Watrous the Track Star by Milan

Watrous the Track Star by Milan - June 2019 Scholarship Essay

School was a very simple and non-complacent job for me. Throughout elementary, junior high, and sophomore year the given work in my classes was straightforward and uncomplex. It wasn’t until junior year hit and I ended the first quarter of English 11 Honors with a C. This was the first C I have ever received and of course, I was devastated. Mr. Watrous was my English teacher at the time and he was a very old man, who’s curriculum was very outdated. Though he is an old fashioned man, his passion and integrity shun through his lessons of American literature. This man taught me two very important lessons, how to become a good reader and how to finish a race.

During the first quarter of English 11 Honors, we read The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthrone. I hated the book because of one dirty secret, I never actually finished a book by myself prior to junior year. I’d usually go on SparkNotes and study their summaries for reading quizzes and for reference for given essays. Mr. Watrous’ reading quizzes were focused on the details, he proposed that the details are what shaped the story and actually proves whether you read it or not. My C was a well deserved C because my indolent self didn’t read the book. After failing two reading quizzes, I finally picked up the book and read it. Watrous had a guide on how to annotate and always encouraged the class to take one from him. Something in me decided to pick one up; once started reading, I took notes on every detail that had potential, underlined transition words, circled words I didn’t understand and wrote tiny summaries in the margins. Weirdly enough, I started joining the in-class discussions and attentively listened to Mr.Watrous’ lectures. We’d read a few chapters in class and he’d stop at every few so pages to remind the class of the current setting, timeline, and attendance of the characters this tremendously improved my ability of comprehension. Not only did my comprehension improve, but reading began to pique my interest. He presented literature novels as this ambient voice for the human experience. The list of books he chose for the curriculum were all entertaining, but most importantly I actually finished them all with a smile on my face.

Mr. Watrous used to run track in high school, he’d always reference races and I never took in his reasoning for it until now. Going back to that C, I had to redeem myself for the second quarter. My grades kept improving in his class and he took note. To be honest, I never worked as hard for any class until his and I’m grateful that his class pushed me. I finally became consistent in classwork, homework, and quizzes, this consistency bled into other classes. We read The Glass Menagerie by Tennesse Williams, one of the characters, Laura, is an insecure and shy young woman. Laura let discouragement take ahold of her life; Watrous pointed out a very important quote that Laura’s mom, Amanda, made which was the difference of discouragement and disappointment. Discouragement terrorizes people from trying something again and disappointment acknowledges that one failed, but knows they can try again. Most runners don’t just sit on the track field nor do they stay down as they fall if they want to win. Track stars lose races and those are the most vital races because they were given the choice of getting back up or staying down. The real track stars get back up and finish the race even if they know they’re losing because they must show their integrity. Though I didn’t get perfect A’s in his class I showed that I’m capable of working hard; yes, I could’ve worked harder to achieve those perfect A’s, but life happens, I can’t control everything around me. I did not win the race but surely did finish it with sweat and tears.

Thanks to Mr.Watrous recommending me to join the school newspaper, I am now Co-Editor in Chief for the upcoming school year. I was never one to participate in school because sadly I was a Laura. Being able to finish a race and enjoy a complex book is the ultimate gift I have ever received from a teacher. Unfortunately, Mr.Watrous retired, but he will be missed by the alumni.