Central States Pain Clinic - Excellence in Action Scholarship

Though I am naturally hungry for my mom’s Schnitzel and lamb soup, I am also hungry for knowledge and experience. AP Psychology was a course I took in high school that made me sure that, one way or another, I would want to use psychology in my future career. The way the teacher prepared us so heavily for each test made me want to know the different concepts as well as I could. However, just taking AP Psychology didn’t feel like enough, I needed to know more. It was a thirst that I couldn’t satisfy until I could be in that class again. Only this time, I would be a Teacher’s Assistant. I volunteered to undertake this because I had a hunger to solidify the information I learned the previous year and give back to a great teacher. I stayed after class to help him in any way I could. I had to relearn each unit so I would be able to help struggling students and also have the ability to grade quizzes. Though I had much trouble at first, learning to take a more dominant role in the classroom, I was aided by my teacher and figured out how to better my skills. There were times in class that I did more research on a topic in hopes of gaining a better understanding of the complex material at hand. I spent many times after school asking my teacher questions on things I was still confused on and I would end up learning things I never thought I would learn! In addition to AP Psychology, AP French was another passion of mine. I took French when I lived in Canada, but never had a chance to revisit it until middle school came. My love for the language runs deep because it shows me a part of my past. Though AP French was extremely difficult, it transformed my study habits and perspective on French. After I finished the class, I worried that I would lose my French-speaking abilities, so I sought out to be an assistant teacher in an AP French class. There, I helped students with grammar and tips on taking the AP exam. I also learned medical terminology to help me in the medical field for a diversity of patients, showing how driven I was to know all I could. Just being the assistant teacher in two AP classes demonstrates my dedication to mastering these subjects as best I can.