It truly shaped my life because it fueled my desire to serve a LDS full time mission (an 18 month, unpaid service mission) because I realized that I really like communicating with people who aren’t like me. I like sharing knowledge with other people. It also helped me decide what my major is: Speech Pathology. I found a passion in ASL and I’m grateful I know what I want to do for the rest of my life.
“I found a passion in ASL and I’m grateful I know what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
However, my ASL class has also taught me important life skills. There was a girl in that class that had been on my color guard team several years before that I never got along with very well. In this class, we became great friends and I really learned how to reconnect with people I’d made previously negative judgements towards.
I’ve also learned communication skills. Obviously I learned to communicate with ASL, but just as importantly, I learned to communicate my feelings with other people. My teacher is a very caring man who always asked how I was doing. One day, I was having the worst day ever and I told him about it. This was difficult for me because I have always internalized my feelings but in this class I was able to take the first step in telling people how I really feel. That will be an invaluable skill in years to come.
A class that has the most educational value is not necessarily the ones that have the most educational content. A gifted educator not only teaches his or her subject material, but is also able to teach life lessons. They’re able to instill a passion for that subject in the hearts of their students, and once we discover that passion, our life is going to be shaped according to it forever.
Editor’s Note: This essay was written by Karlee Greer, winner of the 2017 YuJa Essay Scholarship Contest. Learn more about Karlee here.
