The Path to A Season of Leveling Up by Kielin

The Path to A Season of Leveling Up by Kielin - August 2025 Scholarship Essay

This semester is different from any I’ve experienced before. In the past, I’ve walked into new terms with basic goals and no clear strategy for how I wanted to grow. But now, I’m entering with a level of intentionality I’ve never had. I have aspirations, a plan to achieve them, and the motivation to push through whatever challenges arise. My college journey hasn’t been a straight, polished path. I didn’t have the option to attend a university right out of high school, nor did trade school seem like the right fit for me. Skipping college altogether wasn’t an option either. So, I enrolled at Mott Community College and, for the most part, have been figuring everything out on my own.

Those early semesters were far from perfect. I wasn’t efficient with my time, and my learning methods lacked depth. I would attend lectures, take notes, and review them later, but my studying was often superficial. I was basically memorizing information without fully understanding the connections between ideas or why they mattered. While I’ve always been a high achiever, my methods weren’t aligned with my desire for mastery. I want to truly understand material, not just repeat it back on a test. That gap between my potential and my actual learning outcomes is exactly why this semester is so important for me.

One of my main aspirations is to become more effective in how I learn. In the past, I’ve relied on isolated memorization, which may work temporarily but doesn’t lead to long-term understanding. I’ve started shifting my approach by engaging in pre-study before lectures, asking more questions during class, and focusing on identifying the relationships between concepts. This semester, I want to take that even further by using active recall, harder practice problems, and verbal studying to ensure I can explain material, not just recognize it. For me, being able to articulate a concept in my own words means I understand it, and that’s the level of comprehension I will achieve .

I know many students start each semester with the goal of earning good grades, and while that’s important, it’s not enough for me anymore. In 2025, with technology like AI making it easier than ever to complete assignments and ace tests without effort, grades alone don’t measure the quality of learning. What motivates me is knowing that I can use this semester to create lasting skills, not just a paper degree. That’s why my second aspiration is to create an environment that’s truly conducive to my growth.

This has made me examine every part of my daily life including, the way I manage my time, the people I surround myself with, and even the media and conversations I consume. From experience, I know how much my environment can either fuel or drain my progress. I remember a specific example from a past semester when I became close with someone who was charismatic, fun, and full of energy , but not in a way that added value to my life. In fact, their constant drama and lack of focus created distractions I didn’t need at the time. It may have seemed small at first, but over time, I realized that their energy directly influenced my own productivity and focus. I learned that even small, seemingly harmless influences can have a compounded effect on your outcomes. Now that I recognize this, I’m motivated to be much more intentional about the people and influences I allow into my space.

Finally, my third aspiration is tied directly to my field of study and career path. I’m a business finance student, and the finance industry is both competitive and intellectually demanding. Success in this field isn’t just about knowing definitions, it’s about having a deep, practical understanding of financial systems and being able to clearly communicate complex concepts to others. This semester, I want to not only learn the material in my courses but also process it deeply enough that I can explain it to someone else with confidence.

This goal connects directly to my current job as a business banker at Huntington Bank. Every day, I have to explain financial products, terms, and processes to clients who often have little prior knowledge. It’s not enough to just know the information; I have to present it in a way that is clear, relatable, and helpful. That skill, the ability to translate knowledge into understanding for others, is exactly what I want to develop in my classes as well.

In the end, I don’t want this semester to be superficial. I want it to be a season of real, meaningful growth, the kind that carries over into the next stage of my academic and professional life. My aspirations all point toward the same outcome: leveling up. By improving the way I learn, shaping an environment that supports my goals, and mastering the ability to explain what I know, I’m setting myself up for success not just this semester, but for years to come.
This semester is about more than assignments and grades, it’s about transformation. And I’m ready for it.