Go Forth and Be Brilliant by Renee

Go Forth and Be Brilliant by Renee - July 2014 Scholarship Essay

Education has always been important to me; I have taken a personal interest in my education since the beginning and it has long been my opinion that education itself has many great things to offer the world, including solutions if the knowledge acquired is used in application to real-world problems. All things considered, I thought that I had a pretty healthy outlook on education that not everyone does, but it was not until I took Senior AP English Literature and Composition at Abilene High School that I gained full appreciation for education in all that it is and what it can do.

James McGee taught and continues to teach English Literature and Composition to Abilene High School Seniors with a deep understanding of what education is and can be in the hands of those to whom it is given. His motto is “Go Forth and Be Brilliant”, which was often his parting words to us as we left his classroom. It is a command that is issued to all those who have been educated at any level and in any area as well as a challenge to use what that education has given you to be brilliant, to do everything you do with excellence. Mr. McGee taught that education is its own reward, that simply to be educated in any sense of the word is a gift beyond measure and without limits.

This view of education was something that he imparted to his students, but it was not just something that he said; it was something that he lived. He spoke with passion and a love for education that is not seen in many teachers and strove to be better in everything that he did and understand more about anything that he came across. They say that wisdom comes with age, but Mr. McGee is not the kind of person to sit by and wait for it, instead he actively searches for it in the now. Wisdom is not the same as knowledge, but neither is knowledge synonymous with education. Education is more than facts, it is the congealing of knowledge and understanding in such a way that they can be applied to real-world problems and situations. This is the teaching, learning, and life style of James McGee. His motto is more than just a theme for his classroom, it is a description of who he is and how he lives – Go Forth and Be Brilliant.