Something to Be Proud Of by Lauren

Something to Be Proud Of by Lauren - May 2014 Scholarship Essay

Throughout my short eighteen years of life, I have strived to be the best. I’ve worked extremely hard to get where I am today with good grades as well as a good job. I love the feeling I get when I’ve tried with all I have in me to succeed at a task and complete it. I’m a hard working person in all aspects of life and I strive to do things to the best of my ability. But without some special advice from my dad, I don’t think I would ever be where or even who I am today.

In high school, I worked particularly hard to ensure that I could continue my learning to a collegiate level. My parents pushed me to do my best and told me that doing my best was all they would ever ask for. However, one thing that always stuck out in my mind was my dad singing “Something to be Proud Of” by Montgomery Gentry. He would sing “And if all you ever really do is the best you can, well, you did it man” and it would make me feel accomplished no matter what I did. He taught me not to stress over the things I may not be good at because being good at something and doing your best are two different things and doing your best is what is important and shows more character. I learned that the classes that challenged me to do my best, however, were the classes I enjoyed the most.

For example, my favorite class I took in high school was AP Biology. My teacher taught me that hard work would pay off and working hard was exactly what I did. This is where I took doing my absolute best to the extreme. I learned a lot about the world and other matters that interested me like evolution, the brain, and plants. However, the class was by no means easy. We were required to do complex labs with detailed lab reports and in-depth studies on the body, genetics, and numerous other things. This class was so fascinating and it taught me so much about the world. But the best thing I took from this class was how having good work ethic pays off in the end.

Keeping my father’s words in mind, I went through rigorous studying sessions and nights without sleep to study for the final exam with my peers and my teacher. This was when I finally was able to achieve the goal I had been striving for all year long. Passing the AP Biology exam is what I consider to be my highest accomplishment. I worked extremely hard to prepare myself for it, and knowing that I passed made me feel so amazing about myself because this proved that if you work for what you want, you can achieve any goal. Through my father’s words, I learned that you can surprise yourself with what your best really is, and if you want something enough, anything is possible.