#investMEnt by Noah

#investMEnt by Noah - April 2018 Scholarship Essay

I was lucky enough to find my best friends at a very early age, many of them before 3rd grade actually, but these guys were the type of people where academics and athletic skill came easy to them. They survived off little study or practice and still excelled. They were my influence and the model I wanted to follow as I was going into highschool. This sounds great, but that meant I was focused on the wrong thing, my end performance, which, going into freshman year I didn't necessarily excel in. Instead I should of been focused on the process it takes to get there. Due to this, I fell into a pattern of focusing on whatever was easiest at the time, leading to bad grades and almost not making the soccer team. I found out later that all I really needed to do was invest myself in the things I truly cared about, whether it was easy or not, the success followed after that.

By the end of freshman year I had learned that lesson, but then a new one arised. I had devoted myself to soccer. I’d work through the sweat, blood and tears that came with long fitness days, difficult injuries and disappointing losses. Unfortunately, at the same time, I couldn't bear through excruciating studying hours, confusing lectures or long exams. I couldn’t find the balance of how much I should invest myself into each of my interests, giving way to much time and energy into soccer that I had none left for school.

Each year I worked on myself, finding this balance while still remembering to investing time and energy into the things I cared about. The nature of investments is the more you put in, the more you get out, but the mistake most people make is putting more than they are able to and ultimately losing in the long run. My grades slowly improved and soccer slowly got better, I had found the balance. My senior year, I didn’t just become the varsity captain, I also got straight A’s for the first time. In the end, education did not just teach me how to work through my classes, It taught me how to work through my life and invest myself in the right way. That's what education means to me and why I chose to #investMEnt.