Making My Dream Into A Reality

I leaned my head against the car window watching the leaves blowing around, just trying to distract myself from a slight feeling of emptiness inside of me. This feeling seemed all too familiar to me. My family and I had all of our possessions packed into boxes yet again. We were moving to a new state. At this point, up rooting our lives and starting over almost seemed more like a hobby than anything more significant. However, I have just now come to realize that what seemed like constant inconveniences in the past, have actually taught me how to be the best me with influences all around the country. Living in three different states and five homes may have been a challenge, but it provided me with memories that I wouldn’t trade for anything because those moments created the person I am today.

Life is about making choices, but some of them can even change our life. Two years ago I decided to come to America for my higher studies in Western Kentucky University. Although I knew it was really a challenge to me, this significant decision that I’ve made was going to change everything about my life and me. There are many things in life that can change the course of a person’s life. It can either make a positive impact or a negative impact on a person’s life. It’s always best to have the positive impact though. For me I have had a positive experience that has changed my life forever and that is coming to a different land and culture.

During high school, I struggled to maintain my grades and focus. I was in a small town, and every ounce of opportunity seemed to slowly be sucked away from the town as the years past with the aid of the downward economic spiral beginning. I felt, like many of my fellow classmates, that opportunity had passed us by. I didn’t dare conjure even the thought of attending Eastern; it would’ve been too similar to the

This is the story of an Indian immigrant, who wants to accomplish his American dream someday. I was raised in India which is economically not as well off as the United States of America. I completed most of my high school in India and immigrated to the United States at the age of 18. I graduated high school from Mount Hebron High School in Ellicott City, Maryland. Due to financial difficulties, I did not apply to any university and joined Howard Community College, which was truly a remarkable experience for me, showing me what it means to have an American college experience. I was not inclined towards engineering or medicine unlike my friends in India who had chosen to pursue those careers. I chose to explore the various options available in the United States. It was at Howard Community College that I was

Introduction: It seemed so far away, and all of a sudden I had to make the decision. A decision that would change the rest of my life. From the time I was little I knew I wanted to go to college, and here I am. I have always had the desire to continue my education and gain many experiences after I graduated from high school. I didn’t ever thing twice about continuing my education

May came around at long last. So did the end of my second semester of college at Florida Atlantic University. Not only did I survive my freshman year, I thrived, passing eight of my nine joint courses with A’s and getting A-minus on the other one. Just like “Neon” Leon shocked the departed Muhammad Ali in 1978, I defied my own expectations and those of a few among my closest friends and family. Did I soon spend the next few months indulging in summer merriment at the beach, getting my tan on while thirteen-year-old boys fawned over pictures of Selena Gomez? Nope. I took summer classes to keep my mind sharp and knock out a few of the requirements towards a degree which I’d earn three years later. One such class = a six-week crash course in public speaking. Everything went well until I got an assignment to create, practice, and deliver a three-to-five-minute speech involving someone who stood out. The possibilities overwhelmed me until I recalled someone with an outstanding life, hit him up on my cell, and talked to him in person one hot Saturday afternoon.

These hours with Jerry, waiting for a ride home, or the hour we took for lunch, proved to be my favorite time of day. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College I was desperate to go back to school, I spent hours a day applying to graduate school (for two years in a row), I wrote personal statements and essays about my academic pursuits, I wrote about the importance of an academic community for personal growth without really realizing that I was already enrolled in Professor Jarrell Jackman’s seminar “Tips to live a successful and rewarding

Life in America was not what I thought it would be. I knew it would be challenging, but my imagination was an amusement park compared to this. I could barely understand the professors, and learning another language on top of it only added to the stress. I looked at the burger the guy (I think his name was Johnny) held. Johnny lived across the hall from me. He would make burgers and sell them to the students at higher prices because he knew the university’s sad excuse for a meal plan wasn’t substantial. One whiff of the burger made my stomach feel like it was a beast clawing its way through my skin. One dollar then was a lot to ask for, but I needed real food. I handed over my dollar, one fifth of my money for the month. “Prnaidwa hfnwi hsdiesff jwuf you lady” I took my food and went back to my room where I stayed with another Chinese student who never mentioned her name. I ate my small burger in my small room while doing my massive pile of homework, wondering what my life would be like if I had stayed in China. Images of bomb shelters and Japanese soldiers flashed in my mind. I shook those images from my head and opened an anatomy book. If I wanted a better life, I had to work for

Embedded in my psyche as a child was the fact that college was my only option after high school. This parental sentiment was synonymous with a phrase as simple as “tie your shoes.” For me, high school graduation would be a standard occurrence, but my college graduation would be celebrated. The college I would attend required thoughtful consideration because it will be my rite of passage. When I dreamt of my intended college, I knew it would be set in a beautiful city, bustling with energy, and full of consciously creative people. I didn’t know if my university campus would be urban or suburban, but I knew it would spark excitement, fulfill my need to connect with a global community, and offer several opportunities to propel me to the top of

There were at least one-hundred students standing in front of me. We were waiting for the same thing, to be able to walk across that stage and call ourselves high school graduates. For four years, I had walked down the same dimly lit hallway with the thought of this moment in my head and now the day had finally arrived. It was June 4th and here I was standing in the gymnasium corridors of Los Angeles Community College ready to become my own person, not just some frumpy high schooler.

Having emigrated to the United States to provide me with the best, my father has and continues to work incessantly to provide for me and my mother. Furthermore, my mother has always encouraged me to grab every opportunity possible in order to help me expand my intellectual and artistic horizons. As a result, I am currently part of the 3D Printing and Prosthetics project at Sage and am aspiring doctor. Though the road ahead includes ten more years of school and endless work, my American dream is well worth it if I can provide help to those in need. Being the first person in my family to be born in America, I feel obligated to make the most of this fantastic life I am able to lead. Like my father, I seek an education in STEM and from my mother I learned to beautify my life with my love of the arts. Because of the easy access to so much information and so many new things in America, I am able to explore my passions and look forward to a life and career of immense growth that is not necessarily equal to other the opportunities

Ultimately, I not only survived; I thrived as I graduated magna cum laude from the University of Washington in only three years. Neither chilly nights I slept on a dusty, tattered mattress borrowed from a landlord’s garage nor taking three final exams in three hours made me ever regret my decision to study overseas; instead, my hardships strongly reinforced my resolve. If I had not exercised free will, I would have missed the incredible opportunity to become confident and independent from a formerly shy and timid boy. My transformation deeply impressed my parents and old

For many, after graduating high school the next big step is college. I never asked myself why or if I even wanted to. Yet, since I was not yet ready to join the work force, and didn’t want to disappoint my parents, I simply followed the path that I was supposed to take. For a while I had no direction, but through the loss of my high school English teacher and my dream of making my family proud, I discovered that college was the place I wanted and needed to be.

I can hear my name being shouted while camera’s lights are flashing. Is that red carpet that I am walking on? Okay, it time for me to wake up and get back to reality. Being famous is what every child dreams of becoming, and maybe one day that will come true; but for now, it is time to study. A college education will construct the foundation for my adulthood, my ideal person, and my future. The goal is to be successful in life, and I believe college is one way to get there. I will be the finest person I can be and accomplish what is necessary to get there. Everyone has their own mountain they have to climb; however, instead of simply just walking over mine, why not take a leap of faith and jump. By putting forth one hundred percent effort, I will be soaring over these said mountains that stand in my way.