Ms. Thompson’s Lesson by Carolina

Ms. Thompson’s Lesson by Carolina - August 2026 Scholarship Essay

When I was in my first year of high school, I decided to take AP (Advanced Placement) Language and composition in order to fulfill the necessary language arts credit while simultaneously earning some college credit. My older sister had encouraged me to take these advanced placement classes, as they had saved her a lot of time and money, so she advised I do the same. I knew advanced placement classes tended to be more demanding and rigorous than the honors program I had been doing, but figured I would be alright since I never struggled with language arts. On the first day of class, Ms. Thompson introduced herself, gave us the rundown of the syllabus, and our first practice essay. She did it before teaching us anything, as a means to assess everyone’s prior skill and abilities with writing rhetorical analysis arguments. I hadn’t even bothered to look over the class modules, or taken the time to become familiar with what material we would be learning. I thought I wouldn’t need to, and that I would be blowing Ms. Thompson away all year round with my writing, starting with that first essay. Alas, when she returned our essays the following day in class, there was a one on my paper, instead of a five out of five like I had expected. I was extremely embarrassed of my arrogance and cockiness from not even twenty-four hours before. I was fiercely humbled in that moment. But, when I refocused myself towards the commentary and corrections she had left, I realized that her grading was actually pretty fair (unfortunately). So I tried to apply what she had said- My writing had potential, but my arguments themselves consisted merely of statements with pretty much no evidence or reasoning. By the end of the year, I was getting fours. And I passed the advanced placement exams with flying colors. And when I took AP Composition and Literature, I was able to apply everything Ms. Thompson had taught me. And I got a five on the advanced placement exam for that class- the highest score you can get. Being able to take criticism is not something that naturally comes easy to most people. It definitely doesn’t come naturally to me. I tend to get defensive, and sometimes I even make it personal. But that experience in my freshman year and the developments that followed because of the attitude I applied, were proof that it can be done. Even if you can’t control the immediate emotional response your body and mind have, you can train yourself to deter away from less helpful emotions. Rather than seeing it as an attack targeted towards me, I’ve come to see feedback as a ‘cheat sheet’ of sorts. One that tells me explicitly how to improve going forward. It can also be a measure of growth, like it was for me during high school and my writing skills. Our brains are chemically programmed to learn better from our mistakes- And it’s only natural that said programming would be enhanced by direct feedback and advice, regarding which mistakes to avoid moving forward, and what to try instead.