Feedback: dowsing or fueling a fire? by Leo

Feedback: dowsing or fueling a fire? by Leo - August 2026 Scholarship Essay

LED lights flickered overhead while I tried not to fall asleep from the recent daylight savings. It was my first official night at Boy Scouts, and they were having a group strength activity to start it off. It involved finding a hidden path from one end of the room to the other based on the floor tiles. My team was almost there but I decided to take a route we hadn't before. Contrary to what I thought would happen, I set my team back and we got second place. Afterwards, one of the older scouts took me aside and told me how teamwork was necessary for Scouting and that I'd grow to like it.

Unfortunately for my mom, I never ended up liking Boy Scouts, I dropped it after a few months. But, the lesson from my first night stuck with me. While at first I was resentful of being told what to do, ironic for a teacher's pet like me, it would help me in the long run. Humans are social creatures, we rely on one another for emotional and physical support. When I deviated from something coded into my DNA, I weakened both myself and those who were there for me. As I grew older and a little wiser, I stopped trying to be the master of the reins for every moment. I stepped back, I saw how others would work and incorporated it into my own methods. My success wasn't entirely dependent on myself alone. Success could also be found in helping out my classmates understand the math unit; success could be found in helping someone find their confidence; success could be found in taking a step back so others can have their own moment.

Being critiqued can hurt. It hurts more when you know they're right and you aren't willing to accept that. You can either sit in that hurt and end up wielding it against people close to you, or you can use it to forge yourself into something better. I sat in my hurt for a while before I used the critique to remake myself. It's allowed me to make new friends, adopt new perspectives, and surpass hurdles I didn't know were holding me back. Feedback, good or bad, helps to fuel my growth.