I found what I want to do in my life by Scott

I found what I want to do in my life by Scott - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

My music teacher once asked me "what do you want to do with your life", at the time I really had no idea.

There comes a point in everyone’s life when they come face to face with what they were meant to do. Something that they not only succeed at, but love to do. For many, this calling can lead to a lifetime of fulfillment as a career. As I was growing up, I searched everywhere to find where I fit in. I wasn’t quite grasping things as well as others. I tried to find my place in a collection of activities and hobbies both in and outside of school. Nothing was standing out to me. I was so unsure of myself in everything I did. I lacked confidence in even the most simple things. I wanted to be appreciated for a gift, like so many others on sports teams and classrooms were. I wanted to have knack for something besides keeping to myself and burying my face in a TV screen playing video games and eating Meatball Hot Pockets at 3 AM. I was miserable for years. I was so sure that there merely was nothing that could set me apart from the crowd, nothing that I could be proud of. Then there was a shift in my life. Something stood out to me. It was theatre.

My first year of high school was a rough one. I never failed a class, but I wasn’t motivated. I was merely coasting through one day to the next without something to drive me out of bed in the morning and make me say to myself, “Today is going to be a good day”. Then the day came that I was introduced to theatre. I found myself surrounded by people who enjoyed my company. I found myself in a place where I felt more confident than I ever had before. I loved to rehearse lines and songs both during the day and my free time. I felt myself becoming more immersed in theatre as a whole through each passing rehearsal, performance and play. I found my home on the stage. I was saved from a path of sadness and regret. As I continued to perform through the years to come, in any and all shows that I could, I realized this was what I was born to do. As of now, I have been in eleven shows, and currently working on my twelfth , ‘Grease’. I am also involved with my local theatre company, the REP at the Claremont Opera House, In Claremont, New Hampshire, where I am the Co-Chair of the board of directors. I keep myself busy in theatre to say the least!

I realized that performing was what I wanted to go to college for my senior year of high school. I knew I wanted to perform , but the thought hadn't crossed my mind of majoring in theatre until then. Many people were not very supporting of this choice. “ a major in Theatre?” So many scoffed at my ambitions, telling me to “ think realistically”. I began to despise this phrase that I heard so much aimed not only towards me, but others. I know if I applied myself, I could become successful. I want to so badly prove to people that you can accomplish anything. Someone has to do it, so why not me? The only assurance I need is from myself. This past spring, I had auditioned for Plymouth State University to see if I would be one of the twenty theatre arts students they admit into their program for the fall of 2016. Out of over 100 applicants and auditions, I was admitted into the program the very next day after my audition. I was beyond ecstatic to say the least. I was accepted to a fabulous program at the my school of choice. Everything was falling into pace so perfectly, for the most part that is.

Of course, with all college education, there is a notorious problem of cost. With my parents being divorced, my father and his wife with a now 1 year old son and 2 other kids in the house, my mother having a lower paying job at my school’s cafeteria and my oldest sister finishing her time at Syracuse University, my family does not have a lot of money to spare. My sister was eligible to attend SU due to her Salutatorian status in high school and tremendous aid and scholarships. I was not as lucky. Though I was a diligent student, my finances still leave me short for schooling. Any bit of aid can help me with my dream. I found my path in this world. My calling can be my career. I want to be able to prove it. I want to show that a dream can come true no matter who you are. Take a step back and picture yourself with your life’s work, all you had loved and invested in, in front of you, and someone telling you it was all for nothing because of something that you couldn’t control. It's a devastating thing.
I wish to be able to make a career of what I love, and I’m on my way. I can make it from the Stevens High stage on Broad St. to Broadway. I won’t stop until I do.