Lessons by Shelby

Lessons by Shelby - December 2014 Scholarship Essay

In my opinion one's learning environment is essential to the education they receive. Intelligent teachers and new text books will only go so far and just cannot cover as much ground as experience and action. I have been in several different types of schools throughout my education; I have attended parochial school, public school, a large university, and a small community college. The diversity between all these different facilities taught me something important that a teacher or book just would not have been able to do. They taught me how to have a voice and hold on to it.

For example, going to a Catholic school, while not coming from a Catholic background taught me how important it is to be open minded. I was lucky enough to come from a pretty laid back family where my researching different religions, both mainstream and nonmainstream, was perfectly acceptable. Had I not had a religiously neutral upbringing while attending a Catholic school I would not have the interesting blend of ethics and values I hold dear to my heart and practice today. In this specific example my learning environment taught me how to educate myself and make the conscious decision to take my faith into my own hands.

Attending public school also gave me an interesting perspective. Being in parochial schools most of my life left me in a state of uniformity, but when I transferred to a much larger public school it was like a tiger at the zoo being released into the wild. It was scary, I was not sure how or if I would make it, but it was amazing to be so free in thought, speech, and action. Also, I learned in public school that there are a far larger amount of opinions on issues such as religion, politics, ethics, etc. It was all very new to me, that not everyone felt basically the same way about serious issues. The parochial school environment, in hand with my home environment, taught me how to shape my belief system and opinions on how I actually felt. The public school environment taught me how to defend those beliefs and opinions, while still valuing, respecting, and being open to those of others.

University was an entirely different environment than anything I had encountered yet. In parochial school my class was under 100 people and in public school it was over 500. Now there were thousands of people walking around that were maybe not my classmates, but my peers. My past schools helped me teach myself who I wanted to be. This was imperative to my success in college so far. I know a lot of people who have gone off to university and completely lost sight of their goals, aspirations, and even themselves. I feel I was able to thrive at a large school and keep my priorities straight because of the environments I learned in that allowed me to flourish and grow into who I am.

Unfortunately large universities are expensive, especially when they are far from home. I was living on campus at Central Michigan University last year as I live in Saginaw and my car is not reliable enough to commute. However, living expenses as well as tuition was just too much for me to afford. Right now I attend Delta College, a community college in Bay City, just outside Saginaw. The small classes and individual attention available from professors is wonderful and helpful, but CMU is the only school I have ever wanted to attend, and the closest one with the programs I wish to pursue. I am going for a double major in Environmental Studies and Recreation. I will have concentrations is Environmental Policy and Outdoor and Environmental Education. Right now I am taking as many classes at Delta that will transfer to my programs at CMU as I can, but eventually I will need to return to CMU to get my degree. Meanwhile I work part-time as a hostess and take-out girl at a local restaurant to save as much money as I can. The life experience one can learn from a job in the food industry is a whole different learning environment that could use its own essay if I had the opportunity, but for now I will focus on the facilities I have attended specifically for the purpose of education.

In closing, I would like to say that I believe capable teachers and informative text books are great teaching tools, this is irrefutable. However, being taught how to teach myself is the most important lesson I ever learned. Thanks to the different schools and learning environments I have been fortunate enough to attend I can say that I am proud of how I have become and am still becoming today. I have a strong belief system and opinions that I am passionate about because of the education I received. While it gave me the resources to mold my foundation, I am the one who chose how to shape it and what to sculpt it into.