If you’ve read any of the other blogs, you already know that
MITES has been a life changing experience for all of the participants. If you
haven’t read any of the blogs yet, go read them first, then continue with mine.
I’ll even wait for you………………..Alight, let’s continue. MITES left me with a
desire to make a difference, a change in my community. I had the warm feeling
inside, kind of like after you watch Wall-E, and I wanted to share that with
others. I told myself that once school started, I was going to ignite some
inspiration!
The funny thing is, saying you’re going to do something is
much more difficult than actually doing it. For example, I had this really good
idea to organize a career fair for the local middle schools in my area. I
wanted to inform them about many different careers in the STEM areas and
inspire them to dream big. As NHS president, I thought it would be no sweat to
get people to make presentations about certain careers. However, I faced an
unmotivated chapter who only did the bare minimum in terms of community service
just to put NHS on their applications. After only a few volunteered to assist
me, I felt discouraged. I began to feel like a failure. I couldn’t even inspire
my own chapter. How could I inspire anyone else?
I think God was listening in, because he answered my
question. A few months later, December 15th rolled around and I was
accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Class of 2017. I was in
shock and disbelief. Was I being punked? No, this was real life. After
notifying my guidance counselor, she told me that I would be the first student
from Sussex Central High School to attend MIT. Most normally end up going to
state universities (I live in Delaware, not impressive). She told me that I was
a role model for others to follow. Many of the underclassmen looked up to me,
and I was their inspiration. Not only that, but I was on my way to becoming my
high school’s first black valedictorian.
I was really motivated by what my guidance counselor told
me. Through my success, I was igniting inspiration. This has caused me to push
myself to work harder as to not let those who look up to me down. It has given
me the motivation to do things that I had previously set off. Right now, I am
working on the Gates Millennium Scholarship aka the Mac Daddy of scholarships. This
scholarship gives you 5 months to write 8 essays. The reward is basically a
full ride through graduate school. At the moment, I have 19 days to write 5
essays. Yeah, I know. I should probably go work on those. Procrastination is a
ditch.
Stay Classy
-Rosemond “RowZay” Dorleans
