Alumni Reflections
Kaitlin Bonner's AP Literature College Essay
Prompt: What does receiving an extraordinary education mean to you? Share a time in your educational life where you have had an extraordinary experience.
Some people might wonder if there is actually a time for an education in middle school between the hormones and crushes. Luckily for me, middle school was when I received my extraordinary education. Nestled in the campus of the University of Delaware there is a tiny private school with a hundred students and twelve teachers who know what an education truly involves. Unfortunately, middle school was another one of those experiences where I did not appreciate what I had until it was gone.
In ninth grade I was thrown into the world of ringing bells and uniforms, tests and school buses. I realized that I was introduced into the academic focus of education. Previously my school was more relaxed and focused on the students’ general development. The teachers did not have state tests for which to prepare students or specific curriculums to follow. This kind of environment is what allowed an extraordinary education system to flourish.
We could learn with nature or outside of the classroom, anything besides sitting at desks listening to lectures. We went on weeklong camping trips in the mountains or to the beach; we had a couple weeks a year taking five-day workshops on special classes like French cooking or hiking. We were fortunate enough to have such a small grade that the possibilities were endless. The world was my teacher—I wasn’t stuck inside for seven hours staring at a white board. Instead we would go outside and make sundials or play cooperatively with the first graders. This is extraordinary education at its finest.
Until high school I do not think I was ready for a formal education. As a child I was naturally excited to learn, but once I hit middle school I needed inspiration. I needed the space to discover learning and how to be excited about it. That’s what I got out of Newark Center for Creative Learning, the perfect preparation for high school and the world.
During freshman year, I realized how especially grateful I was that I took six sometimes painful hours of writing class every week. Unfortunately, sometimes the public school teachers ended up “teaching to the test.” Their class would learn what a writing prompt was just for standardized state test purposes. At NCCL, it took months to actually learn how to properly write and perfect a research paper, but my teachers took the time to show me the process.
Receiving an extraordinary education is a rare opportunity. It requires the perfect combination of excellent teachers, supportive peers, and a willing student to blossom. Regrettably, many students in the public American education system never get to experience the joy I learned that can come with education. I want to do what I can in this world to reduce those numbers. My extraordinary education has inspired to me to teach; maybe someday a student will think of me when she writes her college admission essay.
