Lessons Beyond the Classroom by Allison

Lessons Beyond the Classroom by Allison - July 2016 Scholarship Essay

Each time a student enters a classroom, it is likely they will encounter a lesson. This lesson could be over one of countless topics: biology, math, Spanish, and the list goes on and on. All of these lessons are very important, but sometimes the most valuable lessons are not related to our actual education.
In middle school, I had a teacher who was big on teaching us life lessons. She made sure to teach us what we needed to know about the subject she taught, but her lessons extended beyond that. This teacher helped make sure each of us were going in a positive direction. She encouraged every person to be proud of themselves and made sure we all knew we were special. Every day we would be reminded that we were surrounded by people who cared for us. This teacher acted as our personal cheerleader and would tell us we could do anything we set our minds to doing.
One of my most embarrassing moments happened in middle school. This incident happened the same year I had this specific teacher. Basically, the event left me mortified and I was so scared of what my classmates would think about what happened to me. Despite my intense fear, my teacher stood beside me and informed me that people would not care as much as I thought they would. She told me that if they thought less of me, then that is their problem and not my own. As it turns out, she was right. I had been afraid people would think less of me, but in reality people swarmed around me to see how I was doing. This really made me realize how many people cared about me. This reiterated to me how true her lessons were.
Even now, as a rising senior in high school, I still think back to the days I sat in this teacher's class. The positive lessons she would teach resonated with me then and I still believe in them now. Sometimes the most important lessons can extend beyond traditional classroom learning and come from the most unexpected places. It could take one teacher's words to leave a powerful mark on a student forever; my teacher's words certainly had an impact on me.