I Am Today As A College Student Essay

There’s one decision that I’ve made that I’m still carrying out; meaning, I’m still not certain whether it was a good one or not. My decision was to come to Squaw Valley Academy. I did not want to go to my local high school as the education system wasn’t the best a couple years ago. It still isn’t but occasionally I wonder if I made the right choice. By going through with this decision I have changed a great deal. I have been at this school for almost two years now, and I’m definitely not the same person that arrived here. Going back home I realized how different I was from my old friends, and how much more mature I had become.

As humans we are relational beings. Relationships foster our social life. Outside of the family of origin school age children often begin to foster relationships in school. I grew up in a very diverse town. My neighborhood and the school district resembled the United Nations with many ethnicities, dialects and races represented but yet there were two cafeterias in the high school. Not officially named but known as the white and black cafeterias.

Canton, Georgia was the city where I was raised from the time I was seven years old. The quiet neighborhood was where most of my friendships were developed. The majority of my friends rarely left Canton. We attended the same elementary, middle and high schools and played on the same sports teams. My upbringing is what most would consider a normal, American childhood. During the summer before my sophomore year in high school, we were given the opportunity to move to the city of Chicago for one year due to my father’s job which required relocation. That August we moved to Lincoln Park, a neighborhood in the city. Moving to Chicago was a new opportunity to live in a metropolitan city. Since I never lived outside of the suburbs, I was not sure what to expect. Jones College Prep, a highly

I belong to the community of Allendale, Michigan. It is a community that has thankfully and gladly embraced me after I transferred from Grand Haven after my freshman year. Despite what may be assumed at first glance with Allendale being a smaller, close knit, conservative community, and Grand Haven being a larger and slightly more diverse area, the more accepting community was, or is, most definitely Allendale. Grand Haven's diversity actually separates people, seemingly by socioeconomic status; while, in Allendale, it seems that a person's socioeconomic status is not a determinant of popularity. I believe that, in the end, it all boils down to the people in the community just being different, in a good way. All of the classmates, teachers,

Growing up, my family often let us form our own opinions and perceptions. There is one specific event that occurred in my life that has led me to being more decisive without others opinions. That event was when I got my knee stuck in the teeth of an escalator. In short, my shoe got stuck in between two steps and when I went to run my knee cap dived into the teeth of the escalator. The pain was so intense that I couldn't move so my sister had to physically pull my knee out of the sharp blade. I ended up getting stitches on the Bauer Family's kitchen table. During the numbing process I was offered pizza or Jackie Bauer's Nintendo DS. At this moment I felt as though I had no decisions to make regarding my injury. Although my options with only one of them I took both the slice of pizza and Nintendo. Believe it or not this event is reason I don't have much influence of my decisions today. Choosing to eat pizza while in pain was not the best idea for I quickly regurgitated it, however, being able to choose between these two items helped develop the decision making I do today. In these moments of excruciating pain on the chilling kitchen table I was able to make a decision for myself, forgetting about my fleshy wound and instead focusing on the delicious pizza and Nintendo. As a result of this accident, I made the decision to attend Mercy High School. My decision on attending Mercy has nothing to do with the fact that I am a legacy. My mother and my sister both attended Mercy but I knew I needed decide if Mercy was the best place for me. After research and multiple shadowing days I decided that Mercy was indeed the right school for me. The school provides great resources for students to act on and I saw this as a great opportunity for my future. Making decisions without the oversight and perspective of other individuals has certainly proven that I am a

I landed my first job at the age of 15, the same year I passed the Accuplacer Placement test and enrolled at Edmonds Community College as a full-time Running Start student. I am the youngest of five children and although my parents needed the financial help, getting a job and education at such a young age was ultimately my choice. Aside from growing up with four older brothers, my parents put me into the school system one year early. As the youngest at school and home, I grew an insatiable need to prove myself. I chose to work hard early in life because I wasn’t going to let my circumstance define me.

Like all kids my age, I’ve dreamed of success. I always subconsciously wanted to be known or be recognized for something. However, it was clear that I set up my life in a way that was inconceivable. My daily behavior revolved around apprehension. But, after reading this book, I reevaluated my attitude toward life. I didn’t have an immediate revelation, but it was clear that my personality was formed solely by negativity. In my mind, I was just a teenager “being myself,” but this was not going to give me the fulfillment that I envisioned. Deep down, I wanted to explore. I wanted to see new places and meet new people. However, I was set up as someone that will have a life that would be dictated by the fear of uncertainty. After this realization, it was clear I had two

The choices that we make today will impact our tomorrow. Whether we realize it or not, every single time we do something, we are making a choice. Many of these choices are subliminal, such as the direction we walk or the way we carry ourselves, but some choices impact the way people look at us. More importantly, some choices impact how successful we are in various things. I chose to write about choices because choices are single handedly the most important thing in the world. Everything we do on a daily basis is a choice, and choices are important to me as a person because they are something I am trying to get better at. The choices made in preparation for assorted events are undoubtedly the most important choices that can be made in our

Being born and raised in College Station, I have experienced diversity. When I was in elementary school, race was never an issue. I went through each grade with a “class family” in which all peers were accepted and encouraged to learn, work, and play together. Students of all ethnicities felt a belonging and friendships were easily made. It was a time and age of innocence.

Growing up in a city like Reading is not easy on any child, especially when you are the minority. This city is composed of 87,893 people, and of these people only twenty nine percent of them are Caucasian. Over half of the people living in our city are Hispanic, making up fifty nine percent of the population. Being part of the twenty nine percent can make a child feel different or left out while they are growing up. Children strive to make friends and to fit in with other kids their age. In my case it was not always the easiest because of a cultural barrier, or even a language barrier. Starting school is a scary for everyone, everyone fears the unknown. But when you enter school into a classroom full of people unlike yourself, is when the nerves really set in.

My family's relocation to the Sooner State differed from all prior move carried out by us (so far) by one key characteristic. In every state I've lived in (so far), many other Southern Sudanese families lived nearby. However, Tulsa, Oklahoma on the other hand, was an exception. Aside from my family and I, not a single other Sudanese family existed. (Until as recently as 2014, one Southern Sudanese family currently lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma that I know of). I felt isolated. I felt that I wasn't like the other kids. I was 14 years old when my family moved to Tulsa. The typical 14 year old of Tulsa, Oklahoma disregarded the thoughts of others, and worried over how they are perceived by peers. They all strived for individuality. Ironically, the kids my age had surprisingly striking similarities between one another.

Life is a journey and sometimes itmay take more than a road map to reach the desired destination. I have used a road map and have taken a few unexpected turns along the way. As I reflect on the message Parker Palmer shared, “Listening to Self,” has been the driving force in my life. Self-discovery became clear to me at the age of 12. However, due to losing my mother at the age of 15, I was forced to take a different direction.

In the modern world, there are good and bad choices that can be made that will change who you are as a person. Choices that we make can not only affect who we are but also your future decisions.

There’s a lot we can learn from the stories of our past – if we tell them in such way that enables us to hear what they really have to say. This holds true with me and my life. To put it simply, the life I’ve lived up to this point has been nothing short of a beautiful (and bumpy) roller coaster ride! As I have grown up there have been many factors that have influenced me to take on or do certain things. These things, plus some of my individual choices, have contributed into what’s made me who I am today. And with that, I’m happy to say for this moment in time, I’m satisfied with the person I am and the path I’m taking.

Throughout the Human Behavior and the Social Environment course, we have encompassed the many stages of the life cycle process. Now that I am twenty two years old, I found the early adulthood stage to be the most influential, and the most sensible one to relate to given the point that I am at in my life. More importantly, I decided to research and apply this life cycle stage to a variety of milestones, experienced by my interviewee, Chelsie. Living just houses apart, being raised by single fathers, Chelsie and I found that we had many things in common. We have remained friends since we were children, and have only grown to be closer into our early adulthood years.