The story of the scholarships

I never thought that in my life time I would be going to college for free. I mean for one my grades suck, I don’t go to class, and did I mention my grades suck? If I did not to have this check right here in front of me and someone were to tell me that I would be going to college for free I’d probably laugh right in their face. Heck, when I told my teacher she instantly looked up at me and gave me that face of utter shock. It wasn’t a bad face, it was actually very comforting; she knew exactly what this meant for me.
I mean I do not know how to say this without sounding stupid, but I really didn’t do anything to get to this point. Heck I didn’t even fill out any of the scholarship form, my mom did that while I sat my lazy ass on the couch and watched Drake and Josh. I didn’t even try when it came to the ACT I mean I took it and I got a 26 but I didn’t try, hell, I didn’t even use a calculator when it came to the math section. So after I graduated I had really no idea what I was going to do when I found out that I had been accepted at the University of Memphis. I don’t know how this happened because I never even applied; I guess my mom must have filled all that crap out. A few weeks later, I found out that I even got a half tuition scholarship from the school itself. To top it all off the State of Tennessee is even going to be giving me 4,000 dollars to go to school.
I still feel like I don’t deserve this when I look at two of my best friends like Matt and Daniel, and I think about all the crap that they went through to get their scholarship and it just doesn’t seem fair to me you know. I feel like I just skimmed by and got a lucky break. Does that make sense or am I just over analyzing this situation?
I remember all my life going to church with Matt and his whole life was about that church; he did all the extra stuff he could. I mean he taught Sunday school, he went on mission trips, he led prayer, and even organized countless fundraisers so we could go to cool places like Six Flags. Well our church gives out a scholarship every year to somebody going to college. I talked to Matt the day he turned in his application and he told me he thought he had no chance of getting the scholarship. When I asked him why he told me that it was just he never felt like anything he did at this church meant much and that it just made him feel really unappreciated. One day when we were going down to New Orleans for a mission trip I was talking to Matt and our youth minister came up him and told him that it looked like he was going to be the one to get the scholarship. The look on Matt’s face was priceless; you could just tell that he felt like what he did mattered.
Then there is my other friend Daniel, this kid is crazy. He’s one of the most amazing actors I've seen in a long time but if you ask him about it he’ll tell you differently. He’s always been one of those people to always be down on himself. He did speech and drama where he competed against people and always found ways of lowering his achievements. One day in class Matt, Daniel, and I were all sitting in class when another one of our friends came up and was filling out and application for the University of Memphis full tuition theatre and dance scholarship and when Daniel asked him about it Jordan (One of our friends and Daniel’s best friend) told Daniel about it and the next thing we knew Daniel had rushed out the door and was already talking to the theatre director and his speech coach about letters of recommendation.
Daniel was so excited when he made finalist for the scholarship and immediately began working on his monologues, practicing for us every moment he got. We were watching him perform for his speech coach when she told him to be “more manly” and I quote “Lead with your penis.” Well as it came time for the audition I remember talking to Daniel and he told me that I felt like if he didn’t get this scholarship then there would be no point for him to even be a theatre major and basically told me that if he didn’t get this scholarship he wasn’t going to even study theatre in college.
After Daniel got back all he could talk about was how his audition went and about how he thought he had done. He also told us that he would find out by the end of the week if he had gotten it. Unfortunately, a week went by and he didn’t hear anything about the scholarship but then one fateful day, while we were math class, I suddenly hear Daniel let out a scream and the next thing I knew Daniel was telling me that he was one of the three people selected for the scholarship.
It’s hard for me to put into words how I feel. I guess what i'm trying to say is this, I don’t think I deserve my scholarships, but I’m glad I got them. I mean I didn’t really work hard to get them but I got them. After the look of shock came off my teachers face she started to cry because she understood that this was my second chance. A chance for me to do what I should have done when I first stepped in to the walls of my high school. The same thing goes with Daniel and Matt. Matt getting that scholarship will probably change his life forever, because from now on he will know that what he does, does actually matter. And now Daniel will never feel like he isn’t talented at what he loves to do and has a new confidence in him that will carry him far in life. These changes that will help us shape who we are all came from the scholarship we got to help us go to college. While people can tell us that we don’t deserve them no one will be able to take them away but us. They have given us the resources to be who ever we strive to be.