#OurFuture by Nicole

#OurFuture by Nicole - April 2018 Scholarship Essay

From the moment I started kindergarten and even up to now, education has always been ingrained in me as being one of the fundamental pillars of being successful. I hear it from my parents, as expected, all my cousins, and aunts and uncles–just a constant reminder to “finish your education!”
I am constantly being reminded of how rich this opportunity is–that I get to go to school and learn. “Not everybody gets this opportunity, Nicole.” I understand that education is important, but at a young age, it just felt like something everybody went through the motions of. It all begins with going to school, graduating, getting a job, and then maybe having a career or a family. However, upon coming into high school I feel as though I now have an even clearer understanding as to why education is important. It is so much more than just textbooks, lectures, and good grades–as fundamental as they are–it’s about bringing awareness to things that need to be improved or fixed, for the betterment of both the community and future generations on a local, national, and maybe even global scale.
My education has opened my eyes up to issues that I couldn’t have known about otherwise. My school is very involved in encouraging its students to be leaders in our community; we start in freshman year learning about past women of impact and finish in senior year with our senior service learning project, where we take the initiative to address issues of our choosing. My education has given me the tools I need to bring about change and my final year of high school has shown me that education is the bridge to creating a better future–our future.
I chose this hashtag, #OurFuture, to emphasize the impact that our education can have on our collective futures. It gives us a better understanding of our past and present in order to act and change our future. I cannot stress enough the significance of how our actions today will have an impact on our future, whether that be positive or negative. Our actions are like leaves dropping into a still pond; once the leaves drop, it is inevitable that ripples will be created. Taking that into account, as the leaders of the future, we have to think about taking advantage of our education, in order to make sure that the ripples we make are done with the mindset of improving whatever may lay ahead.