Growing Up In Reading

With all this going on, completing my financial aid became something that was set to the side. I was crippled and was only focused on getting better and not getting kicked out of UCONN.

When I was a freshman in high school, my parents sat me down in the living room and told me that if I wanted to go to college, I’d have to pay for it myself. Our financial difficulties were large enough to merit the statement. My step-dad was hardly able to work anymore because of health problems from a career in manufacturing. My mom also suffered in the over-saturated market for dental hygienists in Mesa—she was recently fired from a corporate office for refusing to sell unnecessary treatments to patients, and could only find a job in an office run by an abusive dentist who screamed at his employees and who even threw a computer at an assistant at one point. My mom needed to leave the office, but nobody knew if she would find work anywhere

Wiley has always motivated me to get the best grades I can and he encouraged me to maintain a high grade point average. Ben explained to me the benefits of a high grade point average, and outlined the consequences of having a low grade point average. He always pushes me to do better and always shows confidence in me and my abilities to work a little harder and achieve a little more. Mr. Wiley helped me build my high school schedule so that I could take Advanced Placement and Concurrent Enrollment classes in high school. Because of this help, I will graduate a Sophomore in college. Mr. Wiley has also taken the time to find me scholarships. He has helped me in filling out scholarship application forms and college application forms. Although he is not paid to help, Mr. Wiley is always willing to help where it is needed. He has devoted countless hours helping the youth of my community not for financial gain but because he values education and the success of students like

Or that I often think outside the box which has led me to new adventures. Or even because I strive to build up my reputation by building up the community’s reputation. However, that is not why I feel I deserve this scholarship. Like myself, Robert loved adventure and finding beauty in everyone and everything. Robert was an influential person in my family. He shaped my older sister to the woman she is today. Every summer I found myself in the bleachers watching softball games. Robert treated every girl on those teams like they were his own daughters. He coached them to not only be better ball players but he also coached them to be better individuals. Speaking of daughters, his own daughter Bayli, who is truly her father’s daughter, has motivated me in many ways. FFA a huge part of her life and seeing where it took her was what I wanted for myself. She also sees the best in everyone and wants to make the world better one community service project at a

The uneducated behavior of the East Chicago residents proved just how obnoxious they could be, I automatically knew I didn’t want to follow that path. East Chicago has shaped me into the person I am right now because I had to learn to make decisions for myself. Drugs, alcohol and gangs either gets you in a hospital or dead. The place I grew up in taught me to be mentally prepared for any obstacles I come across. I am determined to never be like the people I observe in my neighborhood, to strive and never give up. Everyday as I went home I saw the same people doing the same delinquency perpetually. My middle school peers either got pregnant or dropped out as soon as they made it into high school, I always tried to guide them towards the right choices because it hurt to see them struggle. However, I always saw school as an advantage to make it out of there and actually do something with my life. I strive my best to get good grades, eventually it payed off since I earned the privilege to become part of the National Honor Society when I was a sophomore. I am a strong confident woman, who is caring towards

The Coastal Bend College Endowed Scholarship Application will be the second scholarship I have applied for because I didn't think about college until my second semester of my senior year when a coach said “you’d be perfect for this job”. After I heard that statement I started looking into studying kinesiology and asking questions about their experiences. Ever since then I have been wanting to become what I think of them, which is a hero. I want to help kids achieve their goals and become someone important. I understand coaches do not get paid a fair amount, but I am willing to accept this fact. To me it is about graduating college and doing something I know I will enjoy for the rest of my life.

Growing up in such a poverty struck town, you feel for people a little more than average. You learn to appreciate what you have because you can see what others are lacking. My 5a high school has roughly 1,200 students where at least 25% of those kids are failing one or more classes. However it is not their fault at all. Being the fourth least educated city in the United State and so close to the poverty line, Brownsville kids miss many educational opportunities because of the weak mindset they are immune to. It is hard to maintain an ambitious state of being when everyone around you seems to already have their life set on staying exactly where they are. However because of my exposure to this specific way of thinking, it has assisted me in establishing and craving the want for more. Because of Brownsville’s mentality, I am self-driven. I have seen what I don’t want to become, and it has planted the seed to exceed past my bubble. I can do whatever I set my mind too even if all the odds are against

Once my brother graduated high school, my mother moved 500 miles away, to Connecticut. I decided to remain at home in West Virginia with my father. For various reasons, such as drugs and alcohol, living with him was no longer in my best interest. At this time, I was half way through high school. For a few months, I spent time living with friends. Before long, my grandmother, who I'm not particularly close to, graciously allowed me to live with her. She lives below the poverty line. In order to live in her house, I was driven to support myself. I work between 20-30 hours a week, which allows me to pay for bills, my vehicle, food, and etc. As soon as I graduate, I will be living on my own, and paying for my college tuition, by myself. It is difficult now to make ends meet, and in the coming college year the financial difficulty will greatly increase. I am endeavoring through these hard times, and I will only continue to do that by keeping my grades up as well as having the endless

I had face financial problems during my first year attending C.S.U.B. (California state university of Bakersfield). I did not have any family members living in Bakersfield, so I did not have the option to live with a family member. Also, I was recruited by the swim team of C.S.U.B. I required to live in the dorms and I did not receive a fund from the swim team; because it was my first year on the swim team. Therefore, I learned independently how to fill in the F.S.F.A. (federal student aid) and it turned out that the grant I received barely covered for tuition, but it did not cover for housing. I had to accept two types of loans, which was subsidized and unsubsidized loans. However, I was still short in paying the full-debt for housing. I would receive notice in my mail from the housing department towards the end of the quarter because the payment was due. My parents did find a way to come up with the money by working longer-hours. I felt guilty that I was attending college and

For many years my mother and I relocated as many as three times a year and we depended on government assistance to keep us afloat. Upon moving to North Carolina and gaining financial stability I made it a personal goal to serve others just like me. The truth about where I came from is an essential key to determine where I will go, and so I share my story with everyone.During my junior year of high school I was inducted into the National Honor Society. During the induction I lit the candle symbolizing leadership. Unbeknownst to me I was creating my destiny and months later I became the President of my school’s chapter. Being a teenager there are but so many things I can do and I struggled to understand the fact that I cannot do everything-- not yet. I sought inspiration to handle my cognitive dissonance from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who stated “If I cannot do great things, I will do small things in a great way.” As a future student, I dedicate every fiber of my being to embody Howard’s core values. I hope to serve as yet another representation of excellence and walk in the footsteps of many great leaders before me in the path to

Reminiscing back to the first day of freshman year, when I sat down in my history class and my teacher told us a story where he had seen a homeless teenager scrounging for money to complete strangers. The homeless teenager then asked my teacher for cash and was handed some spare change. My teacher then proceeded to ask the teenager what had happened. The teenager responded, “I dropped out of high school my sophomore year,” then proceeded to walk off in sorrow and regret. Many of us know someone who dropped out of high school, who are currently homeless, or still living with their parents. Having a high school education leads to a better future because the homeless teen faced hardships such as living in poverty, he couldn't find a stable job,

As I sat on the couch getting ready for the first day back at school, I heard the phone in the kitchen ring. I stood up to go answer it and I heard loud footsteps coming down the stairs. My mother was running down the stairs to answer it just in case it was one of her work calls. I noticed that her voice started to crack as if she was going to cry and the smile that she once had on her face had disappeared. The person on the other end of the phone was my Uncle Dylan from California calling to let us know that Aunt Liz had died in a car wreck. We were so devastated but little did we know she left me $12k. A couple days later I received a letter in the mail saying that I had to use it to help pay for my tuition. I am looking to attend the nursing program at Lindenwood, Missouri State, or St. Louis University.

My mom is a food service worker and my dad was a christmas tree farmer. Although we never had a lot of money, we made things work. We never went on any vacations and I wasn’t able to play sports because they cost too much, but that was okay because we were together and happy. Now that my dad is no longer here to support us, we have been struggling. The mortgage is always behind, something always seems to be shut off in our house as a result of not being able to pay the bills, and the pantry isn’t as full as it used to be. Financial issues has also been affecting my education. As I’m applying to colleges, I find myself limited in the number of schools I can apply to because not all colleges have fee waivers I can’t afford to pay several fees to apply to as many colleges as I’d would like to. I’ve also had hesitation in going to college just because of the cost of it. My goal in life is to become a doctor, which, normally takes around eight years. Eight years of college is not cheap, and the idea of having to pay thousands of dollars has scared

I was given the offer to be a part of a program called the Robinson Scholar Program. The program is designed for first generation students who had low income in Eastern Kentucky. Five contestants from your school compete for a full paid ride to the University of Kentucky. My mom urged me to apply. I acted like it was no big deal because I didn’t believe I was smart enough for the program. Every day after school, the first thing I did was walk to the mailbox to see if I received a letter telling me if I was accepted or not.

The mass majority of individuals past the age of thirty seem to trivialize problems that a plethora of American youth suffer from today. Simply put, the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry describes it best in his book, The Little Prince, in the quote, “All grown-ups were once children…but only few of them remember it.” We are inordinately exhausted from classes and extracurricular activities that promise college appeal, we are emotionally inept from the expectations of our family’s and peers, and we are despondent from the inability to caste away anxiety filled doubt at a future that seems implausible. My greatest contribution to my school and my community is my dedication to establish compassion and comfort for an improved quality of life. The known establishment of my human gifts to my region came about from my own experiences that caused a realization that various students in my community feel outcasted by our society. By creating a persona that promotes nondiscriminatory listening while also creating three clubs that perform as a safe space, I believe my greatest attribute to my small town of Forest City will endure the hardships of time.