I Am A Product Of Self Reliance

Growing up, school was not a major factor in my life. I come from a hard-working, middle-class military family. My mother, a Filipino immigrant, was a homemaker. My father was a 21-year United States Marine veteran. They were my first impression of what I thought my future would be. Being the youngest of four children, I was expected to fall in line behind my siblings when it came to education. I was never pushed to excel in my studies, so I did just enough to get by. As I watched friends escape the grasp of a military town and ascend to their respective colleges, I was left wondering what was next for me. I attended my local community college for a brief period of time. I treated college no different than high school. I

I grew up on a farm about 3 hours north of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul. I grew up as the oldest of 9 children, making our house a very busy place. It is there that I attended school at Menahga Public Schools, about 15 miles from our home. I graduated with about 45 students in 2014. I attended Minnesota State Community and Technical College as a Post-Secondary Enrollment Option (PSEO) student for my Junior and Senior Year, attaining an Associate’s Degree in Liberal Arts, also in May of 2014. In the Fall of 2014, I attended the University of North Dakota (UND), looking to attain my Bachelors of Science. I attended UND for three years, graduating this spring with my Bachelors of Science. During my life I have held a variety of jobs, ranging from farmhand to

After graduating high school, I went straight into the work field for 2 and a half years. I never really appreciated school growing up and never gave a real effort in grade school. After 2 Years of not going to school, I began to notice and appreciate the value of receiving an education. At first i was hesitant of returning back to school because of my age, I was 21 years old. Most people my age were finishing college and I was just beginning. When I first attended NOVA my goal was to just receive my associates degree in business administration but after a year I realized that I shouldn't just settle for that when I could get my bachelors. I finished my last course at NOVA this past summer and it was a great feeling. I had always planned to

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

I graduated high school at age sixteen; looking back, I didn’t think I had too many options when it came to continuing my education. I grew up as the youngest of eight children in a single parent family unit, who would experience financial hardship and make ends meet by receiving a lot of hand me downs. Attending school every day was essential not because of education, but because it was a way for my siblings and me to be guaranteed to eat a healthy meal at least five days a week. My mother worked hard and long hours, which meant there was no time for learning or getting any help with school work. I was not a very good student and the majority of people, including my high school teachers did not anticipate me furthering my education as an adult. The premise would be that I get married and start a family and that’s exactly what I did.

I graduated high school in 1998 and never went to college after high school because I didn't have the confidence in myself to attend. During the next couple decades, I held a series of low-wage jobs such as a fast food worker, grounds keeping cleaning bathrooms at an amusement park, general office type work like reception and data entry and even a stint in retail Never had any idea what my calling was supposed to be.

“I went to a community college, then I went to work, then I went back to school and I got my degree. But my real education took place… mostly in a sewer,” states Mike Rowe, TV host of Dirty Jobs. (Gillespie). While in high school in the 1980s, college was for the most academic students. The majority of my high school classmates proceeded on to a vocational school training to be mechanics, beauticians, plumbers, carpenters, electricians or to join the military. As an academic student, I went on to college. When beginning college, I did not know what I wanted to study, nor had the means to pay for it. Already working full-time while taking classes in the evening, life began to feel like I was a hamster in a wheel. School was frustrating to me, and it seemed like I was merely regurgitating information for a test of which I saw no benefit. Since I was already working in the field that I wanted a degree and was getting more fulfillment out of my job than school, I chose to take a break from school,

I originally started my education at a small high school with a toxic learning environment. I fooled around too much and was too socially involved, because of this, my grades suffered and I wasn’t going anywhere. In grade ten I applied to transfer schools, and when grade 11 came around I was in a new environment. I fully recognize that this was the BEST decision I have ever made (short of applying to UBC!). My new teachers and faculty not only gave me a clean slate, but they supported me in all of my endeavors, and they never seemed to waiver in there certainty that I would succeed. Because of their encouragement I gained confidence in myself. When it was time for me to enter grade twelve, I thought about my career path and resolved that I wanted to become a doctor. I knew that if I applied myself to the fullest, I would get there. Thanks to the support of the entire faculty, I was instilled

Besides my academics, besides the test scores, and besides my student performance; high school taught me that who we are as a person and what we contribute to society is only a portion higher in importance than school. After all, we do need education as much as we need serenity. The two almost never were on the same level, yet there always has to be a balance between mental health and grades. I’m almost proud to say that I still managed to pass my classes and participate in many extracurricular activities, despite lacking

I believe that I was a very successful student in high school. I participated in various different activities, was part of student council, and I excelled in my classes as well. As senior year was coming to a close I felt prepared for the next step in my life, I felt like I was ready to leave home and take on the challenge of higher education. However, there was one thing that I wanted to do as I stepped towards the next part of my life: I wanted to earn my degree without any help.

I worked hard in school. I had a 4.0 GPA most semesters, and I joined every club and sport I could. I was a member of the honor society, edited the school’s yearbook, wrote for the newspaper, ran track, and took dual credit classes at the community college. I graduated a year early and set out to tackle college.

I started my education with my dreams in mind. I enrolled at Parkland College and that is where I developed an interest in health. While I was on my journey and completing my bachelor’s degree. I ran into some unforeseen obstacles: doctor visits, paranoia, and a couple of biopsies of the breast. I was commuting to school, working two jobs, and taking care of two kids. In which, I was paranoid and afraid of test results. I thought the worst that I would be lost again. I immediately started to instill in my kids that education is a very powerful tool that can never be taken away. They also knows that my degree is “the key”, it will help me buy our house. With all of that being said, I managed and kept my grades above average.

When I was a high school student, I wanted nothing more than to put my schooling experience behind me. The day that I graduated, I thought to myself, “finally! I am done!” After everything settled down after graduation, I got a job as a shift supervisor at a Boston Market in Littleton, Colorado. After about a year of working there, I realized that I wanted a better life for myself. So what does one do when they want a better life and their parents can’t talk them into going to college? They join the Military. So, in August of 2006, that is exactly what I did. Just about four years later, I finally realized that to get anywhere in this world now a days, you need to have some form of a college education.

When I started college I did not go take a career towards education. I decided to study a whole different career, one that did not require a lot of work and in a sense, “an easy way out of college” career. However, making those decision came with a price. Soon after graduating with my Bachelor of Arts, I realized how wrong I was to follow a path that was not my calling. I started working in jobs that, not only were not in my field, they were jobs

Although I grew up with a successful family, I learned that success does not come easy. Nowadays, people are led to believe they do not have to exert any effort to become successful, and they could just lean on their family’s prosperity. My family was raised in the middle to upper class, but they were all parented to know they had to earn it themselves and that they had to work for what they want; they couldn’t turn to their family for assistance. Therefore, I was also raised with this view. This developed my value of personal growth. One of my goals in life is to earn my Doctor of Veterinary Medicine and my Master of Business Administration. I strive to achieve these, knowing that the process will be challenging.