Life Experience Essay

According to Lundberg (2003), “adult students are one of the most rapidly growing segments of today’s college student population, making up approximately 40% of all college students” (665).

Recent studies indicate an increase in the numbers of nontraditional students returning to colleges; the enrollment of students ages 25 and older rose by 13 percent between 1997 and 2007. NCES (2009) reported that from 2006 to 2017, there will be a continual increase in enrollment to nearly 20 percent for this age group (Bonner et al., 2015; Kenner & Weinerman, 2011; Ross-Gordon, 2011). According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) there are 162.3 million people in the United States and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning claims that 38 million working adults 25 and older have taken some college courses but have not completed a degree (Bergman et al., 2014). Today, more

The meaningful experience that I decided to write about is something that I worked so hard for and it took me a long time to get. I choose this experience because throughout the journey I believe it shaped and created who I am today. I decided to talk about graduation and obtaining my Bachelors of Science in Rehabilitation Services degree. After seven years of school I had finally made it to the end of undergraduate school.

The existence of various languages around the world only prevail in specific regions, while the dominance of the English language overseas such existence. However, its dominance has not discouraged the practice of other languages such as Spanish. Moreover, in Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood, Richard Rodriguez, divides language into two ways; the language he speaks in the private sphere “Spanish” and in the public sphere “English”. This division between these two languages enthralled him to assimilate and encouraged him to pay close attention to the sounds produced by the different ways of speech. Since the impact of the different sounds and language spheres increased the distance between his first language.

Adults in ever increasing numbers have returned to school. Reasons for returning vary but regardless, adult students are an increasing presence in the classroom. While adults have the experience and wisdom over the younger students, adults are at a disadvantage due to real-life issues from employment to families. Adults once again have to learn how to manage their time to make the learning process easier. It is widely known that adults experiences during the first year of school has

Brookfield (1995) states that, “adults face moments of transformative breakthrough, of empowerment, of emancipation and of liberation, what figure equally strongly in adult students’ accounts of learning, particularly those focused on critical reflection, are feelings of impostorship, acknowledgments of a disturbing loss of innocence, accountings of the cost of committing cultural suicide, descriptions of incrementally fluctuating rhythms of road running, and recognition of the significance that membership in an emotionally sustaining learning community has for those in critical process”. These stories are the dark weaknesses of the inspirational rhetoric of adult learning.

I used to think that family was forever. That they will be by your side through the thick and thin. But for some families, I guess that doesn't work out. Sadly for me, I was one of those families. When my family broke up, it was the saddest time in my life. And because I am a male, I thought that crying was for females. That you are weak if you cry. But sometimes, crying makes the pain go away. When a family member dies, crying is a way of saying goodbye, sorry, and expressing regret you have towards that person. We feel sorry that you died, I wish I could have done more stuff with you, I will love you forever. These are all ways of saying goodbye, sorry, and feeling regret towards the person. And with my dad, there’s a lot towards him. He had built up anger, confusion, and sadness inside of me.

I was born in a small village on a cold and stormy night, which started the anger that I still carry today. I grew up fast in my life and was soon an outcast to society. Kids picked on me, older people looked down on me, I was unable to fit in anywhere in society. I tried to be nice to others, but they were never nice to me. My mom was the only one who truly liked me. My Dad left me after I was born and he grew to hate me also. It is always cold where I live so I believe that the coldness has affected the hearts of everyone I try and get close to.

I was taught to be accepting, outgoing, and independent. By this point in my life, that's exactly what I've become. My education, happiness, and family were always top priorities.

During my life I have had ups and downs, and I have been able to overcome them but I think one that stays in my head and have scars to look back on is when I had my first surgery, not a major one but one that I was too young for.

Each day we all experience things that are extraordinary and sometimes unforgettable. Yet it's how we let those experiences impact us individually that makes us each unique. An experience in my life that changed how I acted, thought, and felt was the first time I volunteered at my church during their summer “scamp” sessions. The “scamp” sessions aimed to make the lessons correlate to things the kids would do during summer camps. Serving at one of these session allowed the year round volunteers to continue serving if they wanted, but also have the ability to take a vacation and enjoy the church's service. Although life offers a multitude of life changing experiences, serving at Mecklenburg Community Church for the first time was greatest experience because I gained connections in my community, learned strong leadership skills and gained a desire to serve others first.

I was born and raised in Pune, India and moved to USA at the age of 9. As my family navigated our upper middle class lives in Pune, people all around us suffered. They were born into poverty, with no money or food, and often no family to care of them. As I went to shopping malls and watched movies, I just had to look a few feet in any direction to be reminded of the fortune I had, and the misfortune others suffered. One of my earliest memories was of a child no older than 8, covered with fecal matter and dirt, struggling to pull his father, a blind quadriplegic, on a sled. The father, riddled with open wounds and fleas, was begging for money, flailing his body towards people he could not see. Not a single person even looked his way. Who was going to take care of the poor father and his son, ensure that they were both fed, deliver the medicine they needed? To this day, I wonder if anyone ever bothered taking care of them, and if either of them even survived. His desperate pleas continue to reverberate in my head, and the guilt I feel for not answering his pleas makes me feel like their fate was on my hands. That was the first day I felt helpless in my life, as I did nothing but watch poor father and his son from inside my car.

“Yay, you can do it now,” exclaimed my mom as I was riding my bike for the first time without training wheels. We were in our neighborhood on a sunny afternoon in summer. My mom was watching me with excitement in your eyes of what I could do. I was on my pink princess bike, at this time I was 5 ½ years old. I was riding my bike in front of our house and around the circle. My dad was cutting the grass, but stopped and watched me for a minute or two and started clapping as I ride my bike. I went inside to get a drink, but I was back outside in a flash because I didn’t want to get away from my bike. I didn’t want to get away from my bike because it was the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Although my life has only been a short sequence of fifteen years, I've come to heartily believe that life is only as good as what you make it. The effort I put in to be a good person has truly affected the outlook I have on life due to personal karma. These life lessons have recently come to my best attention and interests. True colors have surfaced immensely during the past two years that I have taken on the combats of high school friendships, relationships, and learning self-worth. Despite the pity I have thrown before, I can now boast with purpose, the distinctive endeavors I have overcome. Lessons learned from these hardships have taught me that the more I go through young, will have been worthwhile and much appreciated as I grow older.

Life is full of learning and it is mostly due to our daily life experiences. These experiences are mostly based on our surrounding environment from where we learn new things every day. But all these experiences are a result of our keen observations out of daily routines. It is very important to note that life also provides us with some chances to experience new people or places that are indeed out of the ordinary. That is the time we indeed learn new and unique things, hence these are unique experiences of our life which are remembered by us throughout our life span. I have visited USA and this was indeed a life time experience. Going through new and strikingly important things really made me filled up with pleasure. It was indeed very joyful and marvelous experience. I am very happy and expecting many more things and unique experience coming my way and making me enjoy new and exciting things.