Hi! Let me start by introducing myself, my name is Alexis Calderon and I'm one of four finalists for this scholarship (obviously). So how did I arrive at even hearing and applying for the scholarship? Simple.
I was tricked.
Yes, I was tricked but the outcome was well worth it. My friend wanted to stay after school for tutoring and like the good friend I am I stayed with her, staying unwitting to her true intentions. After about ten minutes of "tutoring" she dragged me to Mr. Gallin's classroom to get some imaginary paperwork, where she soon after ditched me, only replying "Its for your own good!" when I asked her where she was going. I didn't know it at the moment, but my friend had put me in the right place at the right time whether I liked it or not. In that room that afternoon I received an application for the scholarship and decided a closed mouth doesn't get fed so I started writing an essay.
About 3 grueling hours later I came up with an okay rough draft. The same teacher from earlier helped me revise and through that I found my biggest problem (besides grammatical errors) was that I didn't know enough about the actually place. I only knew that Ireland was the native home of fashion designer JW Anderson. I became culturally aware that Ireland was alike New Orleans because of educational and economic reasoning. This essay was no longer about going to Ireland to see if i could shop at the United Kingdom retailer Primark it was my chance to get out of my little fishbowl of ignorance and explore a place I've never been. American can be known for its lack of knowledge when it comes foreign affairs but I didn't want that to be me. So this could really be the first step in a globally aware me.
After completing the essay I waited and waited until the email arrived. Once I read that I was a finalist I was past excited, past ecstatic, words can't and won't ever describe that feeling I felt. I worked on my video the next day at school and sent off my finishing touches to my final entry, praying and hoping. Fast forward through the gala and those minutes after winning with the other finalists due to the generosity of the people in the room and people I've never seen will probably be the most exhilarating moment ever. I felt vindicated. It felt as if the weight of the world was finally lifted off my shoulders after weeks of doing of no sleep and random mood swings. I can finally breathe and now in the weeks before the trip of a lifetime, I'm back to those random mood swings and no sleep, not because of stress from the unknown but because of excitement for what's to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment