I won a thousand dollars thanks to this essay!

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My life has been filled with defining moments—moments that have guided my future in deep, lasting ways. The first, most lasting moment was ten years ago, at the beginning of my life and education.

It was a still late August afternoon. The sun directed its heat with focus onto the backseat car windows, and I sat in its warmth looking up through the glass. I was five years old, and being driven home by my grandma. In school that day, our teacher had introduced beginner-reading books and it’s why I couldn’t really see the towering green mountains or the perfect blue sky or the view of the stretching blanket of ocean; I was fascinated by the shapes and meanings of the black words on paper. But however much I loved the words, I still stuttered through the books, unable to understand the entire meaning of the sentences in one continuous glance. This was what occupied my mind that unforgettable sun glazed drive home, and it’s why each sign we passed, I squinted up at it trying to force my mind to bend around the words. Staring, staring, until in one life changing world shattering moment, it clicked. I could read.

The collective shift in my perspective that afternoon greatly affected my life. The beat up second hand Steinbeck novels my dad read to me in fifth grade, the copy of Midsummer Night’s Dream I bought and read on my trip to England at twelve, the complete serenity that comes from burying my head in an old book; the invaluable lessons and stories that I adopted as my own. These have all rooted from that exact moment twelve years ago.

In the short seventeen years I’ve lived, there has been no influence as great to me as the written word. Even on my worst days, it’s hard not to feel sublimely peaceful knowing that I always have access to them.

What I’ve come to realize over the course of high school years is that my kindergarten teacher’s unfailing encouragement brought me to that first defining moment, a moment that changed my future completely. Now, in high school, my teachers have become my most cherished mentors and friends. Their words have gotten me through both Shakespeare and the first fight with my best friend. As I grew up into the woman I am now, my second family has watched me take my first steps into adulthood. Always patient, always challenging me, I owe my passionate love of learning to them.

When I look back on these moments and people who have affected my life, I see a clear path shining in the hazy future. I want to learn, but more importantly, I want to teach students how to learn, and how to love learning. My goal, in a word, is to teach.

The path to this goal is flexible, as most paths and plans are in life. However, I want to attend the best graduate school available and learn about education, and how better to teach students the love of learning. I hope to involve my interests in technology, where I believe education is quickly integrating with, and to teach kids who are full of hope but not opportunity, and I want to give them a world of opportunities through education.