Distance and Deadlines by Roxanne

Distance and Deadlines by Roxanne - December 2013 Scholarship Essay

I am a planner. My life consists of one giant schedule, and my lists have lists. I enjoy crossing new items off my agenda and having a tangible representation of the day's accomplishments. I have been this way for as long as I can remember. Most children had big dreams of future careers, while I had a twenty-year plan. At eight years old, I had my future completely laid out, photojournalist by day, and FBI agent by night. Although my dreams have become a little more realistic since then, it's still easy for me to get carried away with the vast multitude of possibilities of my future career paths or fields of interest. I'm certain that my life's experiences and lessons will help me prevail in whatever field I choose.

Journalism has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I prompted questions, reporter's notebook in hand, around age six. At age eight, I was creating mockups of underground newspapers on Microsoft Word, and by age fourteen I was the Copy Editor of my middle school yearbook, fantasizing of working as part of a high school newspaper staff. I am now the Editor in Chief of my school newspaper, and the experience alone that I've gained from my involvement in scholastic journalism has exceeded what I could have ever imagined. I've learned the importance of meeting deadlines, the aesthetic value of page design, and how to develop ideas into well-edited, interesting stories. In my journey beginning as a Staff Writer, to Entertainment Editor, to Editor in Chief, I've learned how to lead and mentor writers, working with them to learn journalistic style and improve their writing. I love how language can elicit the entire spectrum of human emotion. The written word is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal and I take pride in creating literary pieces of work that impact others.

Prior to high school I was not very physically active, I was overweight for much of my adolescence and never quite understood the consequences of my food intake. By sophomore year of high school I was 30 pounds overweight and slept away most of my free time. That year, I attended my first cross-country practice. I failed to run more than a mile, but I was determined to improve. It's two years later and I am 30 pounds lighter, and a varsity track and cross country distance runner. I started running to lose weight, but the benefits proved so much greater than a smaller waist.

Distance running taught me how to effectively reduce stress. I learned how to set and meet goals, getting recognized by coaches for my discipline and hard work. I now know that I am much more capable than I give myself credit for, and with hard work, comes results. The small victories and great personal feats have shown me that no matter what level of success I am at, true grit and dedication is recognized and rewarded. Running is an incredible sport, in which progress directly correlates to the amount of work and time invested. Weeks of 5:30 am practice and hours spent pushing my body's limits has taught me the value of perseverance and devotion. The beauty in running has never been in beating others as it has been about beating myself. It is the internal battle I have within when every fiber in my legs screams for me to stop, when my head tells me to quit, but my heart pushes me across the finish. It is the clarity in the midst of a seven-mile run during watercolor sunrises, and the euphoria in the hours after. It's almost never easy, but it's always worth it. Running will be a part of my life forever.

My agendas will grow as more responsibilities come my way and I am enthusiastically looking forward to crossing milestones off my master list. I know the skills I have learned through my academic and extra-curricular activities will help me accomplish my goals in pursuing a career in communications. I can't begin to imagine what the next four years has in store for me. I want to impact the world with my writing, evoking emotions of all kinds. I passionately believe that an education will provide me with the ability to do just that.