A Shameless Plea for Money

*This is the essay I sent it with my scholarship application. I've alluded to it in some of my conversations and some of you may have read it already, but in case you haven't, here it is. *



When I started college, at age 18, right out of high school, I wasn't ready. I had no clear direction or ambition to achieve any academic goals. Higher education wasn't my dream; it was just something to do while I avoided making decisions for my life. I got good grades, and to the naked eye, I was succeeding in school. But I was just wandering. Eventually, I ran out of general education classes and the time came to make a choice. I chose to leave my options open, get an Associates Degree, join the work force, and see what happened. It was a decision to avoid a real decision. I was 20, and still a kid.

I moved 800 miles away from the city in which I was born and got a full time job as an office manager for a small construction company. I was hired to type and file, but quickly was handed more and more responsibility. I have learned to adapt and thrive in the many challenges I have faced. But it was the day I got excited about dental insurance and having a retirement plan that I realized: I am an adult.

Now, it is time to stop letting life happen to me. It's time to take charge, make real choices, and shape my life into what I want it to be. I want to teach history. I have been boring my friends with fascinating historical facts for years. I think now is a great time to start boring a much larger audience. History has long been a friend of mine. As a child, I checked out countless books on Ancient Egypt, the Britain of King Arthur, and the Roman Empire from the local public library. When I got older, I lived in Spain for a semester and reveled in a whole new experience of the concept of "old." The "New" Cathedral in Salamanca was built over 200 years before the American Revolution. I have stood, in awe, in the same room where Cristobal Colum begged Isabella II Reina de las Españas for money to make his voyage to the West.

Armed with argyle sweaters and a new laptop, I am ready to finish my Bachelor's Degree. And, in the spirit of Columbus, I am imploring you to finance it.

*In case you were wondering: they awarded me the President's Scholarship for Scholastic Achievement for Transfer Students.*