You dont have to yell. by Michelle

You dont have to yell. by Michelle - November 2019 Scholarship Essay

Be me. Just me, being me. I think as a confident person, but (humbly) not an arrogant person, and as a well-spoken person, but not inappropriately outspoken, I helped positively impact my high school. I didn’t want to be like anyone else in my school. I don’t mean to say I desired to be “the” unicorn, but it was not my mission to be like or unlike others. I changed schools too often for my parents’ work, that the effort to be like the next student would have been endless. Generally speaking, I probably looked and acted a lot like the other kids, jeans, backpack, long naturally colored hair that partially covered my face in the run-of-the-mill style.

So how was I “me”. I was smart, I was smart enough to be bored. I was so bored I started getting Ds in my classes, so my parents sent me to a psychologist out figure out what was wrong with me. Turns out what was “wrong” was that my brain was under engaged. But being smart with an underemployed brain, I didn’t turn to nefarious hobbies – instead, I actually was overemployed with marching band and concert and symphonic performance groups; I swam competitively on the high school team in the winter; I marched winter color guard (flags and rifles); I took AP classes; I worked a part time job year-round in dog and cat boarding and grooming; and swam competitively in the community during the summers.

Keeping my mind busy resulted in better than mediocre grades; but what made me, me? I wore cowboy boots, correctly, under your jeans’ pant leg. I was not sporting fashion oriented, bedazzled, high-healed, purple boots on the outside of my jeans… I wore respectable black, 1.5inch heal boots inside my jeans. Why was this uniquely me? Because no one else was doing it, at my high school, located just outside Washington D.C. in the 1990s. I bought my first pair in Texas, at a reputable store.

Why are my cowboy boots a positive impact on my high school? Because I was me, confidently, brain engaged, physically active, productive member of society. Others told me they liked me because I was different, in a good way. Some told me, people liked me because I was relatable, from so many perspectives. Most who mentioned my “unicorn-ness” simply said, they loved that I was different without having to scream it from the roof tops. I didn’t have a swarm of friends, I had a few acquaintances and a few close friends. Oddly, at a reunion, I again did not have a swarm of friends, but instead had a swarm of acquaintances – more than I could have imagined. Who knew, I had that kind of impact for being “just me” without having to tell (or yell) my uniqueness. Stick to your own convictions.