The Real Harry Potter Influence by Samantha

The Real Harry Potter Influence by Samantha - May 2017 Scholarship Essay

A few years ago, when I was in elementary school and we still ordered books from Scholastic magazines, I started reading Harry Potter. At the time, I was a young and fragile person. I didn’t go out of my way to talk to people, I didn’t talk very loud, and I didn't have a lot of friends; sounds a lot like a certain 11-year-old British boy named Harry Potter, right? Well, just like Harry, my life was suddenly turned around when a particular manuscript came into my possession. That manuscript was the first book of the Harry Potter series.
As the Harry Potter series progresses, Harry and his two best friends face many challenges inside and outside of school. The trio grow together in confidence and in who they are as individuals. When I saw (or read) the hard times Harry went through with his newfound friends, I realized that I didn’t have to go through life alone either.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found myself becoming more outgoing and confident. I’ve started realizing that it’s okay to have different opinions than others and that no matter how hard I try, I won’t please everyone. Like Harry, Ron, and Hermione, I’m not everyone’s favorite person, and sometimes I’ll even get confronted by people who are usually nice to me; like Neville Longbottom attempting to stop the three from sneaking out at night in The Sorcerer’s Stone, or when 99 percent of the student body accused Harry of being a liar in Order of the Phoenix when he said Voldemort returned.
Let’s go back to the time when Scholastic magazines were being handed out each month. Fifth grade me was scared to talk to the new kid and didn’t dare ask questions or raise her hand. That little girl wanted to be liked and wanted to have friends, but didn’t have the confidence and self-respect to do so. Fast forward six years and she’s making her own decisions. She may not have the largest group of friends, but she understands that having four quarters is much nicer than having one hundred pennies. Besides, if someone like Harry Potter, “the boy who lived,” can’t be liked by everybody, there’s no such thing as someone who can.
Okay, okay, so maybe I haven’t come face to face with The Dark Lord, and maybe I haven’t had a teacher who’s weirdly in love with my dead mother, and maybe I haven’t had my entire world flipped upside down when my headmaster was killed. But if Harry Potter can go through all that and more--even as a fictional character--then I know I can get through the world’s second most terrifying thing: high school.