By definition education is knowledge, skill, and development gained from study or practice. It is the key to obtaining success, the key to the understanding of oneself, the key to understanding humanity, and the key to becoming a mature, knowledgeable person. Because of this, education is important in all aspects of life and it is important to me.
With the things I have already done in life, education has played a key role. It has opened up numerous windows of opportunity, has helped in my maturation process and has made me into a more knowledgeable, intelligent and well-rounded individual. Education has helped me become better at the things I love doing, such as playing my saxophone. I love music but it was music education, through private tutoring, joining the band in fourth grade, continuing in band classes, participating in Marching Band, Concert Band and Jazz Band, band competitions, summer camps, private lessons and personal reading that has helped me tremendously, to become better at what I love doing and to become the musician that I am today.
Furthermore, it is not solely music education that has helped shape me. It has been everything that I have read, studied, experienced and gleaned from talking to and interacting with people, including family members, instructors, friends, associates, and people from various parts of the world. Also, I have been exposed to education from a Christian and a secular perspective. I attended a Christian School from K-5 through 6th grade. After that, I transferred to public school. As I look back, I can say that this, along with Church, Sunday School and growing up in a Christian home, definitely shaped the way I think, view the world, situations in the world, the way I view and interact with people and has helped make me a person with good morals and ethics.
Talking to and interacting with people from different parts of the world is another aspect of my education that has been and will continue to be important to me. This type of interaction has helped me become a well-balanced individual with a worldview that is larger than a lot of my peers. My father is a pastor and a missionary. Sharing information on his foreign travels and having guests from various parts of Africa stay in our home for weeks and months at a time, talking and sharing about their cultures and ways of life has helped open my eyes to the way that people live in other parts of the world, has helped me see that the world is larger than the United States and has sparked an interest in me for the international community. This is part of the reason that I am interested in studying abroad at some point in my educational endeavors and am looking forward to becoming a part of a Study Abroad Program at whatever University I decide to attend. I am sure it will be an invaluable experience and will make a world of difference in my life and the lives of people that I will touch as I go through life.
In the summer of 2009, my father took me on a mission trip to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. While there I saw how much the children we interacted with appreciated their education and how, because of my education, I was able, and should continue to be able to help people in other countries who are not as blessed as I am. Because of that trip my whole view on education changed, from me appreciating education a little to me fully appreciating it. I realized that I am blessed to have a good education and that the people in third world countries could do so much more if only they had the education that people in first world countries have.
With all of this said, my education is also important to me because of my future. I want to be the best that I can be in my career. As I am, God will be glorified, people will be benefited and I will enjoy life that much more. My dream is to work in the music industry and be a corporate executive for a large record label