Awakening Literacy by Savannah

Awakening Literacy by Savannah - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

In the third grade, I had a spellbinding teacher, Mrs. Rounds. She was the every embodiment of an English teacher. She was zany, a total bookworm, and of course, hilarious. At the beginning of the year, being completely honest, she was not my favorite teacher. English had always been a subject that I struggled with, primarily reading. I just found it so hard to become interested in these people's lives, to even care about them. Up until then, most everything I had read in school had been anticlimactic nonfiction our outdated stories. Until one day, the day that Mrs. Rounds taught me what creativity actually is, and how to broaden my horizons.
I remember walking into class that day, resigned to have a usual lesson about a book that I really just did not get. I was truly expecting it. Mrs. Rounds, however, was practically bouncing up and down in her seat. She barely waiting for the bell to ring before her face broke out into an illuminating grin. She strolled up to the front of the class and from behind her back she pulled out one of the biggest stacks of books that I had every seen in my young life. It was none other than the entire Harry Potter series. I know, it is pretty hard to believe that I had never heard of Harry Potter, but I had not. It was like diving into completely new territory. She told us that it was going to be one of the most creative, adventurous rides of our lives, and boy was she right. Her homework assignment was to read the book, and then see what we could come up with on our own, writing our own creative story.
I remember going home with my copy of the book. I procrastinated reading that book for a few hours longer than I should have. When I finally did open that book though, it was glued to my hand. I could not put it down. It was the most amazing thing I had ever laid eyes upon. I read that book(and later that week I went out and purchased the rest of the series), and then I remember just sitting there reminiscing about how an author, one person, could create such an addictive and amazing world. It astounded me.
After my awe had passed, I finally sat down to write my own story. I had never been able to write anything worthwhile, I had never been inspired. That lesson that Mrs. Rounds taught me, however, awoke some sort of wild literary beast inside of me, and I wrote and I wrote like I had never written before. It truly stuck with me, and is even a huge part of why I am an English major today. It may not seem like much, but Mrs. Rounds will always stick out to me as the teacher that really inspired me to embark on my future as a literary savant.