sh4nn0n
Nov 5, 2012
Undergraduate / Essay Topic A for UT Austin; 'my third grade teacher, Mrs. Ward' [3]
Write an essay in which you tell us about someone who has made an impact on your life and explain how and why this person is important to you.
(looking for proof-reading, general advice, etc, but especially comments on whether or not this is off topic!)
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When life gives you lemons, some people choose to make lemonade; others decide to see what else the lemon is good for. I would place myself in the latter category, otherwise known as Gifted and Talented, or GT. I've always thought differently than many of my peers, and after being put into GT classes, I found that I fit right in. However, I never would have known that there was a place where I could be praised for my ever-active mind instead of told to be quiet had it not been for my third grade teacher, Mrs. Ward.
Instead of imaginary friends, I had imaginary worlds begging to come out of my head. So I allowed them just that: I wrote many stories in my spare time as a nine-year-old. Some of them I would share. One of them in particular, about a crazy dream and some goblins, I let Mrs. Ward read. Days later, she pulled me aside in the middle of class and told me I would be screened to see if something called GT was right for me. I wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing or how I should answer the questions on the screening quizzes. Luckily, all I had to do was be myself, because a few weeks later I was notified that I would be placed in GT classes come fourth grade.
That next year, I was thrust into an entirely different environment. Sometimes in class we would spend the whole time solving Red Herrings. Other days, we would embark on creative projects. I liked it! Though the distinction my GT classes had from the other advanced classes dwindled as I got older, I began to like it for other reasons. I became very tightly knit with the other GT kids, as we shared these classes together over the years and had similar minds and intellectual desires. I also enjoyed the academic challenge the classes brought me. The work was not necessarily harder or even different, but the products that some GT students produced were on a level that took some effort to compete with. GT made me realize that an ambitious, productive environment like that, where I was not only pushed by myself but inadvertently by everyone around me to be better, is what I need in my education.
Naturally, this aided me in my search for the right school. I can't go to just any school that will take me. I pushed myself in high school, and I want to be able to push myself further in college; I have grown to like challenges. Applying to a school that is no small feat to get into, a school that hosts some of the best programs in the United States and boasts many talented alumni (one of my favorites being Neil deGrasse Tyson), is something that feels right to me. So I'm glad that third grade Shannon thought someone would want to read her offbeat story. Thanks to that, and the lovely teacher that actually read it, I have discovered what I really want out of a school and out of my life.
Write an essay in which you tell us about someone who has made an impact on your life and explain how and why this person is important to you.
(looking for proof-reading, general advice, etc, but especially comments on whether or not this is off topic!)
-----------------
When life gives you lemons, some people choose to make lemonade; others decide to see what else the lemon is good for. I would place myself in the latter category, otherwise known as Gifted and Talented, or GT. I've always thought differently than many of my peers, and after being put into GT classes, I found that I fit right in. However, I never would have known that there was a place where I could be praised for my ever-active mind instead of told to be quiet had it not been for my third grade teacher, Mrs. Ward.
Instead of imaginary friends, I had imaginary worlds begging to come out of my head. So I allowed them just that: I wrote many stories in my spare time as a nine-year-old. Some of them I would share. One of them in particular, about a crazy dream and some goblins, I let Mrs. Ward read. Days later, she pulled me aside in the middle of class and told me I would be screened to see if something called GT was right for me. I wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing or how I should answer the questions on the screening quizzes. Luckily, all I had to do was be myself, because a few weeks later I was notified that I would be placed in GT classes come fourth grade.
That next year, I was thrust into an entirely different environment. Sometimes in class we would spend the whole time solving Red Herrings. Other days, we would embark on creative projects. I liked it! Though the distinction my GT classes had from the other advanced classes dwindled as I got older, I began to like it for other reasons. I became very tightly knit with the other GT kids, as we shared these classes together over the years and had similar minds and intellectual desires. I also enjoyed the academic challenge the classes brought me. The work was not necessarily harder or even different, but the products that some GT students produced were on a level that took some effort to compete with. GT made me realize that an ambitious, productive environment like that, where I was not only pushed by myself but inadvertently by everyone around me to be better, is what I need in my education.
Naturally, this aided me in my search for the right school. I can't go to just any school that will take me. I pushed myself in high school, and I want to be able to push myself further in college; I have grown to like challenges. Applying to a school that is no small feat to get into, a school that hosts some of the best programs in the United States and boasts many talented alumni (one of my favorites being Neil deGrasse Tyson), is something that feels right to me. So I'm glad that third grade Shannon thought someone would want to read her offbeat story. Thanks to that, and the lovely teacher that actually read it, I have discovered what I really want out of a school and out of my life.
