This past January, I got notice that I was eligible to apply for the University of West Florida Pace Presidential Scholarship. The Presidential Scholarship is a full-ride scholarship for all four years of attendance at UWF. There are three rounds to the competition; information session, interview, and essay.

Although this essay was for the Presidential Scholarship, not Honors Core 1, I felt like this essay fit with what was talked about throughout the semester. Throughout the semester, we talked about the notion of “the human” as it emerges in Western thought. We covered a broad array of subject areas related to the theme of “the human” and possessing the social and intellectual maturity required to address complex and controversial topics with objectivity and respect for others. This essay talks about just that, the country coming together as people to fix the issues it may have.

This essay was my first “honors level” essay, so it taught me a lot. Although I did not have the stringent reviews and corrections that I would have gotten just a couple of months later from Core I, I was able to draft and then perfect my essay to be submitted for the scholarship.