You've been given a $10,000 grant. How will you use the money to positively impact your hometown? by Morgan

You've been given a $10,000 grant. How will you use the money to positively impact your hometown? by Morgan - May 2019 Scholarship Essay

Hometown is such a cozy word. It reminds me of hot summer days spent splashing in the rain, watching the sunset on the water when the chill is just right, taking pictures with my sisters with the wind whipping through our hair. For each of us, it holds a different meaning, but for everyone one thing rings true: our hometown is what shaped us. If I was given a $10,000 grant, I would give the funds to the place that cradles and cultivates our minds from the age of six to eighteen- our schools.
The importance of education is severely underestimated and overlooked by many administrative legislators, and many of the people in political power. Not only do we learn and retain textbook knowledge, but we are subject to social interactions that play a huge role in how we develop into adults. We are also influenced by the classes we take, the teachers we meet, and the friends we make along the way to graduation. I would put the money into the schools to first hire more teachers. The insanely large class sizes for many elective and core classes are profoundly disorienting and contribute to the decay in quality of our individual education. The teachers aren't given enough opportunity to interact with their students, present material in a reasonable amount of time, or keep up with the curriculum when they have 40 students in a classroom meant to fit 25 at maximum, with only enough desks for 37. Hiring more teachers (and thus lowering class sizes) would only have a positive effect- it would make the job more enjoyable for our teachers and it would make the course a better learning experience for the students enrolled.
As important as our education is our mental health. And coming from a student with mental illness enrolled in the public school system, I will say that it is a very challenging journey when you’re trying to graduate while balancing your own sanity. It felt often times that I was alone in my experience and that I had no one in my corner, helping me get through something as simple as one period. We had our four school guidance counselors, the two social workers, and the one school psychologist, sure, but they all had to manage 1500 collective caseloads. No time for personal care, though many of them did try very hard to be involved and look out for some students’ wellbeing. I never caught that wave, so to speak. No one called me into the office to check up on me; no one followed up when I had alerted them of a change in my medication; no one called, emailed, wrote, or spoke to me about missing two consecutive weeks of school because I was so drowned by my own thoughts that I couldn’t even muster getting out of my bed for something as simple as eating. But I don’t blame the counselors, admin, or even my school. I blame the lack of voice on the subject and the lack of federal support for our students’ wellbeing. I would funnel a portion of the money into establishing a psychological office in schools, for counselors that aren’t simply there to be paper-pushers. These people would be invested in the students; there would be enough of them to keep track of a manageable portion of the students; and if discrepancies are noticed in behavior, academic performance, social involvement, etc., they’d be called up- not to be chastised or punished for their actions- but to be assessed, to be checked up on, to be listened to in their silent, unorthodox cry for help. The mental health of students has been trending downwards- more and more students are being diagnosed with mental illness as times move on and school becomes more and more rigorous in basic graduation requirements and higher course competition. This is important to address early on and to provide support when it’s needed most, because you never know the impact a shoulder to cry on might have on someone’s life.
There are many more areas of schools to be improved- cleanliness, respect, teacher salary, the list goes on. But I feel the most important are the student’s security, passion, and safety in their school. After all, this is the place that we grow up, the people we form our closest relationships with, the institution that guides our moral compass and our lasting life interests. It’s very important to me that all kids get to have a good experience in school, and are shaped into proud, passionate people as a result. My hometown is where I grew up, and my school is where my mind grew up. We need to protect and prolong our minds, and giving money to address fundamental issues in the institution that harbors our youth for such an important part of their lives is essential in this goal.