Lucky by Stella

Lucky by Stella - December 2014 Scholarship Essay

For three fourths of my life, I grew up in a country where my getting an education was a privilege. Lucky does not begin to describe my life in Kenya: While I was attending private schools, kids around me struggled just to go to the next grade level. What restrained them was not failing grades, but 80 Kenyan shillings, which is about one U.S. dollar. The thing is, to move on to the next class, one had to do the final exams which public schools required a fee for. As little as this amount may seem, some families lived off of that a week. Seeing others struggle for what was so free and easy for me really changed my perspective: I became more thankful for my education after realizing just how privileged I was and I started taking advantage of every opportunity presented to me knowing that people in different parts of the world fought for a simple education.

Coming home from school each day when I was a day scholar, I would see public school kids walking home from school with tattered clothes and bare feet and feel sorry for them because as a youngster, living like that was unimaginable. My parents had been able to send me to private schools for most of my life wearing new clothes per year and new shoes. I had every little material needed for my classes: by ‘every’, I really mean it. Be it an eraser, my parents got it for me. At school, I saw schoolmates with financial problems and some would get sent home due to unpaid school fees.

After seventh grade, my family moved to America where my father had moved in 2006. Despite the huge responsibility of four new house members, my dad sent me and two of my siblings to a private school. Come high school, and I got to experience the public school life. 99% of the people I met had gone to public schools all their life. I knew that the public schools here can be prestigious and are more common, but nevertheless, for the first time I now knew that my life was a gift in itself. Until that point, I knew that I lived a higher quality life than most but had never said thank you for any of it. I became thankful for the life I had had and would thank my parents whenever they got me anything.

Having been raised in an environment where education was a big deal, I carried this trait to high school. My education was important to me and I strove to succeed because with the resources provided to me, there was no reason to say getting an A in an AP class was difficult. I became accustomed to taking advantage of every little chance provided because I knew somewhere, somebody would be willing to give a limb for a little learning opportunity. During sophomore year, I learned about the Running Start program at my school which allowed juniors and seniors to attend college 100% free. I signed up for the golden opportunity and was able to start college at the age of 16.

Education gave me obvious gifts like knowledge in subjects, but more than that, it gave me appreciation of my life. I’m grateful for all I've been provided with and I see a life-changing opportunity in every open door. Even though I had never paid much attention to what those public school kids went through, I have a new plan. After hearing about Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head fighting for an education, I want to make a difference in such students’ lives. In the near future, I have a plan to help students make it to the next grade level.