Scholarship Essay Entry – Nicole P.

With my university education I want to inspire people to learn as I was inspired; by my teachers. I want to teach History/Social Studies in the grades 7-12. Being able to influence younger generations is how people learn from both their own mistakes as well as the mistakes that have been made in the past. Every student has the potential to succeed; they just need the right teacher at the right time to unlock that potential. I have learned from teaching classes at cadets that the key is to make learning fun. I had a teacher that made learning fun during my time in grade school. Becoming a teacher creates the possibility that I could be the role model, or the person that a student wants to be like because they are cool, knowledgeable or whatever trait they may choose to admire, is something that I aim for and makes every challenge worthwhile. I loved watching the cadets have those cartoon light bulb moments, when everything just clicks together because of a difference in how something is explained. Being the reason that any student finally understands something is the best feeling in the world.
 
History is one of the more important things to remember, because if we forget where our nations, our governments, and even our families have been, then we cannot honour and be proud of what they have done. Nor can we learn from any mistakes that were made, dooming future generations to repeat them instead of progressing forward, and making their own mistakes for others to learn from. My dream is to be a catalyst for change in the school system. I want to encourage children to stay in school but at the same time make classes, seen as boring by many, such as history, fun; because the children of younger generations are the future of our planet and of the human race. The future cannot survive if they do not know the consequences of the choices that were made in the past. It is up to current and future teachers and educators to be there to supply that knowledge.