This year, we split the Baldwin Prize into two divisions, one for freshmen and sophomores and another for juniors and seniors. One winner was selected from each division. Rashaad Johnson took the junior/senior prize. His winning essay is below.
The theme was empowerment. All students responded to the following prompt:
Describe a moment when you felt empowered. This could have arisen from a single event or an ongoing activity. It could be in any setting--social, professional, academic. Why did you feel empowered? What did you do with that power? Did you use it responsibly?
Ask a retro gamer to recall their most profound moment in gaming, and that person may fondly remember their glory days in the arcade. They may remember the dimly lit neon rooms, decorated with large crowds, that pleasant aroma of pizza and nachos, and the many arcade consoles brightening the room like the shinning stars that engulf the night. They may tell of the ever-enlarging crowd around them, gazing in awe as they topple high scores that once reigned supreme, in games like Pac Man, or how they defeated a plethora of challengers, one by one, in the rings of Street Fighter. Hordes of gamers would send heartfelt cheers of encouragement and passion, adding more pressure to the already excited aura in the room. The energy that they generated, the respect that they obtained as a result of their dedication. Ask that same person if they thought of using that vigor and set of skills in a career, of any kind, and they may yield a perplexed, anxious chuckle, as if saying, "Even if I did, what could I have done?" Rather than remain oblivious and wondering, I used my passion and talent for video games in order to break the social limits set on both gamers and myself, resulting in my newfound role as a leader.
Now, before I keep going, I am well aware of the hordes of stereotypes of gamers, including, but most certainly not limited to the "couch potato", the "violent antisocial kid", and the "lazy, attention deficit kid" clichès. I have heard them all and may likely continue to hear them constantly, like a broken record. But while the arguments have an iota of merit, they, on a much grander scale, are simply false. In fact, by delving into the world of gaming, I learned the trade of the gaming industry, including game design, game development, creative writing, and visual arts. I have also learned life lessons, such as teamwork, communication, and dedication.
I laid the path of leadership in my freshman year of high school. As I was rather timid and soft-spoken, and isolated myself from others, I would never had thought that I would change Baltimore's City College for the better. Though meant in jest, I had an itching thought to establish a video game club, the first one, in fact, as City never officially had one. When I realized just how monumental my idea became, however, it took no time at all for me to start breaking ground. I had decided that I wanted to create a video game club, where I would not only play video games, but also create them, compete in tournaments, blog about them, and even host workshops on events in the gaming industry. The goal was to create a league of gamers, who could appreciate the values found within the gaming world, both as players, and as developers. In fact, while most clubs take about a month or two on average to set up, it took me only two weeks. Once I have an idea, not even Sonic could beat me in a race against time. Once I had my documents drafted and signed and my advisor selected, I only needed to gather members. Yet therein lies the problem. I wasn't exactly as iconic and brave as the many protagonists of my games, so it was a struggle to make my presence known. To make matters worse, some people, such as my peers and teachers, only knew how to belittle and ridicule my efforts. Still, it wasn't all terrible. After all, nothing is without its pros and cons. Their doubt only increased my faith, and after all the trials and tribulations, I would become the founder and CEO of City's first video game club as a sophomore. I also had to give it a name, of course, so after all the careful consideration, I chose a fitting name for it: Tech Knights, merging our profession with the mascot.
Of course, any honorific comes with its struggles, with mine coming in the form of saboteur and treachery. For starters, I did gain a large quantity of members, fifteen seniors in fact, who were surprised that a freshman created a club period. Such tasks were usually left for sophomores. I was honored to see my work praised, and by my upperclassmen to boot, and I vowed to not let their faith go misplaced.
I had to balance my time between being king of Tech Knights and pawn of the chess club. Puns aside, my coach soon became cross with me, as I wasn't fully devoted to chess, almost seemingly jealous at the fact, telling me that chess was more important. Finally, he had enough, but rather than making me choose between the two, he wanted me to endorse the chess team in my club. I was furious, more so than the God of War. I adamantly refused, and I left the team for a time, an act that soon would haunt me. Soon after, he got my club shut down, and my advisor quit on me. But rather than feel more trapped than a certain pink-dressed, blonde gaming princess, I worked on finding a whole new advisor and set of members, which I did successfully. To this day, Tech Knights is still functioning, and well to boot, and will continue to do so in the future.
There's a difference between being a leader and a manager. Only the latter is made on an assembly line. The former actually takes real effort to work on. A leader is dependable, strong, courageous, accepting, and, above all else, simply that, a leader. Leaders don't have to remind others of their worth, because everyone, the leader included, respects them. A leader does not jealously compete with others. They aid them in order to help people become stronger. I did this and more, and that's what empowers me most. I guess my experience helped me level up.
The theme was empowerment. All students responded to the following prompt:
Describe a moment when you felt empowered. This could have arisen from a single event or an ongoing activity. It could be in any setting--social, professional, academic. Why did you feel empowered? What did you do with that power? Did you use it responsibly?
Ask a retro gamer to recall their most profound moment in gaming, and that person may fondly remember their glory days in the arcade. They may remember the dimly lit neon rooms, decorated with large crowds, that pleasant aroma of pizza and nachos, and the many arcade consoles brightening the room like the shinning stars that engulf the night. They may tell of the ever-enlarging crowd around them, gazing in awe as they topple high scores that once reigned supreme, in games like Pac Man, or how they defeated a plethora of challengers, one by one, in the rings of Street Fighter. Hordes of gamers would send heartfelt cheers of encouragement and passion, adding more pressure to the already excited aura in the room. The energy that they generated, the respect that they obtained as a result of their dedication. Ask that same person if they thought of using that vigor and set of skills in a career, of any kind, and they may yield a perplexed, anxious chuckle, as if saying, "Even if I did, what could I have done?" Rather than remain oblivious and wondering, I used my passion and talent for video games in order to break the social limits set on both gamers and myself, resulting in my newfound role as a leader.
Now, before I keep going, I am well aware of the hordes of stereotypes of gamers, including, but most certainly not limited to the "couch potato", the "violent antisocial kid", and the "lazy, attention deficit kid" clichès. I have heard them all and may likely continue to hear them constantly, like a broken record. But while the arguments have an iota of merit, they, on a much grander scale, are simply false. In fact, by delving into the world of gaming, I learned the trade of the gaming industry, including game design, game development, creative writing, and visual arts. I have also learned life lessons, such as teamwork, communication, and dedication.
I laid the path of leadership in my freshman year of high school. As I was rather timid and soft-spoken, and isolated myself from others, I would never had thought that I would change Baltimore's City College for the better. Though meant in jest, I had an itching thought to establish a video game club, the first one, in fact, as City never officially had one. When I realized just how monumental my idea became, however, it took no time at all for me to start breaking ground. I had decided that I wanted to create a video game club, where I would not only play video games, but also create them, compete in tournaments, blog about them, and even host workshops on events in the gaming industry. The goal was to create a league of gamers, who could appreciate the values found within the gaming world, both as players, and as developers. In fact, while most clubs take about a month or two on average to set up, it took me only two weeks. Once I have an idea, not even Sonic could beat me in a race against time. Once I had my documents drafted and signed and my advisor selected, I only needed to gather members. Yet therein lies the problem. I wasn't exactly as iconic and brave as the many protagonists of my games, so it was a struggle to make my presence known. To make matters worse, some people, such as my peers and teachers, only knew how to belittle and ridicule my efforts. Still, it wasn't all terrible. After all, nothing is without its pros and cons. Their doubt only increased my faith, and after all the trials and tribulations, I would become the founder and CEO of City's first video game club as a sophomore. I also had to give it a name, of course, so after all the careful consideration, I chose a fitting name for it: Tech Knights, merging our profession with the mascot.
Of course, any honorific comes with its struggles, with mine coming in the form of saboteur and treachery. For starters, I did gain a large quantity of members, fifteen seniors in fact, who were surprised that a freshman created a club period. Such tasks were usually left for sophomores. I was honored to see my work praised, and by my upperclassmen to boot, and I vowed to not let their faith go misplaced.
I had to balance my time between being king of Tech Knights and pawn of the chess club. Puns aside, my coach soon became cross with me, as I wasn't fully devoted to chess, almost seemingly jealous at the fact, telling me that chess was more important. Finally, he had enough, but rather than making me choose between the two, he wanted me to endorse the chess team in my club. I was furious, more so than the God of War. I adamantly refused, and I left the team for a time, an act that soon would haunt me. Soon after, he got my club shut down, and my advisor quit on me. But rather than feel more trapped than a certain pink-dressed, blonde gaming princess, I worked on finding a whole new advisor and set of members, which I did successfully. To this day, Tech Knights is still functioning, and well to boot, and will continue to do so in the future.
There's a difference between being a leader and a manager. Only the latter is made on an assembly line. The former actually takes real effort to work on. A leader is dependable, strong, courageous, accepting, and, above all else, simply that, a leader. Leaders don't have to remind others of their worth, because everyone, the leader included, respects them. A leader does not jealously compete with others. They aid them in order to help people become stronger. I did this and more, and that's what empowers me most. I guess my experience helped me level up.
RSS Feed