From the Desk of Mrs. Green, inspired while watching you respond
to Nora Mathews:
Dear Twelfth Grade Student,
I am watching you watch our guest speaker, and as she responds to
a question about college essays, you suddenly perk up, lean forward, strain to
hear. As if what she is about to say will be the answer- the one you are
waiting for, the one that tells you the secret. Well, boys and girls, I am here
to report that there is no secret; there is no answer.
For so many of you, your “here there be dragons” space is college,
but the real "dragon" seems to
be the college application process. Suddenly, your writing is going out to an
unknown. It is sailing off, past the unchartered territory, and you are only
hoping the dragon's breath doesn't burn it up. You may believe that if you send
out that essay, and it is burned to a crisp, then all has been for naught, as
if the entire life you have lived thus far has been solely for this: for the
moment when you find out if you were good-enough, smart-enough, engaged-enough,
talented-enough, involved-enough, unique-enough, what-they-want enough for
(insert Dream College here). Well, I am here to say ENOUGH.
You are going to be okay, even you get rejected. Where you go to
college is just another mark on your map, but it is not the end of the road.
Once you are there, you will look at your map again and realize that you fought
through that only to find more unchartered waters ahead. You will be in
college, or you will be doing something else, and either way you will be
learning.
Because that is what you really want, isn't it.
Isn't that what this is all about? Isn't it supposed to be about
education? Education should not be the process by which we are judged; it
should be the process through which we learn. And we learn through experience.
You will step out of this school, and you will be in dragon territory, but you
will discover that you are actually equipped with exactly what you need to
survive and to thrive. You will have
fun; you will be challenged; you will laugh; you will cry; you will fall in
love; you will get hurt; but most of all, you will be learning. It will be your
college experience. (At the least, it will give you fodder for your writing and
for your art.)
Where you go to college will work out. Trust your efforts; write
your best essays to show off who you are. You are enough. With any luck, you
will have reached far enough that you will be rejected by a few places. Savor
that rejection- it means you believed enough in yourself. I remember my
rejection letters well.
Next year is unchartered territory, but the only guarantee is you
will be there… And then you will be
heading somewhere else.
As Nora said, just look up and trust the stars.
Love,
Mrs. Green
