You Are Your Greatest Concept Worth Studying. by Rachel

You Are Your Greatest Concept Worth Studying. by Rachel - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

How is it that there are people in this world more aware of themselves than others? I've always pondered that question for a long time until I met my ninth and tenth grade literature teacher, Mrs.G. If there is someone to be grateful for having learned from, it is her. Going into high school, you never know what to expect except a substantial amount of homework and being socially awkward. Looking back, it was because of her class that I actually learned to express my thoughts and opinions more clearly than I could ever imagine.
Walking into that classroom, I could get a sense of an encouraging atmosphere that can only be described as a breath of fresh air; from the warmly lit IKEA lamps, to the way she looks at her students with an accepting eye. What Mrs.G has what no other teacher has at my high school is a sense of recognizing people's true potential no matter what their strengths and weaknesses are, she never gives up on someone. There is no wrong answer when looking deeper into a piece of literature because it is simply your perspective, and how you judge something is a reflection of yourself as not only a reader, but an individual. Through reading and questioning, you're questioning your beliefs and understanding of things. If you can't answer those questions, well, that's where the real learning begins.
As the years progressed, some of my fellow peers were starting to take advantage of the fact that here was someone who was nice to us and who actually cared about our learning, like most teenagers do. Still, she gave no sign of ever wanting to throw in the towel and because of that, it only made them want to push her even more. She then gave us more challenging pieces to break down such as, "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury, and the play, "A Raisin in the Sun." This was her way of showing herself which of us cared just as much as she did. This was her way of us proving to ourselves that we are worth learning for.
Long afterwards, I got myself into reading up on philosophy and promoted my ideas for a book report on "Anam Cara" by John O'Donohue in front of the class. Of course, they didn't get it but, Mrs.G did. She then encouraged me to write more about what I had researched and how it applied to my life. Soon after, it was all I wrote about. Everything we did in class; every assignment, I found a way to influence philosophy from Aristotle, Rene Descartes, and Friedrich Nietzsche into all my writing. Needless to say, I live by many of these principles today that make me further examine my decisions and ultimately my entire way of thinking.
All in all, there is a lot to be grateful for in the end. A lot of things have been learned for myself and Mrs.G. There is always a process within a process to consider, and that in this case would be to study yourself further while enjoying what you're learning. Also, when you've taken enough in and have fully examined it, share with those who might need help discovering themselves, even if people try to get in the way of that. In the end, you are your own masterpiece and a work in progress.