The Class that Changed Me by Om

The Class that Changed Me by Om - May 2021 Scholarship Essay

It was the first day of sophomore year and it was no different than any other: I was still immature as I had yet to face any real obstacles, besides the occasional writer’s block or math concept that took longer than usual to understand. I didn’t know how to stay on top of my work without daily reminders from my teachers as they had all coddled me till this point. I didn’t know how to ask for help as I had never needed to and was embarrassed to do so. Most importantly, I was used to giving up at the first sign of failure.
All of which changed soon after I took my first steps onto the white and black tiles of 7th-period, Dual Credit (DC) Physics—the first class to challenge me. The class had started just like the rest, with everyone picking seats next to who they knew and creating a vibrant atmosphere with conversation about their summer vacation. Then, the professor introduced himself to class, “Hello everyone, my name is Mr. Bradshaw!” “Mr. Bradshaw,” I thought to myself, not realizing that this would be the name of the man who changed my life. After his introduction, he gave a spiel about the class, about how it would be a reality check, how it would require you to put in time and effort to succeed, how it would be different. All I could do was sit there, with my pounding heart, uneven breathing, and thoughts racing through my mind, because I didn’t know if I could stand up to this unknown stranger called “challenge.” I had almost decided to drop the course because this was my “first sign of failure,” but I didn’t because Mr. Bradshaw had convinced me to stay and my gratitude towards him for that is immeasurable.
Getting used to the course was a slow, but needed, process as it forced me to form a work ethic that I had lacked beforehand. The first challenge made me take on the mantle of responsibility as I had to start keeping track of my work without daily reminders from the teacher because he would assign us a reading assignment or homework a week or two before its due date with only a mention or two of it during class. The homework assignments consisted of around two dozen problems, some of which could take a few hours to solve. There were many times when I wanted to give up because I had spent 2 hours solving one problem just to see a big red “X” signifying my defeat, my inability to understand, show up on my screen. The “X” meant I had to redo the process from scratch just to find out I had made a minor error, like rounding to the hundredths instead of thousandths, or I had done the process and didn’t know what to do. My inability to ask for assistance caused me to wait for someone to not understand the same thing as me so they could ask for help “for me.” It was through this struggle and lackluster nature that I learned that asking questions was a good thing because it showed a desire to learn, to comprehend, the unknown. The struggle had also caused me to yearn for improvement, to learn from my mistakes, and highlighted that I needed to commit to finishing the task at hand no matter the difficulty. These basic qualities are crucial to any good work ethic, to any good student, yet I lacked them before I enrolled in this class.
Sometimes I wonder what would’ve happened if I had dropped class: if I would’ve bettered myself or if I would’ve kept going deeper into the dark abyss of bad habits and mentalities. Luckily, for me, it’s a simple “if” question about a fictional reality and not one that I must live because of my perseverance through the obstacles and hardships that DC Physics threw my way. The qualities I have gained will stay with me for a lifetime making sure I persevere and fight through any challenge that comes my way.