Lessons Learned by Savannah

Lessons Learned by Savannah - February 2017 Scholarship Essay

Scholarship Essay

I would like to start off by describing my personal experience that comes to mind when I think of a time I failed at something and how I was able to take the lesson from it and improve myself. The specific experience I would like to talk about is the time I started falling behind in one of my Kirkwood classes. I really needed to do well in this class and it was a little harder than I anticipated it would be. I was doing well with homework but there were a few assignments that I didn’t get the grade I thought I would, which set me back at first. (Not majorly, but enough to make me realize that C work wasn’t going to cut it.)
Midterm rolled around and I felt prepared, and focused. I took good notes met with a tutor a few times to, and studied well because it was a 3 chapter exam. Although, I was a little nervous about the content portion of the exam, I felt ready. An hour later I was feeling confident and positive. I had a great rest of my week and I was eager to know my grade come that Monday.

I walked into class that Monday nervous but excited to find out my grade. I got it back and realized, I know I didn’t work this hard for this. I raised my hand to my teacher to express my concerns and he made an announcement stating, “Everyone got around the same grade and we didn’t have anything above a C for this exam”. He gave us an ultimatum, that if he dropped the exam then we would do a different assignment to receive some more points to replace those and only have a final exam in our grades without any penalty from the midterm. We were all very happy and agreed to do the extra work to have this bad grade removed from our previous grades.

Studying for our final came around and I studied two times as hard, and used different strategies to help me. I tried other ways to help me remember all of the content for our final exam. I really pushed myself and I made sure everything within the study guide was filled out. I then double checked to see I didn’t have any questions regarding my notes. Given this effort, I took the final exam with high hopes and confidence. I checked my grade online to see that I had received a B on the final. I did it, after second guessing myself and realizing that using other studying strategies does work I was pleased with my grade and felt very accomplished.

I saw a tutor, studied harder, and used multiple strategies to study and take notes to the best of my ability so I could receive the grade I capable of receiving. It is always okay to ask for help, and really take the time to set small goals for yourself and do the work correctly. This is how I failed at something and took the lesson and improved myself. Sometimes you have to ask for help, push harder than you ever thought you could and just do your absolute best.