Emma Scott: Resilient youth in face of challenges

Emma Scott, 17, United States

Cover credit: Emma Scott

Cover credit: Emma Scott

My name is Emma Scott and I am a 17-year-old youth delegate with a passion for quality education. I come from an American household in South Carolina, and my parents taught me the importance of reading early on in my life. I grew up reading novels such as Harry Potter and Little House On The Prairie, which resulted in my increasing love for learning.

I grew up wanting to be a doctor, but it wasn’t until high school that I realized that helping people can go much further than medicine. I currently serve as the Senior Class President, and I spent my junior year attending School Improvement Council meetings to ensure that my high school was reaching its fullest potential.

I believe education is crucial to societal development, and I have gone on mission trips to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to further my passion of helping others. In Honduras, I spent time at a children’s home, which was an orphanage for neglected, abused, and homeless children. It was in this country that I learned just how important schooling is, and witnessed the measures that were taken in order secure a proper education. I am passionate about using knowledge to its fullest advantage, with the purpose of further developing the education system in underdeveloped countries.

I believe that quality education is crucial to better improving our society. Once somebody has a basic understanding of how the world works, they can further expand their knowledge by creating new solutions to global issues, like poverty, hunger, and climate change. A nourishing education is the foundation for further developing the world, and it is necessary in order to improve social, political, and economic conditions in underdeveloped countries. Once quality education is expanded to those who currently don’t have access to it, the potential of human knowledge will become limitless.

Overcoming challenges

The most prominent challenges I have faced have been the limitations set by my age. Often times, a 17-year-old who has the goal of expanding educational opportunities for students isn’t taken seriously. Many times I find myself the youngest attendee of School Improvement Council meetings, the youngest citizen at Town Hall meetings and the youngest missionary on our team in Honduras. However, despite the limitations I have faced, I have learned to become resilient and embrace being young. I know that I may not be taken seriously but my voice will be heard and it will make a difference.

In the future, I plan on improving local education before making a step further towards international education. I want to attend the University of South Carolina and major in political science. Eventually I would like to secure a job in the South Carolina Department of Education in order to improve the quality of education in underdeveloped and underfunded counties. South Carolina’s Education ranks in the lower percentiles, and I’d like to give the same high school opportunities that I had to other students. After improving local education, I would like to expand globally and provide newer economic opportunities to underdeveloped countries.

At the Assembly, I plan on focusing on communication with others for the purpose of learning new ideas that stem from different parts of the word. Communicating with new people would help me further expand my global perspective, helping me understand the world from an adapted point of view. I’d love to hear what other people are passionate about, and help them achieve the goal they are trying to accomplish. I believe that there’s a huge amount of potential in today’s youth, and I plan on doing as much as I can to make sure that our assembly is powerful.