Survival of the Fittest by Stacy

Survival of the Fittest by Stacy - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

“What is your evidence for that conclusion?” The intimidating doctor demanded, her eyes never leaving me. I could feel my heart begin to race as my body constricted in stress. Surely, I knew the answer. I had spent months preparing to have my research project examined. In mere seconds, my mind raced through all the information I’d gleaned from AP biology. Straightening my back and looking the biology professor in the eye, I declared: “My protein is hydrophobic because it’s located inside the bacteria, as proven through the multiple tests I performed.” I could feel the weight of the world fall off my shoulders once I saw the frightening woman in front of me break out into an enthusiastic smile. “You are the first person in this room to answer my questions correctly!” She exclaimed joyously. I quickly glanced around realizing I was the only one in a room of at least five hundred students who answered her questions correctly. I remained rooted in my spot watching the doctor congratulate me before excitedly moving away for her next interrogation.
To me, this event wasn’t about showing off to a college professor by correctly answering a question, but proving myself as an individual. Unlike my peers, I didn’t join young researchers club because of a friend or for college admission; I joined because I wanted to expand my own knowledge. I attended meetings at my school and worked with my biology teacher trying to learn everything I could. That is what Young Researchers club at my school was for, learning and applying biology to real life.
Weeks before I presented my final conclusion of what the gene I had been given coded for, I began to panic. “What ifs” began to plague me, fear penetrated my very soul with the thought of my research being wrong. I’d always been slightly neurotic; someone who created backup plans for their backup plans. Yet, when the moment of truth came, I had the strength to overcome my doubt and trust in myself.
It was in this moment I understood that the indecisiveness of my childhood was gone forever; I learned to trust in myself. The doubt which had defined me and my actions for the prior seventeen years seemed to melt away, leaving me a confident adult. I had proven to myself that the confidence I thought lacked had been there all along, it was just hindered by my own adolescent fear.
Later as I walked up to the podium to receive my participation award with everyone else, I began to think it was not brilliance or skill that made me right, but the effort and precision I put in. It was my own hard work that allowed me to trust and be confident in myself. It was with these thoughts that in front of the entire room the professor from earlier gave me my award and shook my hand, an honor which I was the only one to receive. I felt confident from that moment forward, my childhood was in the past and I was ready for adulthood.