Dr.Harp by Shalesa

Dr.Harp by Shalesa - July 2014 Scholarship Essay

"Learning is a gift. Even when pain is your teacher.” This was the very first statement I saw written on the white board as I walked into my first undergraduate course as a freshman, Biology 101. To this day I can vividly describe to you the image that I saw when I looked up after taking my seat; a middle aged African American woman with foggy glasses that hung slightly off the tip of her nose, wearing a dull white lab coat. She stood in front of the class and simply asked, “What do you all think this quote is saying? Don’t all speak at once.” Of course none of us had the guts to speak at all, we were all nervous wrecks. So she spoke again and said, "My name is Dr. Harp. I am not your friend. I am not your enemy. I am here to teach you what you do not know and to push you beyond your comfort zone of learning. I may be a pain, but you will thank me when it is all said and done.”

From the first day that I took my seat in Dr. Harp’s biology course to the present, which is now beginning my first year in grad school as a future Physician Assistant, Dr. Harp did then and is still is positively affecting my attitude towards education. Her voice still rings in my mind, pushing me to my academic limits, telling me that there is no such thing as too much learning. There were times that I went into her office crying after receiving what I considered an unacceptable grade on a test or quiz. She was never quick to judge, she immediately stopped everything she was doing and took the time to help me learn from each of my mistakes. Dr. Harp's door was never closed to any of her students and rarely did an audience with her require an appointment. Daily she challenged us and we in turn moaned and groaned but she kept pushing and pushing. There was a time I said to her “Dr. Harp who do you think we are?” Of course she responded with something that only motivated us, using a wise old voice as if she was the main character from Mrs. Doubtfire, Mary Poppins, or Big Momma, "You all are future scientists, doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc., and I will not be the reason you all are not successful in becoming professionals.” She always had her ways of motivating, still does.

I believe in order for a teacher or a professor to have a positive affect on students he or she: has to be approachable both outside and inside the classroom; does not patronize or degrades the student but instead speaks to them as equals thus encouraging the maturity of students; can acknowledge and understand the pros and cons of each individual student’s work in order to establish that teacher-student relationship; and can empathize to the problems students may encounter. Dr. Harp did all of this and more; she exceeded my expectations as well as my fellow classmates. My believing in my learning capabilities and continuously competing with myself so that I can become better can be attributed directly to Dr. Harp. She is directly the reason I was able to overcome a negative attitude toward learning, which has enabled me to unlock the learning potential inside of myself.