Success may not necessarily be what you thought it was by Patrick

Success may not necessarily be what you thought it was by Patrick - September 2016 Scholarship Essay

When one enters into their college career the expectations are that this person will begin to grow, learn and develop into a productive and informed member of society. So in order to look at this previous statement and measure how one would be successful and achieve all that it implies we have to begin to think of what the success of a college student truly entails. It is easy for many whom achieve the dream of being accepted into college to simply fall into a rut and perform the same tasks on a regular schedule; finish homework, study, pass a test, struggle on a pop quiz. All this may occur and at the end of the semester all that hard work shows B’s and A’s. Many would look at this and say that this is going to be an incredibly smart person when they are all grown up; especially if they just take the time to study a little more and fix a few things they could almost be a 4.0 student in no time.
Since when was the success of a person measured only by the grades they achieved? How smart they are? What kind of job they obtained? When did we all stop looking at the world and begin to only see the numbers and dollar signs we have assigned to objects and even the people? It has been asked of me to explain the avenues and actions that I will take to be successful this school year. Questions such as this are not as cut and dry as they may seem. It may not be too much to assume that copious amounts of people writing this same essay are going to reference how their time management skills were lacking in the previous year but had begun to improve and now they foresee themselves accomplishing more this year. Others may say something along the lines of how they did poorly in a class and failed or perhaps just barely passed and are moving on to the next level of learning within that specific discipline. Those people will talk about how they will work harder and achieve the grades they feel they were capable of the first time and now they are going to ensure that they either don’t fail or do much better than almost failing. However, unlike these potential scenarios’ I can honestly say that I am going to try and achieve the exceptional grades that many hope and expect college students to get. But that is not how I am going to measure the success of my year. This year as I hope to continue to do well with my classes I am going to make it more of an issue for me to become increasingly involved within my college community here at Daemen. I’ve begun to do this by becoming a chemistry coach in order to help those in the lower levels of chemistry get some assistance with their work so they might further their understanding within the subject and no longer need a tutor. But again this is not my way of being prosperous this year.
This year I have been granted the opportunity to study abroad. Going through with this will put me at the University of the South Pacific in Suva, Fiji. This is the biggest college in that region of the world, students from all over the pacific islands and the various nations attend this college. I will have an opportunity like no other to not only get a feeling for the cultural and linguistic differences present in Fiji, but I will be able to experience this from every nation represented at the university. There will be a grand mix of cultures from southern and Asian pacific nations. It used to be that the wisest of men could relate to the masses through his experiences and understanding of the many different ways in which people carried themselves. The most intelligent people in our modern and ancient history are immediately thought to be the scientists and philosophers whom invented new machines and ways of life, ways of thinking. The most noble within human history would bring about examples such as Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, these were all people who were not just intelligent, but also wise. Their wisdom came from their understanding of the many different cultures that existed in the world and the immense diversity that this creates. By learning about other customs and ways of life as I hope to do whilst I study abroad and begin to interact with new people, these men were able to solve problems between different factions of people with relative peace and minimal violence.
I will become successful through my understanding and interactions with people of other cultures. I hope to become wise, not just intelligent. How I will achieve this is unknown to myself currently, until I am thrust into that world of diversity and wonder with numerous directions to look in with so much that I don’t know yet. Though, that is the beauty of this opportunity. When it comes to my knowledge of cultures in this region of the world my cup only holds a few meagre drops. When I finish my time there I foresee myself being more knowledgeable, capable of relating to the peoples from that portion of the world. My wisdom is my success.