Scholarships are not mysterious. Winning them takes work – which is only a continuation of the efforts to be eligible to compete for scholarships in the first place. Although a part of daily life, all the hours upon hours of school, then hours and hours of homework to get the grades to have a high GPA – that’s work. Then, driving around who knows how many counties for how many sports games, practices, training runs, dance recitals, music lessons, science fairs, camping trips, leadership retreats and more over those same number of years took effort, coordination with parents and siblings, plus time. Now, when all that time and effort can actually make money (i.e. applying and winning scholarships), then many teenagers “don’t wanna”. Huh? Your parents may be looking at you funny, because the logic doesn’t quite add up. Often, parents’ thinking is that “a little more work won’t kill you” and their nervousness about college costs can impel them to ask teens to help with their own expenses. Regardless of parents’ motivations for asking teens to apply for scholarships, the actual process of applying for scholarships can help teens mature into their young adulthood by gaining the responsibility and self-sufficiency that many crave.
No one wants to be that whiny adult, who’s always complaining about life not working out. Teenagers have the opportunity to not embarrass themselves as “those adult children” later, as well as begin developing life skills to take care of themselves, by applying for scholarships. Trying to stand up on one’s own two feet at any age is difficult. For starters, the basic human characteristic to want as much possible gain for the least amount of work can challenge any would-be scholarship applicant, especially typical high school seniors in the anxious waiting period for college admissions offers and full-blown cases of Senioritis. Evolving takes effort. Which once undertaken, then the experience will reveal the meaning of what Mahatma Gandhi says, “Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.”
