My Personal Growth by Rebecka

My Personal Growth by Rebecka - August 2026 Scholarship Essay

The first thing that came straight to my head that gave me personal growth as a person was last year in my law II class; me and my fellow classmates had the opportunity of having an oral board done by GPD detectives and sworn officers. The assignment was to prepare for an oral board for the position of a sworn officer. The process of being hired is done by background investigators in law enforcement and there are different requirements for getting hired in this position. Not only is there an oral board, but there is also the polygraph test, physical test, and written exam. By the end of my oral board I got feed back on how I could better improve my skills and they told me what stood out to them.

While I was preparing for the oral board I had I believe a day or so in advance to research what I knew about GPD's history to make a great impression of myself in front of the officers. When the day arrived, I dressed in the most professional way possible, made my way to the room where they were holding the interviews, and began my oral board. They started the 5 minute timer and they began asking me questions about myself and what I would do in different scenarios. Although I came in prepared and knew what I wanted to say, somethings didn't come out because I got too anxious and nervous that I forgot what I was going to bring up. But I made sure to bring up their values and what they meant to me and how I would use them. Once I finished my interview they gave me feedback on how I did. They told me I gave great detailed answers and did a great job with my "sprinkler" method which is an eye contact method when you have more then one person in front of you and you want to look at all of them to give them all the same equal respect and attention. The more negative feedback or things I could work on was when I forget something I was going to mention to not be open and say "Oh, I forgot", to instead just continue the flow of the conversation and never mention that because If I hadn't they wouldn't have known I had forgotten what I was going to say. Another thing was that at the end of an interview I have to make sure I ask a question or answer there "do you have anything else you want to share". Whether it be about how they feel about the job or how excited I am to start the job or what it would mean to me to have the job. Because it shows them the excitement I have of having that job.

The reason why I chose to talk about this experience is because it helped me grow more confident in what I have to say and knowing what I do that already gives me even a small boost in what I'm applying for. This also taught me to become less nervous when I have actual interviews for a small part time job because I've already went face to face with an actual professional position. It helped me land two jobs because I was confident going in and knew what I was going to speak about. I also believe sharing my story would help others get the same confidence I got. Because receiving harsh criticism is the true and release help you can receive to become a better version of yourself.