Pick me! Pick me! Pick me!

So I haven't had a lot going on in my life recently, but I did get a very exciting email last night. It said:

"Here are the winners:

1. Beth Yates
2. David Peterson
3. Natalie Baker

Congratulations winners!"

Hey hey hey! That is my name is spot 3! Okay, now you're probably all wondering what I won. It was an essay contest. All Y-group leaders were allowed to participate in the contest, and since the theme of New Student Orientation was "Disciple-Scholarship," the prompt was: "Reflecting upon Elder Neal A. Maxwell's talk, "The Disciple-Scholar," what experiences from your time at BYU have helped you become a better disciple-scholar?"I've pasted my essay below (don't worry, it's short--under 350 words) if anyone wants to read it.

Oh, and I won $100 gift card to the bookstore! I'm so super excited I can barely stand it.

Here's my essay:

I'm just like every other student at Brigham Young University. I work hard in my classes, but I don't always succeed. There are times I get frustrated and times I feel like my teachers are unfair. I want someone to show me exactly how to get the answer. Because learning isn't supposed to be frustrating, right?

Just a few weeks ago, I changed my mind. My MathEd professor began to talk of how we, as future math teachers, will be tempted to give students the answer when they get frustrated or struggle. He told us not to give in to the temptation. To me, that didn't make sense. Wasn't the purpose of me being a teacher to help explain concepts to those who didn't understand? My professor told us of the greatest teacher of all, our Father in Heaven, who lets us struggle. He doesn't rush to our aid and give us the answer every time we are frustrated. Of course He cares about us, but when we can't figure something out, He doesn't come to us and say, "Sorry I didn't give you enough information. Here's the answer!" Why doesn't our Father in Heaven help us every time we struggle? Because He knows that we will learn best when we struggle. If we were just given the answer every time we got stuck or frustrated, we'd never learn.

If our Father in Heaven teaches us this way, shouldn't we learn and teach His way? My professor’s analogy has given me an enormous amount of insight into not only how I should be a teacher but how the Lord teaches me. Additionally, this experience has helped me better understand what Neal A. Maxwell meant by the term "disciple-scholar." As I am involved in my studies, my knowledge and understanding of the gospel deepens. Being a scholar is not independent of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. When I am in class, I feel the spirit and am inspired to be better; to me, this is evidence that there is "no conflict between faith and learning."