College Admission Essay

I was never a smart kid. I was in the special reading program in second and third grade, and barely passed fourth and fifth. In sixth grade, my first year of middle school, I failed history and English. I should've been held back, but my family's changing residential situation somehow prevented that fact from reaching my new middle school, and I was flung, unprepared into a new curriculum at a level I was completely unready for. Over the course of that horrible year I was tested several times to discover if I were dyslexic, I fought to make friends, and even more to keep up. Unfortunately, my struggles were in vain; I ended the year with a failing grade in every class, and a unanimous agreement from every one of my teachers that summer school would be a waste of time, I would be held back, to repeat the seventh grade. It was the principal of the school who referred my parents to the alternative school program.

Ever since I started to walk, talk, and run during my toddler years, my parents started filling my mind up with stories about their past. My father would say, “I could not fulfil my passion of becoming a doctor because of our financial status! We were broke! But you have everything you can ever imagine, so please become something that can accommodate you and your family in the future!” My mom in the shadows would also be yelling out,“Studying is only going to benefit you and only you! Trust me we won’t even touch your money if you wouldn't want us to! We want you to do something we couldn't do.” So growing up my sister and I always had the belief that being literate was everything, as with being literate you can achieve education and if you

I came out of school thinking that I wasn’t very smart. However, I always remember my Kindergarten teacher and loving the experiences she gave me and how she made me feel. My 5th grade teacher made me feel the same way my Kindergarten teacher did, special and able to conquer the world. I wanted to give that same feeling to other children. I wanted to be able to see their eyes light up in understanding and give them the confidence that they could do anything and be anyone they wanted to be.

In order to understand Molly’s development from the outside, I took concepts from the text and applied them to Molly based on observations I made during my service learning hours. I saw, during our time working on her homework, that Molly had some developed problem-solving skills and used different methods of thinking in order figure out the problem at hand. Her brain is obviously still developing and has areas that will improve in time with education. That education will come from her school environment, but also from her friends and home environment.

The months of hard work I had to put in to pass 3rd grade is a memory I will never forget. My teacher, Mrs. Nelson, told my parents that she thought it was best if I were to repeat 3rd grade because I was struggling in every subject, writing too big or small, not speaking English properly, and taking too much time to do simple assignments. I felt stupid and not good enough after hearing my teacher say that because I really was trying in school. I did all my homework and assignments, was respectful, never skipped class, and participated, yet it still wasn’t good enough. But in the end, my parents said no. After that horrible day, it was the start of a long, grueling journey of self-improvement. I started attending speech therapy and tutoring for math.

Back in the 3rd grade, I was a great overall student in both class and in behavior, but the only obstacle that always got in my way to passing the final test was reading. Reading was the subject that I always struggled a lot, mainly because of these four reasons. Reason one is the fact that didn’t understand the language since I had to adapt and make a transition to Spanish to English for Spanish was my main language that I speak inside of school and at home which brings up my second reason. My second reason is also the fact is that I was born from parents who lived in Mexico. Being born from parents who were from Reynosa and both knew little to no English really gave me a disadvantage and also meant that my parents couldn’t help either so I was on my own basically. Third reason is that reading was a big and mandatory thing back in Ruben Hinojosa Elementary school. At that school, teachers had a system called A.R where you had to reach a certain amount of A.R. points, from reading and testing a lot of books, to get a separate

We assume children learn only based on what we showed to them, but in fact, they learn more than we taught.

doing that that after awhile she noticed that her best performing students were not always the

Being the new kid was tough. Not knowing anyone, as well as going to a new school was terrifying. I quickly found my self reading more than ever before. I knew that if I wanted to be a successful student, that I must continue my good habits that I had in Florida. Once I had gotten to actually doing my work, I realized how much easier it was than the work I was provided with in Florida. The area we moved to had a high poverty rate. I don’t associate a high poverty rate with students that aren’t involved with their school work, but the reality was that most students where I lived at didn’t care about school. During middle school, I found myself slipping up as far as my grades. I found myself reading less and was ashamed of my school performance. Once I entered high school, I started doing my school work as I should have been doing. I didn’t find myself reading as I should have. I got involved in sports, community service, had friends, and just didn’t really have time to make room for reading. I wasn’t the worst student, I did in fact maintain an excellent GPA, but I knew I could have been a better

When I arrived to my family, I was five and had little knowledge. In my first grade assessments, I could not consistently count to twenty and did not know the alphabet. I struggled to enjoy school and hated that I was not good enough. However, my teacher showed she cared about me. More than anything, I wished to please everyone I met. I barely passed first grade; second grade was just as challenging. I was immensely behind the other students and still could not read.

Surprisingly, childhood specialists clarify that children learn at their best when they are not pushed hard

I never struggled in school, it always came easy to me and at times too easy.  Outside of school, reading and writing was never worthy of my time as it cut into the more important play time. Reading and writing was an effortless task and therefore my interest was little to none when it came to partaking in the activities outside of the classroom because of my household centered around schooling. I figured my mother could do enough studying for the both of us. I would go to school and work on school work. I’d come home to my mother and her focused on her school work. I’d come home and do my own school work. I became tired of this overwhelming impact that school work had on my life. Why would I waste my time on something I already know how to do? Why would I read a book that will teach me a lesson I already know?

It should be said right from the start that I don’t think children should just be tossed into the fray and be expected to excel, but it is important to not teach and guide a child through all obstacles. You see there is an importance to not codling a kid through all the challenges of life. It creates a self-reliance in the child and enables them to figure out and solve their issues or questions. There are things that must be taught to a child, but there are plenty of other lessons and teachings which should be discovered by the kid. Hand holding a child through all challenges will end up creating an adult who just can stand up to the tasks of an adult, and may end up being unsuccessful.

Although, I have taught hundreds of high school freshman, Michelle a fourteen-year-old, middle child with a brother 5 years older and a younger brother who was 3 years younger, who struggled academically in all areas of learning, not just my Biology class comes to mind. Intrigued by her feistiness, I asked her why she was failing to succeed and her response was “because I am too busy at home and school doesn’t matter.” When she was 12 years old and her mother was working as a hairdresser to support the family, because her father was killed in a motorcycle accident. Consequently, her behaviors were attention seeking and she completed little to no work outside of school. Therefore, I changed my approach with her by every day finding something to boost her spirits and show her that she could be more than she thought she could be. First, I meet with her during homeroom to help her complete her work. In class, I would provide her an index card with the question she would be obligated to answer at the beginning of class so that she would be prepared, which increased her confidence level. Next, I taught her how to create flash cards using Quizlet to prepare for her assessments. Then, I spoke with her mother and encouraged for family counseling. As a result of our meeting, I began to tutor her at her home one to two days a week and worked with her after school so she could still babysit her brother while getting her homework done. Throughout her 4-years at Eastern High

I began my formal education at two and a half years old, at a preschool whose playground was snuggled underneath a ramp leading to the highway. Despite this inopportune and sometimes hazardous position, my preschool was bursting with joy and knowledge, with life lessons around each and every corner. It was there I learned how to cooperate, write my name, share, and that it wasn’t the best idea to eat a strawberry I had dropped on the ground. During this formative period of my life, I was not only learning from my teachers. I was learning from my playground friends, newborn sister, but most importantly my parents. My parents taught me whatever they could, whenever they could, which instilled a strong desire to learn in me from a young age.