Hindsight by Sydney

Hindsight by Sydney - September 2017 Scholarship Essay

Junior year is known to be the most soul wrenching and most stressful year of your high school career. I decided to live up to the challenge and take extremely difficult classes; those classes ended up being, by far, more than I could handle. Along with my AP core classes and my fun electives, like choir and art, AP psychology was also written on my choice sheet.
Although I had no interest in a life or career focused on psych, I thought it would be a fun challenge. I was right about half of that. This elective felt nothing like an elective. Where my other days I spent singing and sewing, here I spent struggling and stressing. The material we began reading and discussing posed nothing I deemed it to be. The extensive research required was not the part that drove me to insanity. It was the teacher, who proved to be unaccommodating as well as insecure. The struggle between the students and teacher grew a larger and larger issue as time went on.
At this point in the year I had no idea what to do. I felt stuck. Everyday I attempted to get the job done, do everything exactly as I was told, follow each instruction to a T. None of it was enough. After school, during lunch I seemed to always be in the place I dreaded the most, trying to build my education and figure out a way to make the relationship between my teacher and I work in order to get better grades. Eventually I began to believe that nothing I could do or say would get me the grade I deserved or wanted.
Finally, after discussing it with many adults I found ways to help myself, rather than ask for it. My education would forever be different thanks to this class. I learned so many valuable skills that will last me a lifetime. Even though I struggled, I got good advice from the adults around me. My uncle brought up how “This is one chapter of your life, even if this one chapter doesn’t go as planned, there are many more to come.”
The school system is designed to challenge kids and get them to critically think. In this case the school system did just that, without even knowing it. I learned so much through this elective, that had nothing to do with the actual curriculum. It has changed the way I think about dealing with issues and finding new ways to solve problems. I realize getting along with people of a higher power may not always go my way, but now I also see that I can either take a step back, knowing everything will be ok, or even power through it.
Although I would never willingly take another AP Psychology class, especially for fun, I do not regret having learned the skills that bring me to make decisions every single day. In my education today, I can now analyze situations and make more informed choices. If I had to be negatively impacted in order to further my education, in ways I never knew were possible, the struggling and the stressing was well worth it.