Graduation Speech : Growing Up

Many individuals believe that attending college directly after high school is a life changing experience This stance can hold true for many reasons regarding the positive aspects for the completion of a college degree. Students should attend college directly after high school because they are more experienced and have great opportunities and benefits rather than waiting to go later on in life.

High school was one of the most challenging moments in my life. Not only did I have to deal with the academic pressures and social issues from my peers I had external factors that were heavily impacting me as well. During my junior year my mom separated from her husband and me and my three little brothers ended up staying house to house with close relatives. Shortly after that time at the beginning of my senior year, my mom was sent to prison. In the midst of dealing with all of the demands that any senior deals with I had to also carry the responsibility of taking care of my three siblings. I picked up more hours from my part time job and had help from my stepdad and extended family financially but my little brothers were depending on me psychologically. Times were tough. At times my attention shifted away from my academics and more so to the wants and needs of my siblings. I became so stressed out that I broke down and went to visit my high school counselor. She then recommended me to my school’s district Social Worker.

In 2010, Grant High School, set out to improve (Lambertson 42-43). This school quickly went from being in the worst 5% of schools in Michigan to the superior 92% (Lambertson 43-45). This school poured effort into its programs to try to bring up test grades (Lambertson 42-45). Amazingly, Grant High School brought its average ACT score up 2.4 points in around three years (Lambertson 45). However, in the end, was this school successful? Were its students prepared to succeed?

In most jobs, when you apply there are requirements that you need to be able to be even considered a good candidate for the job and be hired. Did you graduate high school? Do you have a college degree? A 3.00 GPA or above? Previous experience for at least two years? Most guardians tell you to work hard in school to have a bright future. If you want to find a good job they suggest you to look what are the requirements to be able to even be consider. When you start high school in some schools they have already assigned you to who you will end up been. If you got high school credits when still in middle school then you are advanced you go in a certain group. The teachers always tell you what you need to be able to attend a University. The teacher do not advertise students to start at a community college but are constantly reminding you how important is to have a higher education. The high school institutions has allowed the negative stereotypes about the students that attend community colleges because they contribute to the negativity tours does students. This stereotypes lead to discrimination.

The average person has a very limited mortality, so why would someone spend most of their time in school and accrue debt that will take years to pay off? People in general go to college to better themselves and accomplish what one wants out of life. What’s better way for a person to live life and experience it to the fullest than to do the dream job they want, or have a reserve of wealth that they can spend according to how they see fit? According to one’s parents or their teachers getting an education can indeed be the key to a higher quality of life, but obtaining a higher education is a facade masked by the propaganda of the media and one’s mentors. Going to college will make things more complicated and create more problems than it solves.

In a small high school, everyone knows each other and every move made is scrutinized. Many people in my high school tried their absolute hardest to fit in, but for me uncomfortableness has always lead to a missed opportunity. I ran my high school. I was the kid who was president of everything, sat on the board of education and even had a little mailbox next to all the teacher’s mailboxes. Intense and extroversion are two words that I have always related to, but when the opportunity came to be crowned king of my school, I just wasn’t interested.

When a student enrolls into high school, there are several transitions to make. There are much more classes to take, people to meet, and goals to reach; including tests such as the SAT. The general high school experience can be overwhelming for some students. However, how well a student can succeed and will ever succeed will begin to be determined here. It is a priority that parents play a dramatic role in their child’s high school career. Parents and high school students nationwide of low socioeconomic class, low education level, or an unstable family should be informed of the long term benefits education has to offer because it would drastically decrease the rate of high school dropouts. High school dropout rates nationwide may be

In the United States, the outlook for recent college graduates seems bleak. In 2014, graduates left college with both a degree and an average of $28,950 in student loan debt (“Survey of the States” 1). In addition, over half of all millennials are having trouble saving for the future and seventy five percent were unaware of late payment charges on their credit cards (ibid). All of this builds up into the current situation in the United States, where collectively, college graduates have over one trillion dollars in debt, the second largest debt category (ibid). Now, the spending and saving of money starts at an earlier age than ever before. Students fresh out of high school are being asked to make thousand dollar investments in the

High school teachers try to explain what college is like, but it 's hard to imagine until you actually start college classes. I 've learned that college has some similarities to high school but overall, it is a completely different atmosphere. Entering college, you will see a major change in the way that you are treated. Unlike high school, you are treated as an adult. Your professors give you the responsibility that you never had before, such as doing your homework or not, allowing you to leave class without asking, and most importantly, giving you the choice to come to class or not. However, a lot of people take advantage of not having to go to class every time but being in class is very important, especially in EN 101. You don 't miss out on the notes that the professor gives, you get time with your classmates to evaluate each others writing, you have time to talk to your professor and ask questions, you get to see examples of papers which will give you ideas and kick start your drafting process, and most of all you aren 't wasting the hundreds of dollars that you paid for the class. I encourage you to do your very best to make it to each class, because I promise it will ease a lot of stress and you will do better academically.

Becoming a college graduate is a milestone that most parents instill in their children. Statistics show that seventy-six percent of parents work passed retirement age and sixty-eight percent would take a second job just to give their children the opportunity to go to college. They view this as investment in their children’s future. This sacrifice will help their children in the long run. Most parents understand the stress of paying for student loans and would rather their children not be burdened with student loans after graduation. Unfortunately not every parent is capable of paying for their child’s college tuition. Most college students have to rely on government assistance to pay for college and with the rising cost of tuition, cost of living, and decline in financial assistance most students are relying on student loans to pay not only their tuition but living expenses. This is where the question comes into play. Although controversial one can’t help but wonder if the debt that you have accumulated to pay for tuition will be worth the degree he or she receives. Most students have tunnel vision during school. The goals are to complete by any means necessary. Receiving their degree is top priority but no one stops to think of the effect the loans will have on their lives. Shortly after walking across the stage at their commencement ceremony most young adults are faced a hard shock of reality when they receive their first bill in the mail from Sallie Mae or Navient.

Throughout my sixteen years in the military, I grew very committed to my position and job in the Army, so my college education suffered gravely and took a very low priority in my life. Fortunately during my time in the military I have been able to take some college courses and slowly work on my degree, but now as my time in the Army is coming to an end my goal is to earn my college degree before retiring to make myself more marketable in civilian sector once I am out. Luckily, many of the courses I have attended in the Army have been transferable into college credits, leaving me with only having to take 12 courses to earn my Bachelor’s Degree and making it a very realistic goal of obtaining my degree before retiring. Since

According to the Wall Street Journal an astonishing 34% of college graduates move back in with their parents. As the years have gone on, the cost of tuition has also gone up, and for the first time in history the debt accumulated from higher education has surpassed the debt from credit cards. Some schools across the country have raised the cost of tuition by up to 32% (Clemitt 1). New York attorney Robert Applebaum finished law school in 1998 with approximately $80,000 in debt. Applebaum found a job as a district attorney upon graduation and didn’t begin making payments on those loans until around 2003. This wait to pay off those debts drove the interest up increasing his debt up to around $100,000. (Clemitt 2)

It was a beautiful and sunny Sunday morning the day after I graduated from Villanova University. My parents were hosting a graduation brunch for me at the scenic Valley Green Inn in Philadelphia’s historic Fairmount Park. There were over a hundred guests present that day, a mix of family, friends, and others who made an impact on me over the course of my life. It was just a few short months away from the beginning of law school.

Friends that we make from our high school years are the ones that we will have for a lifetime. And I am glad I made some friends during the course of my high school years. Those friendships, hopefully, would travel with me until I enter college, the world of adulthood, and the very last stage of my life—death. One of those friendships, one of my treasures, is between Ryan and me. He and I first met in a math class back in freshman year. It was the first day of school, and everything—classmates, teachers, and even the classrooms—were all new to me. Sitting down and looking around, I saw some familiar faces from middle school, but, overall, I was basically a duck in a flock of chickens.

If someone were to ask me a couple years ago if graduate studies were in my plans, my reply would be “absolutely not!” Back then, there was not really a good reason that motivated me to continue my education after graduating with a degree in Public Health Education. The mere thought of more school exhausted me. Though my mentality seemingly changed, one thing that cannot be denied is my love for the game of basketball, which has been almost cruelly ignored until recently. The countless times trying to live without it has led to me not feeling not quite as upbeat as usual. Even when things were going right in my life, that extra bounce in my step was just not there. While my playing career did not work out the way as desired, I still get a rush from simply being around the game; and then it finally hit me. I realize I can use everything learned through my work experience and previous coursework and apply it towards a career I know I will definitely love. From this point on, I will make moves that will make me happy rather than pleasing those around me. With that being said, this is why I seek to get into the Recreation and Sports Administration program at Western Kentucky University.