New Beginnings by Samantha

New Beginnings by Samantha - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

It was early August, and I was embarking on a new beginning at a new school, Amite High Magnet School. Except for a mandatory group assignment that led to new opportunities to meet new friends and collaborate with others on my academic level. What I had not anticipated was a sleek, transition for being alone to collaborating with peers. Gazing in awe at my classmates and the infinite friends surrounding me, I could not imagine choosing another school and experience to write about. So much emotion existed at that moment. I simply had to transcribe those intangible feelings onto paper.
I wasn't very surprised to be included as one of the students in honors classes “I had earned it". I was, however, shocked to win first place in an essay writing contest one Friday night at a football game. The awards were purely extraordinary: a $75 check.
The end of the game sparked a new beginning and motivation for writing.
As my family and I were walking back to our car, the Principal stopped me. She told me that she had observed my hard work and she had found it difficult to complete reading my composition from behind his tears. When she concluded his story I replied, "Thank you," but I was completely flabbergasted as to what to say. The idea that she was moved by my simplistic writing made me realize that I was a writer! I had reached into someone's internal self, touched it, and left a mark.
Reading my essay to everyone was one of the most memorable moments in my life. That day I realized something very valuable about the power of the written word—if you place the right words in the right order, you can change people's lives! I decided to enter as many contest as possible and publish my writing for the world to hear. What good is a powerful statement if it isn't heard? The answer was clear: I would become someone that can make a difference one word at a time.
Sometimes I wonder where my road to the future would be leading me if my mom wouldn’t have forced me to participate in the contest. I never would have known that someone had listened and cried because of my words.
Now, every time I imagine myself writing an essay about my experience as a student or a warrior, I think of that little essay and the lives it affected. I visualize the personal satisfaction of hearing my name called for hundreds to hear. I can only imagine touching people's souls, the way I did that day.