What Does Learning Mean to You?

The following is my submission to the 2015 Fall CourseHorse Learner's Scholarship, coursehorse.com/scholarship.
Since a young age, I have loved to read. At age four, I remember a very specific memory of myself and a picture book about a cat that played the banjo and wanted to start a band. I clearly recall myself sitting in a closet, reading aloud to myself. Now, only being four I did not yet know how to read, but I pretended to know. I described in great detail what was happening on each page of the book and sometimes I would create a completely new story from my own four year old imagination to correlate with the book. My mother was so proud. My mother ran an at-home daycare so everyday was like school for me. She taught us different things like the alphabet and different sounds that the letters made. She taught us the days of the week and the months of the year. During play time, I was the teacher. I would pretend to hold school for my friends and on certain days, I would set up a play "library" and make my friends check out books from me to read. From a young age, I loved to learn new things, and I learned them quickly.
As I grew older, my mother knew I was a quick learner. I rarely received a grade lower than a B on any given assignment/test and I read 24/7. One of my elementary teachers actually complained to my mom at a parent-teacher conference about it. My mom could not understand why a teacher would be upset that their student was so excited to read. The teacher went on to say that I never went anywhere without a book and most times even during recess I would sit and read. She told my mom that it wasn't healthy, but I believe because of all my reading, I have gained more knowledge than I ever could have if I didn't like reading like a normal kid.
It was hard to explain to the teacher why I loved to read so much. Because of my excessive reading, I could read in a way that other kids could not. I could immerse myself into the story and pretend that I was there along for the ride. I was made fun of a lot for the books I carried around. During the summer, I could read almost 10 books at a time and not get bored. It was something that I loved and something that I still love to this day. I have learned so much from reading alone to last me a life time.
As high school ended, I felt like I learned too much to fit into my brain. I was overwhelmed with all of the information I had gathered over my four years in high school and couldn't fathom what college would be like. I graduated with a 3.89 G.P.A. and many other achievements that would take too much time to list. All in all, I was not prepared for college in the least. My first semester of college was a whirlwind of activity. Everything was new and shiny and I had no idea what to do. The exams were harder than I ever expected and nothing like high school. They always told us that college would be hard, but I believe they did not prepare us at all. One thing that I want to bring to light as I get older is the teaching in high school. Yes, to most people high school sucked, but at my high school, I was not challenged in the least, except for when I took college courses through the community college. Only then was I slightly challenged, but when I look back at it now, I think high school was a joke. Not to bag on my high school or my teachers, because I love them all dearly, but high school needs to be stepped up a notch. Maybe it was just my high school experience, and maybe if I would have went to a bigger school, a more elite high school, I would have liked it better and been more prepared, but from what I have experienced at a top notch college like KU is that you cannot come from a farm town high school and be prepared for what is to come. It will be overwhelming and mind blowing and tough as nails. There is no sugar coating it and glazing over the facts and reassuring students they will be fine.
I want the opportunity to go back to my school and give them feedback. I want to let the student body know that if they want a quality education they have to earn it. You can graze by in high school and it won't matter. High school is not hard unless you make it hard, my only regret is not being more prepared. Teachers need to devise a way to prepare seniors for what is to come for their next year of education because if what happened to me keeps happening to others, grades will suffer greatly.
In all learning to me means everything. Learning is the key to success and knowledge. Learning to me is my ticket to get out of the state of Kansas and become successful in today's world.