I had a fun adventure today.
I’ve been trying to compile an application for the Roothbert Fund Scholarship, but it’s been a rough ride, and it needs to be there by tomorrow. It required the general application, a résumé, three recommendation letters, transcripts form my high school and college, and two two-page essays. As of this morning I had the application, the résumé, the transcripts, the essays, but only one letter. The one in my possession was from my dear friend Londa Ross, the secretary of Haverling High School’s Guidance Office. I was anticipating one sent out by Jim, the pastor of my home church in Bath, last week, but I hadn’t yet received it. The other I was expecting to come from my lab tutor, Mr. Kidd, but he hadn’t been able to give it to me.
I checked my mail before my afternoon classes one last time today, hoping to find Jim’s letter. I was disappointed. I didn’t receive it. I had a backup plan, but not a sure one. I decided to take a deep breath and ask my current employer at the Admissions Office, Patricia, if she would write me an extemporaneous paragraph or two. She obliged and had it ready for me in an hour. What a blessing! All I needed was one more letter.
I went to visit Mr. Kidd in his office around four o’clock. He hadn’t yet formatted it to print it on the school’s letterhead paper, but he did that quickly and emailed it down to the tutors’ computer center (personal printer problems). After we wasted most of the school’s letterhead paper in the lab with misprints of the letter, we finally made a good copy. We parted and I went up to my room to compile the entire application with about half an hour until the post office closed. Done. Done. This printed. Done. Done. Right?
I jogged down to the Post Office with twenty minutes to spare, mailed it priority mail and took a leisurely stroll back to my dorm with my sister on the phone. My phone died, but it was for the best, because when I went back into my room I walked over to my desk to plug it in. Leaning over to find the cord I noticed two pieces of paper on my desk. My essays! I’d forgotten to put the essays into the envelope!
I looked at the clock. I had six minutes until five o’clock. I remember as I was sprinting across campus back toward the Post Office, I thought to myself, “Maybe God doesn’t want me to get this scholarship. If that’s true, why am I sprinting to the Post Office? We’ll see if I make it.” It was a silly thing to think, but I thought it anyway.
I went through the door with about two minutes to spare. (Those years of sprinting around in circles in high school were finally paying off.) Thankfully, I made my way to the same clerk I’d had before and she let me open my envelope and put the essays inside. Wow. We laughed about it, and I walked out of the Post Office with a sigh of relief.
When I went back up to my room I hooted a few times, lifted my hands, and praised God. At least today was exciting….
I’ve been trying to compile an application for the Roothbert Fund Scholarship, but it’s been a rough ride, and it needs to be there by tomorrow. It required the general application, a résumé, three recommendation letters, transcripts form my high school and college, and two two-page essays. As of this morning I had the application, the résumé, the transcripts, the essays, but only one letter. The one in my possession was from my dear friend Londa Ross, the secretary of Haverling High School’s Guidance Office. I was anticipating one sent out by Jim, the pastor of my home church in Bath, last week, but I hadn’t yet received it. The other I was expecting to come from my lab tutor, Mr. Kidd, but he hadn’t been able to give it to me.
I checked my mail before my afternoon classes one last time today, hoping to find Jim’s letter. I was disappointed. I didn’t receive it. I had a backup plan, but not a sure one. I decided to take a deep breath and ask my current employer at the Admissions Office, Patricia, if she would write me an extemporaneous paragraph or two. She obliged and had it ready for me in an hour. What a blessing! All I needed was one more letter.
I went to visit Mr. Kidd in his office around four o’clock. He hadn’t yet formatted it to print it on the school’s letterhead paper, but he did that quickly and emailed it down to the tutors’ computer center (personal printer problems). After we wasted most of the school’s letterhead paper in the lab with misprints of the letter, we finally made a good copy. We parted and I went up to my room to compile the entire application with about half an hour until the post office closed. Done. Done. This printed. Done. Done. Right?
I jogged down to the Post Office with twenty minutes to spare, mailed it priority mail and took a leisurely stroll back to my dorm with my sister on the phone. My phone died, but it was for the best, because when I went back into my room I walked over to my desk to plug it in. Leaning over to find the cord I noticed two pieces of paper on my desk. My essays! I’d forgotten to put the essays into the envelope!
I looked at the clock. I had six minutes until five o’clock. I remember as I was sprinting across campus back toward the Post Office, I thought to myself, “Maybe God doesn’t want me to get this scholarship. If that’s true, why am I sprinting to the Post Office? We’ll see if I make it.” It was a silly thing to think, but I thought it anyway.
I went through the door with about two minutes to spare. (Those years of sprinting around in circles in high school were finally paying off.) Thankfully, I made my way to the same clerk I’d had before and she let me open my envelope and put the essays inside. Wow. We laughed about it, and I walked out of the Post Office with a sigh of relief.
When I went back up to my room I hooted a few times, lifted my hands, and praised God. At least today was exciting….
1 comment:
That does sound exciting! I don't have time to read your essays now, because I have to get to the train station, but I wanted to let you know that by some miracle I can now read your blog from campus!! Woo hoo!! Anyway, good luck with the scholarship. If I had money I would just give it to you instead of making you run around in circles! Unfortunately, I seem to hover a little too close to poverty ;-)
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