The Activation Energy by Yewon

The Activation Energy by Yewon - March 2024 Scholarship Essay

My journey in Speech and Debate resembles the concept of activation energy: The steady accumulation of energy, while invisible at first, is bound to produce a reaction.
The first year competing in the Lincoln Douglas debate, I held a bitter record of losing four consecutive tournaments to a girl named Akshita. More frustrating than losing was the shortcoming of my knowledge that helplessly silenced me from contributing to the discussion.
Unable to sleep, the post-tournament midnights were spent delving into these new topics that sent me to explore beyond the boundaries of my knowledge. With countless mock debates and sleepless nights poured over the 50-page block file, I slowly began to not only comprehend, but craft my own perspectives from the gaps I spotted in her arguments. Just like she had pushed me to see the boundless limits of knowledge, I now offered what Akshita could not see. Debates after debates, I found immense satisfaction as our discourse unlocked new realms of knowledge and discussion.
Discovering dimensions to issues that I had never contemplated before, the breadth that I viewed the world gradually expanded. Even more exciting, these increments had accumulated to reach a threshold, eventually catalyzing a reaction I had never imagined to achieve–my final victory in the fifth tournament. Surrounded by people that will constantly spark new, complex discourse, I eagerly anticipate the contribution I aspire to make and the reactions my endless pursuit of knowledge will catalyze in my future.