Everywhere, Everyday by Patrick

Everywhere, Everyday by Patrick - August 2018 Scholarship Essay

Enough of the pre-college paranoia, worrying about creating diverse volunteering portfolios, and wondering about how the next AP test will crush their will to show up to school the next day. When the podcast goes live, anxious listeners are encouraged to take a coffee break, recollect their brains from long afternoon naps, and breathe. It would be something simple to listen to: “Everywhere, everyday”.

First and foremost, the topic of global education is to bring students from all over the world, regardless of whether they’re just entering middle school or taking a crack at medical school, or whether their grades are unforgettably sour or sweet, to simply talk discuss their education. It would be a nonchalant, ‘anything goes’ type of situation, covering different perspectives on various topics like study tips, discovering what you are interested in perusing, and even about how they get to school on a daily basis or how the teachers from their country run a class. By establishing a collective of diverse students, there is enrichment in casual conversation, as these people live drastically different lives and can share their seemingly niche stories of their student lives across the globe.

Now, I don’t find hail myself as a resourceful or reliable source when it comes to quantitative achievements, and in fact, I would love to bring attention to and share the advice of those that are. Therefore in covering global education, there is never the impending need to show students show to divisively back-stab each other for the highest grade or how to perform hypnosis on their local Ivy League admissions officer, but rather to fill their emotion needs and open up conversation with fellow listeners. However, how did it get to this? Why would I assume there is a universal emotional need from students to be repaired, and what would this bring to the table that isn’t as useful as an educational Reddit thread?

I wouldn’t like to admit it, but it started with k-pop. The online community is wild, massive, but most importantly, global. Millions of fans from all different countries, ages, and education levels join group chats to discuss and gawk over the latest releases- it just happened that I joined one because schoolwork was drowning me out and I wanted to stay informed. However as time progressed, the members got closer and if there is one thing everyone loved to vent about, it was school. From a student in Alabama complaining about falling behind classes, to a Korean-American figuring out how to adjust to the Korean school system and catching up with ruthless amounts of prep, it always baffled me to find out how Korean school breaks around done during the spring time and how after school prep ended at 10 pm, while they were equally confused as to why I’m left to teach myself through a college-style school and why I’m terminally stressed about a mysterious SAT test. Regardless of the culture shock, there was always a community to share my concerns to when I didn’t want to personally tell my classmates I didn’t how to rebound after bombing the last chemistry quiz.

By discovering an enriching group of students who shared the same interests and educational concerns as me, I figure that a popular podcast revolving around global education would allow students to share their backgrounds and open doors to discover new school cultures and friends, something that would last beyond a podcast episode.