“Discuss a teacher or mentor who has had a significant impact on your educational journey.” by Cole

“Discuss a teacher or mentor who has had a significant impact on your educational journey.” by Cole - January 2025 Scholarship Essay

As a longtime resident of North Dakota. A mentor who has always inspired me would be our shop class teacher, Mr. Young. The reason for choosing Mr. Young is because of his teaching style, which portrayed confidence and leadership, and for the simple fact that he was the leader of our local Future Farmers of America chapter. To me, there is a high level of significance in understanding what our local state provides, and the jobs created with the products we have to offer. Invaluable skills and information were learned during my time spent being part of the local FFA chapter. During time spent with FFA, knowledge grew about how to identify different type of crops, and we also entered contests to judge meat and cheese.

Other important skills were taught during shop class as well. As students we were assigned individual and group projects. The group projects taught us how to communicate in a workplace setting, collaborate, and be efficient. Various individual projects were assigned as well, while in the shop I learned how to construct a chair, sawhorse, birdhouse, and a dining table, which my parents still use today, 15 years later. I will never forget the saying that Mr. Young had, “Measure Twice, Cut Once.” Mr. Young was a firm believer in being resourceful and was not by any means wasteful. He provided a scrap bucket to inspire people to become resourceful and reuse whatever they can.

During time spent in the shop, we were also privileged to learn how to fabricate metal. Mr. Young would criticize our wire welding and stick welding skills. There was a major importance of cooling the welds quickly with water to help the welds harden. Another favorite memory would include using the cutting torch. Working experience in the transportation industry for the previous decade, there have been numerous times when cutting torches have been needed; these include times when a nut has been stripped, when a nut is too tight and you need to heat the metal to help the nut loosen, or for the simple reason of doing some metal fabrication.

I chose Mr. Young as an inspirational mentor because I recognize the value of educators in society. Teachers are highly qualified professionals with a big responsibility: to set up our country and future generations for prosperity. As an ideal model of any teacher, Mr. Young always made time for his students. It was evident that Mr. Young wanted the best for his students since he always encouraged them to push themselves. As I get older, I recognize the value of pushing oneself and maintaining one's goal setting to achieve success.