You Won't Get an Answer if You Don't Ask by Olivia

You Won't Get an Answer if You Don't Ask by Olivia - January 2025 Scholarship Essay

I have been fortunate to have several good coaches, mentors and teachers that have made a positive impact on my educational journey and decisions. Certainly my AP Micro teacher who took my apprehension at the beginning of the semester and helped me earn an A in class and a 5 on the AP exam will go down in the record books for me. Or my english teacher/volleyball coach who had faith in a scrawny freshman and put her on varsity, helping her to blossom into an both academic and athlectic all-state middle blocker my junior and senior years.

But if I could give advice to any students or their parents, it would be not to underestimate the impact of teachers, professors or academics during a child's gradeschool experience. For me, two of the most impactful people entered my life at ages 6 and 10. Perhaps the most influential person provided advice in the form of an email response, when I was 10, and to this day we have never met.

I entered kindergarten having just finished my first chapter book. My mom told me she was impressed with my reading, but it wasn't until I met with the school reading specialist to do a baseline reading test that I realized just how proficient I was. She had to go to the 4th grade classrooms to find me books that challenged me to grow. In 1st grade she encouraged me to read Harry Potter, and by the start of 2nd grade I had finished them all, along with several other book series. She told me to never stop reading, no matter what, and that reading would bring me much success.

When I was 10, mid-way through 4th grade, I was sitting with my mom and I told her I wanted to go to Stanford but didn't know what I needed to do to get in. I asked her if I could contact someone at the University to find out what I needed to do, and we found the Dean of Admission's name and email. I asked him what I needed to do to go to school there, and he replied the same day: "Work hard in school. Challenge yourself and do things that make you happy. Investigate lots of colleges when you get to end of your junior year in high school you have wonderful places to apply to." So I did just that.

Thanks to a reading specialist that took me under her wing, I haven't stopped reading. And thanks to the Dean of Admissions at Stanford University, who took two minutes out of his day to reply to a 10 year old girl with a dream, I will be attending the University of Chicago in the fall, studying economics and pre-law. While I didn't end up applying to Stanford, it will always hold a special place in my heart.