My Expectations Of Living Up To High School

The thought of starting sixth grade terrified me. I didn't have any friends or someone to talk to. I sat alone every day at lunch. Sometimes people would try to talk to me and sit by me, but I always felt uneasy and out of place, so I just smiled and sat through it, waiting for the bell to ring. I wasn't interested in what they were talking about: most of their conversations were comprised of gossip and which teachers they hated. Occasionally I would skip lunch altogether and go sit in the library. My grades were all A's, although I never raised my hand in class-even though I usually knew the answers-because I didn't want to speak out loud in front of thirty other kids. I knew it was unhealthy behavior, but I didn't know what to do.

My grades were going down beacuse I always got home late from practice. I was so occupied with baseball that I never focused at school. “How can you play if you can’t focus during scool.” This time, my dad said it in a depressed way while walking out of my room. He got tired of raising hs voice. I looked at myself in the mirror and promised to fix myself, day by day, to become an example of being a student athlete. The following day, I took a lot of notes, asked questions, worked with my teachers after school when I needed help, and I never fell asleep before completing all of my homework. Things immediately picked up with my grades and baseball. I still carry out these habits until now. With all the hardships that I have been going throughout my highschool career, my work ethic is still strong. I continue my endeavors to become a star student and an outstanding baseball player, even if my schedule is full. As people had brought me down in the past, I am now grateful of their opinions. I was able to stop slacking on what’s important. I learned that life has given me obstacles so that I would be the prime example of what I promised myself to

I am a breathtaking, stunning, and outstanding student. I am these things because I know that even before reading this essay, the first thing you read was my name. Most of the faculties that are reading this essay are probably thinking, “oh, it’s another Asian student whose name I’m not sure how to pronounce,” or “that sandwich for lunch was good, I should’ve taken another bite before I came here.” Before anything else, I am Hmong. It’s a subculture that is quite spread throughout Southeast Asia. I was born in Thailand and immigrated to the United States in October 2004. There are seven members in my father’s household. Having a Confucian ideology binded within me, I almost always put my family’s needs before my own. I would tell myself that if something does not benefit me, then I don’t need it. Then on, I hated going shopping like normal girls because I don’t want to burden my family with financial problems. If, however, I needed something, my mom would have already bought them for me. When my older sister entered her senior year in high school, I decided to do all the chores I could in the house. It was demanding and exhausting, but because I decided to do most of the chores, my sister finally had more time to herself and was

The first days of school became the saddest days of my life. Not only was I missing my parents, but also I was intimidated. I was used to getting the best grades at my former school; here in New York, I was something different, somehow less. I neither liked nor understood what was happening to me. Because of my inability to speak fluently, and without inventing words, a few weeks after trying to fit in at school I decided to give up. I limited my social life to talk only to Spanish speakers, I did well in every subject except for English, and I lost all my interest in learning proper

Growing up in Southeastern Kentucky, a kid doesn’t have many expectations from their parents, school teachers, or themselves. When a student walks by two teachers talking they say, “This group of 5th graders are the worst, every one of them are as dumb as a box of rocks.” This is the sad reality of what happened in my elementary school at Marie Roberts-Caney. Our school slogan is, “No student left behind.” Ever since 3rd grade I knew it was a bunch or bologna. Don’t get me wrong, I had great parents who cared about me, but they didn’t expect much from me. Neither of my parents attended college and I was afraid of it. Even as a young student, I knew I wasn’t the brightest kid in the classroom. Now that I look back, I realize how hard I worked

I was out of place, a quiet girl whose clothing was obviously not fashionable, lucky if she had a bag lunch, and no reason to be confident. I was picked on relentlessly by others who recognized an easy target. My chaotic home life was never conducive to good grades, or school for that matter. No one I knew was a role model and no one volunteered to step up to be one. With no social life and a toxic home life, my grades plummeted before they had a chance to climb.

I remember starting my freshman year and looking around at my friend group and recognizing the lack of support I had. Due to the fact that my parents didn’t trust me, I didn’t have a social life besides going to school. At the end of my freshman year, I was spiralling out of control. It felt like no one was on my side and they were all just sitting around waiting for me to fuck up. It was around the end of my freshman year that I started seeing the guidance counselor at school. His name was Mr. McKenzie and I liked him. After meeting with Mr. McKenzie

I was not always so outspoken and driven to get good grades. Freshman year I was timid, struggled with my grades, and had no idea what the future looked like. Now, I have found exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life and became much more confident then I was freshman year. Along the way I have even made a decision to switch schools. I have transformed a lot along the way from freshman and sophomore year at Portsmouth High School and finishing off at Rogers High School.

In High School I never really was attentive in Algebra, English, Or Science. I would hang around multiple people who had no desire to put in effort, sadly those traits started to depict me. In my first year at college, I was excited for school. Though the reason I chose to get into the healthcare field we not by personal interest. I decided to pursue Physical Therapist Assisting. I had used the

As the son of immigrant parents, I have always wanted to assimilate into American culture. My parents expected me to excel in everything I do, especially in academics. When report cards came at the end of the quarter, I would be ashamed when my parents saw my grades. Every time I got a B, I could see the disappointment on their faces. I would lock myself in my room and think about how much easier my life would be if I was not Asian. I had always hoped that my parents would congratulate me if I completed something, or showed affection when I needed it. My parent’s merciless emphasis on academic achievement made me submissive to their authority.

Once it was as a freshman, just my overstuffed backpack and me experiencing an environment radically different than anything I had been exposed to ever before. Later it was as a junior, frustrated with a lack of self-confidence. I was plagued with social anxiety, paranoid over the smallest issues and mortified by the prospect of being approached by someone in public. It was painful to check out of a convenience store by myself, let alone meet new people or strike up a conversation with strangers. I used to think that this was going to be my life; every social encounter would be like walking on glass. Finally, towards the spring of my junior year, I clawed my way out of that pit, and I realized that the world wasn’t out to get me. I forced myself to get outside of my comfort zone, and I’m incredibly proud of myself for making that leap. And with the encouragement and support from my friends at school, I ultimately learned that hard work and initiative are two of the most important virtues on the path to success. And this all stems from the personal connections I’ve made with my peers at school, with these relationships dictating the way I have matured and developed mentally.

I grew up in what society considers the "Stereotypical Asian Family". My parent had high expectations for me from a young age, and they made their expectations quite clear. I had to be one of the smartest (if not the smartest) in my class, well-rounded (although there was more of an emphasis on academics compared to athletics), brag-worthy, and (their definition of) successful. I had to be perfect. Although it wasn't too detailed, they had already planned out my life. I would go to a good university after high school to become a "professional" (e.g. doctor, lawyer, accountant, engineer, etc.). I would not choose something in the arts, though piano was considered a pretty important extracurricular, as that wasn't stable and overall just not

During my freshman and sophomore year I was trying to find myself, trying to find what I was good at and how I can be that "well-rounded" student everyone talks about. So I joined a bunch of sports and clubs that I really had no experience at, not saying joining new clubs/sports having no experience is a bad thing, but I did go a little overboard. I was frustrated with myself at the thought that I wasn't good at anything I joined, but I figured out why. I gave up easily and I had no passion of what I was doing. I gave up at everything I did, if I saw that I wasn't good enough, I didn't practice to get better. This was my mistake, I was scared that this failure was going to define who I was forever, but it wasn't. Summer 2016 I went on a two-week trip to Puerto Rico, I met up with my family and caught up with my cousins. I told my cousins everything about my high school days and they laughed at me. They asked "How did you expect to be good at anything when you didn't work hard for it? Anyone can be good at anything if they tried hard enough" I took that by heart. This is where I came to my senses and changed, I understood the impact of having a growth

Highschool is considered a common part of life that is often defined as the stage where you "Find" yourself. Well, let's just say I found out more about myself than I initially expected to. Hence the "Low" in Highschool, Low Expectations. Low expectations were exactly what I had going into highschool. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that highschool is nothing like "Highschool Musical." Growing up in a poverty stricken neighborhood only made matters worse. My county had always been thrown under the bus when it came to academics. Before I came to North Carolina Central University, a teacher of mine informed me that it would be beneficial for me to take remedial classes due to to my

Freshman year I remember walking into the school mortified, thinking that everything and anything that could go wrong would. I had never attended a Liberty-Benton School and knew about five people that would be in my grade. I was shy and quiet because I didn’t know any of the new faces. I was insecure about myself and thought that it would be almost impossible to make friends. Before high school, I went to a small, private,