School of the Arts

I was at a competition. The prize was a scholarship. It was all artistic and creative. There were a lot of people there, but I really only remember 2 or 3. For the last part of the competition, you had to write an essay of why you should be the winner. What is your big thought, your big idea. Everyone was just sitting around writing, getting their writing supplies - paper, crayons, markers, whatever was passed out to you. People were not sitting in desks or in neat straight lines. As I was reaching to get my supplies this one girl kept covering her paper like I was going to cheat. I kept saying over and over again I couldn't see her paper and even if I could, the short glimpse of it wouldn't help me at all - I have my own ideas - yet she kept covering her paper. I was going over in my head what I was going to write about - how the arts, or any society for that matter, can be self-sustaining. How, with a little bit of work, anyone can make money from nothing and they can help their community thrive. And then I remember thinking how bland and boring it was and how it wouldn't help me win the coveted prize. I had to start thinking outside the box.