How My Cousin Came To America

I’ve been lucky enough to have experienced a tremendous amount of success and opportunity throughout my life. I had always performed well in school, I took advanced courses, I got into the private high school my mother went to, and because my parents owned a little Thai restaurant since I was four, I had an extracurricular that taught me people skills and offered me more work experience than any of my peers had. When I realized that I was exceeding the expectations of my parents and those around me, I became content with not reaching my full potential. It was until much later that I realized that adopting that mindset was where I went wrong. When my high school decided not to accept me into the National Honor Society during my junior year, I was devastated.

After barely graduating in the spring of 2017 from Lopez Early College High School, I went straight to my parent’s house not knowing exactly what I was going to do with my life. I knew I had ruined my life after not paying attention to my teachers and counselors about applying to colleges. They said I was a wonderful and intelligent student with a tremendous capacity of succeeding in life. Although everybody thought that about me, I never did. I was constantly under pressure thinking that I had to work in order to support my family economically, so our house was saved. I was also worried about whether my parents were getting divorced after every insignificant argument they had. I had to be an excellent example for my two younger siblings; but even though I tried my best, I never was.

I had thought that high school would be no different than the past. Work hard, pay attention in class, and meet standards for every teacher. I was wrong. My teachers were supportive and only held the most basic of standards for all their students. They worked hard to provide us with assistance to succeed in class and be caught up in lessons. By the first grading cycle, I had exceeded all previous expectations my family had of me. I was both joyous and sad though. Now that I had reached the only goal I ever cared for, I was unsure of what to focus on next. This led me to ask my peers for advice and I realized that most of them also did not know what they wanted in the future. Thusly, after thinking and conferencing with others, I began thinking for myself what I wanted for my future. I was still being held at a high standard by family and friends, however I now had time for myself. I was free to decide what kind of future I wanted. Though afraid as I was of my unknown future, I was

Everybody loves a good success story. When the underdog, usually a lower class high school age student, defies the odds and comes out on top, beating his circumstances to get where nobody thinks he should go, everyone goes crazy for it. So crazy that Hollywood gets in on the act, with movie productions such as The Blind Side, Life of A King, and Slum Dog Millionaire. Sadly, these stories are not commonplace, in fact, they are very few and far between. More often than not, students from lower class families struggle to get by, as a result putting school to the back burner. Less than 75% of students in lower income households graduate high school, and even fewer go onto college (http://nces.ed.gov). From this group, excuses began to come out, the main reason underlies them all; they have become a product of their circumstance. The position they were in restrained them, forcing only one path, a

Even though I gained admission to all the colleges I applied to after high school, my parents were not able to raise enough money to cover for my school expenses. I stayed home for some time trying to help my parents raise enough money for school. I’m the first generation student in my family and coming from a family living under low income and struggle to put food on the table, we knew the only way to come out of this situation is through college education and that is what I'm committed to do.

Ever since I was a little girl my parents have been saving and preparing themselves for the day they send me off to college. I have a long line of family members that graduated from Southern University. I knew for a fact that Southern was going to be the school of my choice. August 22, 2012 was the first day of my freshman year in high school. Once I entered high school the only thing I could think about my graduation and my matriculation at Southern. I couldn’t think of anything more stressful than transitioning from high school to college. When I was in middle school a lot of people told me about high school and how it was hard. The things they told me made me think going to high school would be a huge step, well it has nothing on college. No more depending on people, I have to get it on my own. Now that I am in college, I will be faced with many challenges that I will have to make the right choice about on my own.

When I came to college, I had a lot of expectations at Susquehanna University. I was expecting a lot at college and also what I’d be doing. Also, I was told by people how I’d change and become the person I never wanted to be. When I first started thinking about college, I was thinking about the movies and that’s nothing like reality. I was thinking about all these parties and never really thought about the studying because college movies don’t show that. So now, Susquehanna, I thought Susquehanna University was a perfect fit for me in the beginning. My expectations and goals for myself were to meet a ton of new friends, and have many connections with people for the after college and work experience. My expectations from myself, my family, and my friends were extremely different for the grade point average(GPA) part of things and also how much I would apply myself. In high school, I slacked off because I had the amount of intelligence to get through without trying. My parents for example thought that I would slack off here but would have the ability to do well if I had the motivation. Most of my “friends” didn’t think I would make it through college and have a very low GPA. When I came to college, I had a very different mentality. I wanted to prove everyone wrong and show people that I have the capability if I apply myself in college to be a very smart student. I mainly wanted to prove one person one, my brother. My brother has always said he was smarter than me because

I spent endless days and nights thinking about my future. What was I going to do? Where was I going to go? How was I going to do it? I didn’t know why I was stressing about it since I knew that I really didn’t have to make any permanent decisions until the end of Junior year. I guess the fact that I am a first born in the United States has always influenced me to try and surpass my peers when it came to academics. My goal in life was to make sure I would live the ‘American Dream’, but what I wasn’t aware of was that I was already living that dream thanks to my parents. As I’ve said in this article, I wouldn’t even be here writing this article if it wasn’t for them. I would’ve not had the infinite amount of perseverance, courage, and bravery to be writing this article. At some point in every teenager’s life, including mine, there’s that moment where you just want your parents to leave you alone. Trust me, I’ve been there, but in the end, your parents are always going to be there for you. This year for me involves many college visits and tours, stressing about AP classes, extracurriculars, and finding that one college (but let’s be real here, more like a list of ten), that is perfect for me before applying next fall. I know for a fact that every step of the way there my parents will be with me leading all the way to when I receive my diploma, to dropping me off at my dream

My last year of high school I got accepted into a program in my school called PALS, Peer Assistance and Leadership. In this program we mentor elementary and middle school kids, and help make a positive difference in the lives of other students. Instead of me making a difference

Throughout the time I was in middle school I lacked support from both my parents. I didn’t have anyone to push me to try and receive good grades and both my parents cared very little whether I passed my classes. Lacking parental guidance, I received poor and failing grades throughout all of middle school. I created a poor working habit and had the mindset that school was not for me. It wasn’t until the end of my 8th grade year that I realized that the grades I received could ultimately shape my future. By then I was far behind from other students who had received good grades all of middle school. At the start of high school I was placed into regular ed classes and put in elective classes just to fill up my schedule. These classes put me

I felt uninspired at my high school. The routine I created for myself was mundane. The highlights of my day as a sophomore included being first in line to lunch, and that I knew I could go through the motions of school "just fine." I always felt like I had nothing to prove because nothing academically I did felt like had any significance to me. In the state of Washington, high school Juniors and Seniors are allowed to enroll at their local community colleges with their tuition paid for. Curious, I decided to enroll at Pierce College for my final 2 years of "high school." The decision to attend Pierce College has inspired me to expand my worldview and has empowered me to take charge of my intellectual development. I took classes that have enlightened

Throughout my life, I’ve moved approximately twelve times, been to seven different schools, and for most of my life, lived with a single parent. The usual story for many. There came a point though where I thought I knew for a fact I wouldn’t be able to go to college at all. That was the point where I devoted my time to my classes and extracurricular activities, such as being in the Peru Amateur Circus and Tiger Leadership.

My high school experience hasn't been a success for me to get to college (Binus Univ) by taking all of the class I needed to get this far. Actually, i'm not graduate in 2016 but a year ago, I have came a long way during my high school because I really thought I wouldn’t have made it this far due to struggling to keep my grades up but as I started it’s really hard at all to keep them up.

Graduating college has been my greatest and most challenging achievement. My personal hardships have developed my character. Some attributes acquired through adversity include motivation, leadership and commitment. Embracing my hardships has helped me discover, evaluate and gain insight on my level of achievement. The first to graduate from college in my family has created an opportunity to know that there are possibilities and I am capable. Beginning in undergrad, I lacked resources and lacked answers. Enabling myself through educational hardships has prepared me to become resourceful when facing challenges. Beginning in college, I felt a limitation of my true potential because I lacked resources. Acquiring the knowledge through graduating,

My High School career was challenging in many ways. When I was a junior, my entire life had been spent in one school, Ambassadors for Christ Academy. Now I have learned of its notoriety as a failure of an institution, but at the time my ignorant caregivers chose to overlook the obvious negatives and hold fast to their overconfidence in their own decisions. All this in mind, I knew everyone in my freshman class, most of them on a rather intimate level. I would be lying if I said I held much else but the rancid hatred of familiarity for them. My middle school years had been plagued with depression and bad times, so I was not thrilled to still be in school. Knowing things would be bad, and that even the best situations would rapidly deteriorate, I held the kind of optimism an abuse survivor has. You know, somewhere in the limited views I had been able to shamble together, I held the hope that the serially repugnant institution would stumble over some reprieve for its tortured students. This hope was fostered by those close to me. There were few people more supportive and loving to me than my grandmother, Ruby. She and my mother were the closest relatives I had, and they fostered this tiny spark of hope in me, for better or worse. To hope for such luck was foolish, and like hopes were punished. Nonetheless, they carried on fostering that hope in me in my darkest hours, as if to say there was some hope to be found in even the direst of situations. What they failed to understand