College Admissions Essay: Lessons For Life

Breathing heavily, a million things run through my mind. I’m dying. I can’t feel my feet. My lungs aren’t taking in oxygen fast enough. However, the finish line and the satisfaction of knowing that I had gotten myself through three miles loom ahead. Clenching my fists, I force myself through the indoor track at JCC. The excitement and pride that I feel when I finally achieve my goal is indescribable.

In the novel life lessons:two experts on death and dying teach us the mysteries of life and living. The novel talks about many lessons such as

It was halfway through my sophomore year when my mom and two older sisters sprints down the stairs and storms out the house. Confused and worried, continuing to curl my hair. My mom walks back in towards me with a gruesome look in her eyes. With so many ideas already running through my head, I was notified that my grandmother was killed by my uncle. I cannot even describe my sense of emotion at the time. Confusion, hatred, and hopelessness all merged into one. And all I could think about was just giving up on everything. That is until my pastor said these words that I will always remember; “You're going to get through this, just have faith.” I took in those words and began to put his words into action

When life gives you the opportunity to be successful, you take it. So, out of every let down or every time you ever ask yourself, “was it worth it?”…, you say “definitely”, persevere, and continue seeking greatness. When I got that opportunity, I hit the ground running. I was hungry to become successful, hungry to graduate from college, hungry to even hear my dad say, “I’m proud of you”. Maybe I could have taken a different route but hey, growing up in a small town like Mullins SC with a high unemployment rate, don’t get you too far. I couldn’t find myself falling into that statistic. Working temp jobs, wondering how I would pay for college…, it was rough, definitely some humble beginnings. This by no means is a message for sympathy.

I was born on September the 7th of 1994 in the San Francisco Bay area, not very far from Silicon Valley. The year I was born President Bill Clinton signed the North American Free Trade agreement with Mexico and Canada which helped to stimulate economic growth about twenty years ago. Living in California made my Dad the open-minded liberal that he is today, and because of his love for discussing politics I was raised listening to him have friendly debates with my very republican grandpa over every economic issue from climate change to healthcare. For about a year and a half after I was born my parents, older brother Daniel, golden retriever sandy, and I all lived in a classic colonial style home just south of Santa Clara Valley. My father was the breadwinner in our family working as an engineer for Portola Packaging. A job he was offered not long after graduation from a small private engineering school in upstate New York called Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. My mother also worked full time but as a loan underwriter. After being offered a great relocation package by Portola to the east coast my parents quickly decided to pack up our house and move to Pittsburg Pennsylvania. In addition to being closer to our extended families they also believed that raising a family in Pennsylvania was far

I thought was fully prepared for college when I walked across the stage on June 1st, 2015, but I was completely wrong. College is a whole new lifestyle that you eventually learn to adapt to everyday. The advice you hear from parents everyday is something you take with you as you navigate throughout campus. Some of the previous advice my mother gave to me is the advice I should of listened to. Now that I am older and on my own, it’s up to me to figure out how everything works.

The city of New York is where I reside, mostly when I'm not flying around the world in my elegant, exclusive, exorbitant jet; I'd always mention with a wink. I'm living the dream. Waking up to the warmth of the sun as my alarm, the view of the alluring country from my apartment and Mr. Awares, my butler the man who dresses me... haha okay, I’m not that lazy. Where do I see myself 10 years from where I stand now? A question I could never answer until 10:03pm or was it 10:05pm? Well, who knows, I fell asleep.

If there is anything I have learned from my personal experiences, that is that anyone can plant a seed, but not many take the initiative to water the plant for it to grow strong and tall. I am the product of divorced parents, both whom are Hispanic, have Mexican roots, and were brought at an early age to America to claim citizenship. Because of their divorce, I had to grow up faster than what I would have liked. I never once did receive child support from my biological father. In fact, it was my mother who worked to provide for all my needs. I was often left behind, not by choice but rather necessity. I went from babysitter to babysitter and some of them did not treat me well. In addition, they could not provide me with the motherly love that I so dearly wanted and sought. I did not comprehend the sacrifices that my mother was doing for me until I was about five years old.

Over the course of a person’s life, there are events that play a vital role in shaping his or her characteristic. These events could be momentarily, or take many years to happen; regardless, it is what we gain from those moments that are important. All my life, I’ve learned how to be optimistic and adaptive to everything that I will encounter.

My educational life is what kept me from giving in to being like the people I’ve sadly been exposed to. Without the opportunities I was provided throughout my entire education, even from a young age, I would not have such a powerful determination to not be like the people I’ve been around that could have ended my life. I took advantage of the time I had despite of what I had to deal with at home to take part in extracurriculars. I took the time to expand on STEM activities and competitions all four years of my high school career and immerse myself in engineering to explore what I was capable of. By taking part in internships, co-op programs, the neuroengineering focus area of research that’s available and many other opportunities at Duke Engineering,

“You never realize how good you have it until what you have is gone.” That is the lesson I learned the hard way. Sports have taught me more than I could have ever imagined; however my mind flashes back to one moment quite often. I cringe thinking of the experience and weep at the thought of it happening to my teammates. Experiences contribute to our growth mentally, spiritually, and physically, and I associate a large portion of my growth as an individual and a basketball player to a knee injury I suffered my freshman year of high school.

When I was 21, my son was born and I left college; as a result, I spent the next nine years working in dead-end jobs and making excuses as to why I could not return to school. I spent the next seven years earning three English degrees. Along the way, I had many excellent professors who reignited my love of learning and my desire to teach. I secured a job teaching English at a vocational school, and discovered that there was nothing better than seeing the spark in students’ eyes when they learned a concept or skill that had never before made sense. Unfortunately, the school closed less than a year after I was hired. With such little experience, I was unable to find a full-time position at the college level. However, the dean of the Liberal Arts

Many things have happened in my life, and plenty have been successful moments. The successful moment I had was being a freshman and making it on the list to do a dance solo. This moment was very important and made me feel victorious.

When I run I feel numb, not numb as in without feelings, not numb as in freezing. I feel numb with the joy of sweat, aching joints, unhealthy air, and blazing 100 degree weather. The grand moment when I can hear the cheering crowd at the finish line just a couple meters away. Before cross country, my definition of dedication was finishing a complete television series on Netflix. My new meaning of dedication is now the endurance, commitment, and persistence I experience through running. I consider running my greatest talent, not only because of my times or records, but what it has taught me. Attaining fifth place in my junior varsity race at the league championships, improving my 3 mile time by 4 minutes, and becoming the fifth runner at my school were all important milestones for me. Sophomore year was my first year of running on a team.

Challenges in life are easily the most important aspect of life. Without challenges, we as people would never grow and evolve into something better and new. I know I would not be where I am now without buckling down and embracing those challenges placed before me. I have taken on an immeasurable amount of good experiences, knowledge and challenges through the past year and a half. Within the past year I have moved on my own, gotten a career defining job and chosen a career path that is truly incredible.