Growth by Shreya

Growth by Shreya - June 2024 Scholarship Essay

As I stared down at my score report, my hands began to shake slightly. A whirl of emotions hit me all at once–disappointment, irritation, defeat. Sitting cross-legged on a cool chair, with my parents and the boss of the tutoring company I attended staring at me in silence, I felt ashamed. I had received a score of 780 on my practice SAT test. Not 780 on simply one section, like I had hoped for–rather, 780 out of the 1600 potential points I could have received.
It felt like the world was ending, almost. Throughout my life, I had been considered intelligent–from being the one in third grade reading tenth grade level books to helping my friends with their difficult homework assignments, I would be the first to be named ‘smart’ in school. However, as I saw the number 780 plastered on that crinkled paper, I felt as if the last sixteen years of my life had gone to a waste; I needed a high SAT score to get into college, after all.
Afterward, as I ruminated in silence, my parents and my tutor decided it would be best if I began SAT preparatory courses immediately. I was given two thick books–one mathematics, one English–that I could barely carry myself to study before taking the real exam. As I brought them in the next day and sat in front of my new tutor, Ms. Anita, she smiled at me with a knowing look on her face and told me to open my English book. Reading through the first passage with her, I felt the confused look on my face slowly fade as it was replaced with a relieved one. Ms. Anita took the time to meticulously explain each section of the passage with me, describing each type of problem I could potentially come across during the exam. Furthermore, as we began to work on the mathematics section, she would work through each problem with me with a patience that I had never seen before. Before I knew it, I seemed to have grasped the concept of the SAT exam fully.
She also inspired me to study outside of tutoring as well. When I had free time, both during school and at home, I would always be working on practice problems, refreshing myself in difficult areas whenever I could. My friends often teased me for constantly studying, even if they commended me for my efforts afterwards.
Eventually, the day had come. As I sat down and the proctor advised us to begin, I thought back to Ms. Anita and everything that she had helped me with through the past months. At that moment, I did not want to get a good score to get into college or to show off to my school–rather, I simply wanted to make my tutor proud of me after she had meticulously taught me about every section of the SAT. The test was over before I knew it, and so were the days following the test until I received my score on December 13th, 2022.
As I stared at my computer, my hands began to shake slightly. A whirl of emotions hit me all at once–happiness, satisfaction, relief. Sitting on my office chair, my mother grinning at me, I felt proud of myself. I had received a score of 1550 on my actual SAT test, with a 780 on simply one section–math–like I had hoped for all those months ago. The day after, I ran to Ms. Anita, hugging her as a thanks for her guidance leading me to improve drastically on the SAT exam. She expressed how proud she was of me, and I remember hugging her impossibly tighter.
As a further thanks, I began to work at the same tutoring center as an attempt to give back to the center that helped me grow academically. I was able to guide fellow students in mathematics, English, and even SAT preparatory courses as I saw myself in every single one of them as they worked hard to improve. Months later, as one of my students left the center, having learned everything that she needed, she gave me a large hug as I told her how proud I was of her as Ms. Anita had once said to me. Reflecting back, Ms. Anita and my students at the tutoring center helped me grow not only academically, but also as a person as I learned what my community could do for me as well as what I could do for my community in return in the informal education sector.