The following was the winning submission in the Amsterdam-Gloversville-Johnstown Branch of the American Association of University Women's essay contest for this year. Gloversville High School's Kelli Garguilo received the Dorothy Wemple Literary Award, a $300 scholarship, for her winning entry, titled "A Time for Courage and Imagination." Garguilo plans to attend Syracuse University in the fall.

The year 2009 will definitely go down in history as a time for courage. Almost every day on my way to school the car radio would blast out yet some more dreadful financial news. It was almost as if Chicken Little were indeed a prophet. I could hear my parents talking in hushed voices very worried about finances and if there would be enough money for college.

For me, personally, it has also been a year where I have seen my father no longer have a job and finally after much perseverance find one. This has influenced greatly my career choice. I, like everyone, want to go off to college to explore, dream and reach to become the best person that I can be. My mom is always telling everyone in our family to choose a career in which we will have a strong passion and desire to wake up and love what we are doing. Her words have strongly echoed in my mind.

At first my career choice was to study occupational therapy, but because not that many schools offer it on the undergraduate level, I thought it would be a good strategy to major in teaching math or science, and then to pursue a master's degree in occupational therapy. I absolutely love both fields (math and science) and feel most fortunate to have had some awesome, infectious and thought-provoking teachers. I can only hope that I will become as a good a teacher as all of them. To me school was not about the grades but about pushing myself to learn and absorb as much as I could.

Because of our economical situation, I find myself having to think outside of the box and, yet, be realistic. I sincerely do not want to come out of school and find that I am unemployable. However, I could not just choose a major just because it was marketable. I have to have passion in what I am doing.

I know that I will love teaching and occupational therapy because during the 2008-09 school year, I job shadowed an occupational therapist at St. Mary's Hospital in Amsterdam. I will be most fortunate to combine my passion for math or science with occupational therapy.

Of course, no one can plan their whole life out, but I, and probably everyone in the class of 2009, will have to think outside of the box and be extremely proactive to have a rewarding and successful career. No longer will our generation have one job for life like other generations. I know that I will always seek to improve myself both for economic as well as for personal growth. It is just a fact of life!