Candace Hensley is a rising senior at Boston Latin School. She is involved in competitive dancing at Beverly Richards Dance Center, tutoring underclassmen at BLS, and was recently inducted into the National Honor Society. Candace also received a scholarship from the Annenberg Foundation this past spring, which will assist her financially at any college of her choice. The motto of the Ward Fellowship is a quote from John William Ward, “one must act as if one can make a difference.” As Albert Camus discusses in his brilliant novel, The Stranger, everyone will eventually die one day, nothing can stop that from ensuing. Everyone was born into this world, will live their lives, and then die. This may seem quite troubling to some people, as it did to the protagonist in Camus’ novel, Monsieur Meursault, who questioned existence, asking “what did other people’s deaths or a mother’s love matter…what would it matter if he were accused of murder and then executed because he didn’t cry at his mother’s funeral?” He knew that no matter what happened in one’s life, we “would all be condemned one day…whether it [is] now or twenty years from now” it doesn’t really matter, “in either case other men and women will naturally go on living – and for thousands of years”.After reading this, Candace thought about her own life.
Candace’s mother was murdered at the age of 45. She could not stop it from happening, and in a way it showed her the harsh reality of this world and toughened her to become the strong woman that she is today. That horrible time led Candace to where she presently is, sitting in a judge’s office looking at the astounding view of Boston Harbor and thinking about all the connections she has made and will make with esteemed lawyers, honorable judges, brilliant clerks, and rising law students, all to bring her one step closer to her ultimate goal: becoming a lawyer.
It is a fact that everyone is going to end. When people pass on others will come after to follow in their footsteps and their place in this universe will be refilled. That is why becoming a lawyer is Candace’s life goal, she wants to make a change in this world that will not fade away when she does. She wants to have a passionate career, not just one at which she is skilled and will receive a fine paycheck, but one where, as Ward said, Candace can make a difference, no matter how big or small. She wants to show others that there is still hope, to never give up on oneself, no matter what. Most people thought that after the tragic death of her mother and the horrible consequences faced by her family, she would be a troubled and directionless child; but Candace proved them wrong. She showed them that, with guiding help, anyone is capable of anything, and the day she graduates from law school and begins her service for others, she will teach them this same ideal.
One day soon Candace will start her career, and she hopes that on one of her last days on this Earth she can wake up and say, “I can rest peacefully because I made the lives of others easier to bear, I extended a hand to someone’s trembling one, I made a difference in this world,” and her existence will not die with her. Her work and values will live on in the lives of others, and in the lives of their children, and that is the beauty of public service.