My fingers twitch with anticipation as I rip into the shiny Christmas wrapping paper, as I peal back the layers of paper, the sharp edges of a card board box protrude out of the edges of the paper. The last of the paper is shredded away and within the box lays a smooth black new laptop from Toshiba. My seventh grade heart started pounding with excitement to use the new laptop.
Today, as I open the same computer my senior year, to begin my first Varsity debate, the keys in the computer are cracked like old teeth and the top and bottom are splitting apart, creaking like an ancient wooden staircase, but the laptop is still an essential part of my strategy. Hidden within the broken creaking bolts of the tired old Toshiba is all my cases for Varsity debates as well as rebuttal information and additional research.
Besides debate and speech activities, my computer over the last five years has been a vital part of my study habits. Throughout my childhood, I struggled with dyslexia coupled with atrocious handwriting. The combination, left most of my writing a simple sea of jumbled gibberish that was incoherent due to spelling mistakes and sloppy letters. Once I opened the computer though my seventh grade year, the technology provided me with a method for producing more coherent writing and has made me into a better student.
In the long term, I hope to pursue a career in business or law, in both fields my computer will remain a vital tool in my work. The simple laptop can help me to connect with customers, future employers and investors in my future for years to come. Similarly to how my current computer connects me with students, parents and teachers for running my own tutoring program, as I progress with my future career, my computer will continue to help me connect with new opportunities.
Twenty years from now, I’ll take out a computer with shiny new keys that opens as quietly as a mouse, and has an airtight security code to protect all my important work information. Beyond a fire wall of specialized passwords inside the new sophisticated laptop lie the secrets of large corporations I defend or the bank statements of my own new company illustrating a progressive growth pattern in my company’s profit margins. My laptop will continue to be a vital part of my organization process whether I’m creating my own startup from the ground up, or working within large firms, the computer will always be an important storage and security device for my important information. In the long run, I know that laptops will be as vital to my life in the future as they are right now, and as they were on that simple Christmas morning six years ago when I tore into the Toshiba that I still use today.
Acknowledgement: This essay was submitted by Margaret Krenke for 2017 Rentipads.com Education Scholarship