Curriculum isn't everyting by Victoria

Curriculum isn't everyting by Victoria - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

Schooling in a low income area is defiantly an experience. There I met some of the best and worst people I will probably ever meet in my life, I learned that just because something isn't state-of-the-art doesn't mean it's not good, and most of all I learned about life. Real life, living on your own life, keeping yourself alive life. Certain teachers really taught me above and beyond because they knew that the curriculum was not enough to prepare their students for the world ahead of them. My AP US History teacher taught me what a mortgage is. She helped me file my taxes for the first time when my parents said “do it yourself.”This wonderful woman looked at my C in her class and asked me why I wasn't doing better, when I replied that I was trying my hardest she laughed. Knowing that I could do so much better than I was she pushed me farther than a teacher has ever pushed me and challenged me, she showed me that she actually cared about me and my passing her class. Exhilarated, I pushed myself. AP US History taught me that there are people who care where I end up and what i'm doing, and that those people are here to help and not hinder my success. No one has ever shown so much compassion or caring about my life than this woman and I will always hope her the best in life.
As a young artist, I naturally took every art class that my school offered.Low income schools sadly don't put much funding or care into the arts, so our school had four art classes all taught by the same man, all funded out of this man's pocket. In the four years that I took his classes (one class I even took twice, I enjoyed it so much) I learned a lot about the teacher. He went to art college, became an English teacher in a very nice neighborhood, then somehow ended up teaching art in the slums. Many words can describe this man who stayed hours after school cleaning his own room because the janitors didn't care to go out of their way, this man who spent his own small paycheck on nice materials for the class, this man who was routinely disrespected by his own students that he did so much for. Art class taught me kindness and patience. When he learned I was an artist his face lit up with joy, I would get special figure drawing packets and one semester I had my very own curriculum since I had already taken the class I was scheduled. This man even stayed after school extra time so that he could help me setup my college portfolio. Art class taught me to be better at doing the one thing I love to do, and I could never be more thankful to anyone than I am to that teacher.
I have had many wonderful teachers in my life, a lot of substandard ones as well, these are just two that highly impacted my life and that will always live in my memory. I am always thankful that there are people willing to really educate the youth rather than to just teach monotonously.