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Alda's winning essay:
“You could have written that AP test. You have nothing to worry about.”
Those are the words my last year’s AP US History teacher told me the day
before the dreaded May 10th AP test. I knew by the sincerity in her
voice and the seriousness of her face, she meant it with all of her
heart. I have always excelled in History classes, especially in Art,
United States, and European History. I have taken all three as Advanced
Placement Classes, in which I received scores of two “fives” and one
“four” respectively. After receiving the scores above I printed out the
email my teacher had given me, restating my ability to “write the test”
and placed the page next to my score reports in a scrapbook. I will
always remember the words she said and her belief in my history
abilities. I enjoy history because I love learning dates and names along
with the stories behind the facts. I am above average when it comes to
memorization skills, but I feel I excel when learning history because I
enjoy the subject so much. I read historical fiction novels, nothing too
impressive, but only to reinforce what I learn in school. I connect what
I learn about society through important literature in my English
classes, about art and religion from my art history class, and even
methods of thought from science and math. I make sure I connect all that
I learn back to history, to understand from the perspective from a given
era, what in retrospect are the silly mistakes or great inventions we so
often hear of. I wonder exactly what Jane Austen thought while writing
her novels, what methods of medicine were used to cure colds at the
time, how that influenced her writing and how the people around her
reacted to their own society. I think of the muddy boots of Napoleon,
trudging through Egypt; I think of his fingers blotted with ink writing
down the Napoleonic Code, or the smile that slowly formed across his
face as he secured his position as first estate and leader of France.
This is what drives me to continue on with the twenty pages of notes
each night, and what motivates me to constantly try to recall events
that preceded me by generations. I feel that I was helped to become the
history enthusiast that I am by volunteering at the Museum of
Contemporary Art in San Diego, and my dedication to visiting museums
around California.
From museums, I learn about artworks first hand. I feel that being
up-close and personal with the art makes each time period that much more
impressive. Seeing real brushstrokes by Rembrandt, Picasso, and Manet
make the piece, and the time period in which it was made, that much more
relatable. I am almost tempted to touch the canvas itself, to rub my
palms against the rough yet delicate dots of acrylic and veneer that
create the icons of fine art and regality we so enjoy. I love history
because it is the study of people in its simplest definition and how
these people acted to form the world around us. It is not just what
drives humanity to their actions, but the consequences that interest me
most. To follow a story from its beginning to end, then to see how that
story created another monumental event or reign, or even a flavor of ice
cream, is what interests me the most about history. I even plan to
create a “Napoleon Club” in college. Its goal will be to help those in
need of history tutoring. The last few months of spring semester there
will be a “Napoleon War.” In this “war” teams will fight their way to
the first estate, through capture the flag “Egypt expeditions,” water
balloon fights, and even relay races and scavenger hunts representative
of Napoleon’s “100 Days” and the process of escaping from Elba. I
attribute my enthusiasm and success to the wonderful teachers I have
had. I entered middle school thinking history and social sciences would
be my worst classes. I originally thought I would be swarmed with dates
and names of people that I could not fathom. Once I met my teachers, and
saw the enthusiasm in their lectures, the stories they told, the risqué
lives presented by them to a very impressionable young version of
myself, I was hooked. I also attribute my passion for history to the
novels my mother would buy me each month. Even when we couldn’t afford a
new book my mother would take me to the bookstore for two to three hours
and wait as I read a historical fiction novel from beginning to end in
one sitting. She knew she could not stop me or my determination to
finish all that I could in the young adult section of Barnes and Nobles.
If it was not for her patience, I may not have realized that Ann Boleyn
or Cleopatra were the strikingly interesting characters that would soon
inspire me to become the studious and impressively worldly woman I still
aspire to become. I feel that I have succeeded because I reached many of
my goals, received wonderful AP scores, which accorded me the honor of
“Advanced Placement Scholar with Distinction.” I also received a
departmental award for AP U.S. History, and a desirable internship with
an AP U.S. History teacher, through a very selective process. These are
just the more obvious results of success. I feel I have truly lived up
to my self-proclaimed title of “History Buff” by the emotion that
overtakes me as I read a passage discussing Stalin and his iron workers
or the privateers that sailed the Atlantic, living from paycheck to
paycheck. As I am driven close to tears, embarrassingly enough, by the
Warsaw ghetto uprising or even Napoleon’s escape from the island of
Elba, I know I will never be persuaded to consider a major other than
History. After all, if my teacher, known for her less than harsh words
and critical evaluation of each student, can tell me that I could have
written the most horrible and tedious test I can imagine, encompassing
the entire history of America from beginning to present, I feel the
sense of accomplishment. Once I obtain a liberal arts degree, I plan to
pursue my education further in law school. I feel I may be able to help
others if I do work in government or government agencies. My main career
goal is to help others, and I feel I can accomplish this by representing
a community as a politician, or defending the accused as a lawyer. I
have chosen this as a possible career choice after taking a semester of
Advanced Placement U.S. Government and Politics. Now that I understand
government, I feel it is a plausible career path. I also want to obtain
my Masters in Library Sciences, so I can always find a way to help
others even once I retire. I feel libraries are a vital part of the
learning process, as they are always the infinite resources so many
students look to for inspiration and help. Before I become a librarian
however, I would like to write some of my own books. I would love to
write history textbooks when I am older. I know that many people
struggle with learning dates and names, but I want to show people that
history is not just memorization. I have fallen asleep reading my
history books on numerous occasions, and it caused me to want to change
the way children, and myself, see history and its texts. I would love to
help other people, and I know help comes in all different forms, not
just direct communication or service. If I could do just one thing, such
as making learning a little more fun or even easier, then I will feel
tremendously accomplished.
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