My Formative Experience

August 15, 2013 was the date that I entered high school. I had high hopes for the upcoming high school years to be my best years ever since I was in sixth grade. I expected that I can make more friends, join more club activities, and can choose classes that I really like. Although I was very enthusiastic and eager to start the all new school years, I also had a lot of worries and confusion about it also. The night before I start my freshmen year, the thoughts of failing classes, and be able to graduate high school kept

“You haven't done so well with passing classes and that’s an issue, you have a decision to make, you can either stay at lakewood and not graduate on time, or you can move to an alternative school to make up the credits you need.” The words that no high school student want to hear. As a high school student, school was not my best interest. Yes, i can say that i was interested and determined to get done with my high school year and go to college and continue to persuade my dream in either becoming a cosmetologist or become in the culinary fields, but that didn’t go as planned. As the days go by everything becomes a challenge, School work gets harder along with the classes, also understanding everything that you learn even gets harder. Most people

I grew up in Pakistan with a diverse culture around me. Before moving to the U.S., the city I grew up in was a blend of people who lived there because of their jobs, education and business purposes. I learned that poverty, marginalization and violence, neither had a religion nor selects people of a specific faith to attack them. This made me devote myself to the church and its programs to serve all children of God spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and fighting for social justice against the systemic evil in the world.

Now, I’ve never been a terribly awful student. I was the kid that made honor roll every term, passed my tests, and was very well liked by my teachers. My problem was rooted within my attendance. I tried numerous options that varied from being enrolled in online school that gave me the option to work at my own pace, to applying for a program called Job Corps, where I would live on campus and be on a boot camp like schedule. Nothing worked, school just wasn’t for me. When I turned 16, I made the decision to not only drop my online classes, but also made the decision to stop calling my counselor for Job Corps. I was never encouraged to return to school until I moved to Wisconsin a year and a half after being out of school. You don’t realize how important that year and a half is until you return to public school as a junior with three and a half credits. My attendance when I moved here was much better with the encouragement from Niki and Dave Pohnl. They gave me the motivation to actually want to finish my schooling and for that, I am eternally grateful. I attended Logan high school for the last half of my junior year where I finished with seven and a half credits. Obviously, still not even close to what you need to graduate. So, they gave me the option to come to Western Technical College to attend a program that would lead to me taking four separate

After barely graduating in the spring of 2017 from Lopez Early College High School, I went straight to my parent’s house not knowing exactly what I was going to do with my life. I knew I had ruined my life after not paying attention to my teachers and counselors about applying to colleges. They said I was a wonderful and intelligent student with a tremendous capacity of succeeding in life. Although everybody thought that about me, I never did. I was constantly under pressure thinking that I had to work in order to support my family economically, so our house was saved. I was also worried about whether my parents were getting divorced after every insignificant argument they had. I had to be an excellent example for my two younger siblings; but even though I tried my best, I never was.

I am writing to give you some advice that I wish I had known coming into my senior year. To begin, Congratulations for successfully making it this far in your high school journey. For some, this experience flies by and is the best time of their lives. For others, the opposite is true; however, it is such a blessing to be able to say that you are on the track to graduation, and you may not realize it, but this year will be full of challenges that you may or may not choose to take on.

I organized college trips with my school staff and a career day for the students. I joined the student government and worked closely with the administrative staff. I made a 180-degree turn in my life. The teachers didn’t believe I was the same girl who was missing class, had a couple of fights in school and recovering from depression. The summer of 2015 I attended summer school and night school so I was able to graduate in August 2015. I had classes Monday-Thursday, my first class started at 9:00 AM and my last class ended at 9:00 PM. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday I worked from 9:00AM-11:00 PM in the Dyckman Community Center. I felt like superwoman! It was overwhelming but I knew this was the consequences of my actions freshman year. It was hard but it wasn’t impossible and I was able to motivate other students as well. They saw how dedicated I as to graduating and many students followed my steps. I graduated in August 2015 and received an award for the best intern of the year. I took a semester off because I didn’t want to go straight to college three weeks later after going to school for 12

Born in July of 1999, I have always been known to have a bright future.I attended Ann Visger Elementary School in River Rouge, Michigan and Strong Middle School in Melvindale Michigan. From there began my high school career at Melvindale High School very nervous. I was placed in many honors classes and was able to excel. I took leadership roles and participated in projects that many freshmen do not try. After ninth grade, I transferred to River Rouge High School, on my first day I was reunited with old friends, yet still wanted to go back to my old school with my friends I created in the last 4 years. After being sadden about my transfering, I decided that you must do with what you are given. So the entire school year I worked to get my titles

yet I also believe that being able to pay for college is crucial. Recently, I completed my first year of high school. I joined Key Club and Chess club. I also made the JV softball team and earned the second ranked spot on our chess team. My extracurricular activities have taught me in numerous ways. For example, I have learned more on how to deal with stressful events, while also helping others through theirs. I have also experienced the mutual joy and satisfaction of doing good for others. I decided to make high school worthwhile by taking extremely challenging course work, such as Advanced Placement and honors classes. I successfully finished freshman year, ranking first of 587, with an

When I moved from my home in Jamaica to New York City, I had a focus and an itinerary for the next half-decade. My goal was to finish my senior year of high school and go to college. When I realized that I could not enroll in an American high school immediately, I felt like that my dream was shattered. In Jamaica, high school ends at the 11th grade, I had a plan of going to 12th grade and then college. With that dream shattered, I was in shock as I did not know what to do. I was entirely disappointed at first, but then quickly regained my determination and enthusiasm to do whatever it took to go to college. I was advised by a high school counselor to get my High School Equivalency diploma. I learned afterward that this step could’ve been bypassed and I could’ve started college one year earlier, which would be one year closer to becoming a surgeon.

There were several times in which I felt like it would be easier to give up, but I knew I needed to get my diploma. The odds were against me . . . “you’re not going to graduate, you’re never going to do anything with your life,” my father would say, when we’d get into a disagreement. As much as I despised such words; eventually, I welcomed them with open arms. They sparked a motivation in me that I never knew I held before. I couldn’t wait to show him and everyone else who had ever doubted me, that I would

I am a daughter of a father who migrated from Sierra Leone with nothing but a suitcase, opportunity and a high school degree. I am a daughter of a mother who struggled to finish high school and she never went back to school for her college degree. I am a sister of four brothers: 1 didn’t graduate from high school, 1 graduated from high school but never pursued a college degree, 1 enlisted in the army and went to college for chemistry and the last one struggled in college for 6 years because of his learning disability. I am Gonto Robinson, a senior, psychology and nursing major, and I will graduate a year and a half late in order to pursue two degrees. Staying in school and pursuing a higher education wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for my family and teachers in high school.

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 was working harder than ever to finish high school early and it had really paid off. I prepared and prepared but it wasn’t enough to my surprise.

It was 2016, and I was finally a senior in high school. Being a senior in high school was something that I had dreamed of since my early middle school days, and at last, I was there. It was the last year in one of my least favorite environments, and I couldn’t wait to graduate and move away from the only place I had ever known. I had lived in the same town for seventeen years, and I had gone to the same school with the same people for thirteen years. I was looking forward to something new in my life. I was most excited for my senior year because it was the year that I was going to choose where I wanted to move away to and what school I wanted to spend the next four years of my life at. As the year moved along, I slowly realized that I wasn’t moving away and that I’d be staying home to attend college, which was one of the most difficult decisions that I ever had to make.