"The Victor" by Katelyn

"The Victor" by Katelyn - July 2026 Scholarship Essay

The page stared back at me as my grip on the #2 pencil in my hand tightened. How to write a poem.

Poems had always confused me: the rhyming ones were easy, simply connect the words using a similar word in the next line, but I was stumped on the 'mature' poems my tenth grade english teacher wanted from us.

Attempt after attempt, I gave up, returning to my phone to my endless scrolling on TikTok. About thirty minuets into my scrolling an edit of a poem by C.W. Longenecker showed up on my feed. There was triumphant music in the background while the stern voice of an old man read out the poem: "If you think you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't."

The poem was titled The Victor, encouraging a shift in mindset and believing in yourself, kind of cliche but the edit worked. I went back to the drawing board and attempted the poems again, and again until I finally created my own masterpiece.

Though my poem could not be as inspiring as The Victor had been, it taught me the invaluable skills of perseverance and grit, skills that I will carry for the rest of my career. Thank you, Longenecker.