high school years and a few of my friends. While I personally did not lose a parent, one of my friends lost both and the struggle she had with that changed her life forever. She struggled with her faith and her family’s faith, with what she wanted to do with her life versus what her parents had wanted for her life.
Another reason is that I realize that many people portray high school as either very idealistic or the opposite and the worst place in the world, but it is not either, it is somewhere in between and I think people should have the opportunity to see the story of a few northern Indiana girls who had it rougher than some but easier than others.
Sometimes it is easy to view a story about a Christian as just another story or a joke, often because their lives are portrayed in books to be easy or perfect. They may have some struggles but they never lose faith or doubt. It is important that people see that it is normal for teens to doubt and struggle but the church and family and friends can come around that person and support them. They can show the love of Christ to someone and help them believe just by showing they care.
Someday I truly do hope to publish a book for teenage girls who have had similar struggles to the ones that my friends and I have had. I think it is important to give girls hope that they would not otherwise have. Sometimes hope is the only thing that people live for and it is important for me to give that to them.