Growing Up In A Small Town Girl

Imagine a world where there is no longer any local farms or farmers, a world where Ag is no longer offered in high school, FFA is no longer the backbone for agricultural education, and buying locally grown produce at your local supermarket is no longer an option. For those of us who have grown up with these great benefits and opportunities of living in a small town, probably can’t imagine what it would be like. I personally will be greatly affected by this. The thought of urbanization taking the heart and soul out of small rural towns is crushing. Growing up in a small town has made me who I am today.

Choosing my own career path and going to community college gave me the disappointing face in my family. Being treated negatively after being rejected to ten out of twelve colleges, it discouraged my interest towards education. The negative stigma around community college affected my attitude with the, “get in, get out” mindset hoping to finish as fast as I could with passing grades.

Living and growing up in a small town is better than doing so in a big city.

I grew up in a single-parent, low-income home outside of Santa Rosa, California. The idea of college wasn’t introduced to me until long after I had already become just another statistic. I dropped out of high school when I was 17, in the midst of a teenage rebellion, thinking I already knew everything and didn’t need anyone’s help. I left home, got a job at a fast food restaurant, and stayed with friends off and on until I realized that maybe I didn’t know everything quite yet. After a severe reality check, I found a sense of responsibility that encouraged me to get my G.E.D and find a great job. I was very determined to take everything I learned as a child and use it as a what-not-to-do guide. By the time I was 19, I bought my first house and quickly realized I could either set limitations with excuses or achieve goals with endurance. The

"Keep your eyes on the prize" , this quote is what I try to live my life by. Growing up in a small county like Grayson County is hard to live by such quote. Living in the county with the highest teenage pregnancy rate within all the counties of Kentucky, not only makes the residents look bad but makes the student body look terrible. Also having to attend a school where other students think it is okay to bully other students. I, personally have had a close friend to go through such things in her high school career. Another problem about growing up in a small county is, drugs. I can honestly say that over half of the class I will be graduating with in 2016, has done or is currently doing drugs. I hate seeing the people that I went to elementary

When I was searching for a better education, instead I was astound by the dorms, dining, clubs, and so much more that college offers. It is impossible to think about education, when all they present to you is the facilities and the accommodation you will get if you enroll to that college. One thing I did not count on was money, without it, you can’t even dream about a college like that one, just if you get a loan, but I was not going to get a loan just to be in a fancy facility. I continue looking and I lost track of what I was looking for and I choose the one near my house. After years of losing my time, now I’m gaining the knowledge I ever wanted.

In my earlier high school years I did not plan to go to college. I wanted to join the workforce immediately. I felt like college was not going to benefit me in many ways, but after careful consideration I decided I would be missing out on excellent opportunities if I did not go. I want to attend college not only to obtain a career, but also for all of the opportunities college life will offer me. I am eager to be involved with the college community and to make friends with my peers. I plan to better myself by learning things I never knew or learned in highschool about who I am. I know I have a lot of potential to be someone valuable to the community. Whether it be to a business, the sciences, or medical fields, I know in order to become that

We all have memories from our childhood, which will never leave our memory no matter how old we may get. Up until I was about 8 years old, I lived in the Victorian Village community in a very old apartment complex that was originally a house that was, awkwardly, broken up into sections to create the different apartment arrangements. While I was living there, I remember going to the Northside library every day in the summer to practice my reading, to Thompson Recreation Center and Goodale Park to play on the playground and with other kids, along with many other great memories. It was during this time I knew attending college was inevitably in my future.

Throughout my life I have been fortunate enough to receive both public and private education, shaping me into the student I am today. Although these two types of education have had their negatives and positives on me, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Since fifth grade I have attended several pre-college programs through the University of Wisconsin system and have been fortunate enough to meet great people, who eventually became my mentors. I most recently completed an internship through UW-Madison’s PEOPLE (Pre-College Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence) program, where I worked at a summer camp with elementary school kids for five weeks. This program among others, helped me prepare for the academic rigor of college in some shape or form.

The town of Payson has its ups and downs, but living here your whole life makes it hard to leave. Could do without the drama and rumors that go around constantly. Many people believe that growing up in a big city is the way to go, but I believe living in a small town offers more chances at learning key life lessons. Crime is a big thing in Payson to a certain extent, with around 16 to 17 thousand population that can happen. We have all the sports every small town would have like football. baseball, basketball, soccer, track, cross-country etc. The biggest problem is knowing everyone and everyone knowing you. To a small town, football season is the highlight of the year. From wearing a boy’s jersey down the hall to cheering at the game Friday

Currently a high school graduate, from Alliance Judy Ivie Burton Technology High School with honors. Attending University of California, Merced in this upcoming fall 2017. I’ve been involved with Neighborhood Youth Achievers for three years know, an amazing, innovating program that helps students like me further their education and involvement in the world. The things that prepared me to succeed in school where my teachers and mentors, the class I took, and myself. Teachers and my mentors really gave me an understanding of how high school and college was and is going to be, I took into account everything they said to have successful high school years and hopefully college years. The class I took prepared me to hopefully succeed in college because

I am interested in Augsburg college because it suits my needs with both academics and my personality. Academically, Augsburg has a wide selection of majors and minors and had all the areas that I am interested in studying. As of now I plan on going into psychology, but if I do choose to switch directions, Augsburg has me covered. This school suits me as a person. Growing up in a relatively small town, I've gained a love and fascination with the city and have always dreamed of living in a city. Touring Augsburg this spring (2015) made me realize that I am more drawn to smaller campuses and in my opinion, Augsburg is the perfect size. Being from a small town I love how Augsburg is in a large city but it's in a somewhat isolated campus in the

My path to higher education began as a young child. Throughout my childhood and adolescent years, the importance of education was stressed upon me by my parents. Their emphasis of education was not limited strictly to the letter grades that we received in the classroom. Their expectation was also that we would put forth our best efforts and strive to continuously learn, regardless of the outlet. When I was in fourth grade my older brother began visiting colleges and my parents used this opportunity to take us on vacations while also introducing us to the expectation of attending college. My brother began attended University of Illinois Urbana Champaign when I was in fifth grade. My sister soon followed in his footsteps to the University of Illinois. We would spend many weekends at the campus attending sporting events and walking around the university. These early introductions to higher education institutions instilled in me an expectation of college. As my siblings and their now significant others journeys continued to unfold they all attended law school at University of Illinois. Although I knew that law school was

Enrolled at the local community college, I experienced a different world opening up to me; excited by a new encouraging environment, I excelled academically. I learned that if I tried hard, I could succeed; if I wanted something badly enough, I possessed the ability to take advantage of these opportunities. I worked a minimum 35-hour workweek for five years to successfully put myself through first my A.A. and then my B.A. at Washington University,

It all started when I got a long waited acceptance letter from the University. I remember as I held the letter in my hands I felt a feeling of happiness and of satisfaction as I finally accomplished one of my major goals. I always wanted to go to college ever since I was a young boy and now when I got the letter I knew that it finally came to a reality. Not only was I going to college but I was going to be the first person in my family to attend a four-year college, I felt like this was an accomplishment within itself. Not only am I going to college but I’m also make a pathway for future generations in my family.