My Personal Experience : My Experience Of Going To College

I never truly did have a high school experience, sure I had a dozen or so friends, but my relationships with them lacked depth. We may have seen each other on the weekends and laughed at each other’s jokes, but in the end it was entirely meaningless. We had almost nothing in common besides the fact that we attended the same school. The only reason I had made friends with them in the first place was simply out of necessity, after all, no one wants to be that kid that sits alone at the lunch table. Had we not become friends, each and every one of us would have been that kid.

During my high school experience there has been a growth on everything from when I was in middle school. I have grown personally because I have made numerous new friends that I never knew that I was going to encounter. I have grown academically by taking geometry this year, which genuinely expanded my knowledge in math, especially since I desire to have a career in a math related subjects. Finally I grew at sports because I have been doing much superior in my running. As a freshmen at Godinez high school, I have grown personally, academically, and at sports.

Growing up I was a very shy person. I was the type of girl who hid her feelings because that's just what I was used too. My parents separated when I was only four years old. It was hard for me because I didn't have my parents together. It made me feel like it was my fault. They would argue about who was going to watch me when they went to work or how they couldn't afford somethings for me. I felt like like I couldn't talk to them about how I felt and that's why in school I would always shut people out when it came to my feelings. I remember teacher trying to talk to me but all I would do is shut them out, teacher after teacher. I knew that coming into Pritzker I was going to have a difficult time and I was going to have no one there to talk to.

When I was in junior high, I found my group of friends. I thought we would all stay close forever, but things changed throughout our years in high school. I went from feeling like I had a family to feeling like I been left behind and forgotten.

I have always been a shy person since I was a little kid. I was always nervous to go do things with people or to make a mistake in front of people. I remember in the 7th grade, the teacher called on me, and I had been paying attention but I got the question confused so I said something that was wrong. I felt the whole class just stare at me and laugh. Ever since then I have always struggled with self confidence. I lacked self confidence in just about everything, like what clothes to wear, what to say to people, talking in front of a class, etc.

Day one freshman year, my first thought was that I wasn’t going to make it. I had little faith in my ability to move forward in life. I thought, no I knew I wasn’t going to make it through high school for two reasons: I wasn’t smart enough and I wasn’t ready. In truth I was more than smart enough for the task, but I lacked the confidence. I felt I wasn’t ready for several reasons one being maturity another being anxiety. So throughout my freshman year I struggled to stay afloat because I didn’t believe in myself. It wasn’t until the following year that I started to realize that I was more than smart enough for succeed. My first hint was when I was able (with the help of a teacher) to catch up to my entire algebra class in the matter of a month. Note: I prior to that class I never learnt algebra not even a pre-version of it. So the fact that I managed to catch up to everyone else in the class in the matter of a month was amazing. I then went on to surpass the majority of them when it came to understanding why the formulas worked the way they did. Even with that I still doubted my intelligence, but not just my intelligence I doubted myself as a whole. The year went on and due to having little past experience with reading I was placed in a reading class (several reading classes actually). Although I took a reading class freshman year nothing is really noteworthy. But sophomore year was different, I was placed in a reading class with an older lady as the teacher. She was very

The high school I attended was very different. The last two years- junior and senior year- I was allowed to choose the classes I wanted to take. Having this opportunity I always avoided taking an English class. I never enjoyed it and one thing I disliked was writing papers on why I don’t like writing papers. I envied the people who enjoyed writing because as we get older that is a crucial thing we need. In many of my papers I was unable to maintain focus, need to use more transitions words, and lacked the proper knowledge on how to do a correct works cited. I have learned to fix some of my mistakes, but on other things I still need improvement. On my first paper, I struggled with staying focus on my topic. Second essay I struggled with transitioning my ideas from one to another. Lastly, I improved on both my lack of focus on my papers and I included more transition words.

Growing up, I never saw myself as one of those people who graduate high school and then off to a four-year college they went. It was hard enough just to imagine attempting, let alone succeeding, at a two-year college. Even though, I had wondered what it might have been like to experience dorm life at a college in another town, even state. But, for me, after high school graduation, I was enrolled at the Community College.

The nerve-wracking feeling of school hit me a month into summer. When I saw the email regarding my class schedule for junior year, AP Chemistry and AP Psychology were listed. Anxiety was stirring within me. Although I had a notion of the challenge I am about to face, I chose to give it a shot. Having the same teacher for both classes, I sat in the same spot for two consecutive periods, feeling clueless. I was walking out of the classroom when my teacher pulled me aside for a word, she gave me a pat on the back, “You’re the only person taking both classes this year, Good luck!” I was not entirely sure if it was an encouragement or a warning. “What have I gotten myself into?”, “What am I doing this for?”, Countless number of questions starts to formulate as I made my way back home.

As I gain more experience through learning in situations I find myself in, my mind flashes back to memories I have gained. A native of inner city Charlotte, North Carolina, many of my memories inspire me to continue growing with knowledge, so that I can help those whose decisions have mentally hindered them from growing intellectually. My mother had me at the age of sixteen, so the first knowledge I obtained about the world was learned through her experience as a teenage mother with dark skin in America. My family lineage is rooted in environments of low-income communities. My mother, one out of six, was raised in a household with both parents who were employed. Her mother and father, my grandparents, strived to make ends meet for the family without obtaining a high school diploma. My mother did not receive her high school diploma neither. My grandparents felt it necessary to raise me while my mother enrolled into a housing voucher program and rented her own apartment. I was enrolled into a head start program at the age of four, which helped me prepare for public schooling.

Going through another normal school day walking down the hall with my friends of the last 3 or more years, stopping at my locker are unofficial “official” meeting spot, all of a sudden my best guy friend comes up and tells us the news that everyone seemed to know except us. First to understand our high school it was set up in a district of four different schools Lincoln-way east, north, central, and west. Kids from east tend tone friends with kids from north and kids from central were usually friends with kids from west, after all east and central were rivals in just about every sport. After hearing that one of the schools will be closing it was like bomb was dropped in the school, everyone was talking about it or worrying about it.

So far in life, my passion has been educating myself to the fullest extent. Ever since I was in middle school, though not as understanding, I knew that all I really wanted to do was take in as much information that the world had to offer for me. Starting with advanced math classes, to other challenging AP courses. I even took the Calculus one and two course at my high school, through PSU, and did everything I could in order to prepare for Calculus three and four at PSU. Yet no matter what boundaries I pushed in high school, nothing was comparable to a real college course. Calculus three and four was by far my most rigorous academic challenge I have ever faced. Through devoting the most time and effort I have ever put into anything, I

Over the four years of high school, there is a lot I learned whether its academics or relationship with others. An essential lesson I learned was the importance of friendship. The first day of 9th grade that I vividly remember when we entered the high school block at my previous school “Bradenton Prep Academy” in Dubai UAE. My friends and I were excited that we were part of the “older kids” which meant we got respect from the middle school and that we got some sense of respect from our fellow students. I remember that we were informed in the last days of eighth grade that there were going to be three ninth-grade classes and who was going to be in each class was going to be announced the day before school starts. I remember me and my

College never really intimidated me. I always got decent enough grades, had friends, and participated in sports during my High School years. Nothing really worthy of a scholarship by any means, and my family was unfortunately not in the financial situation to send me to an out of state school. They always did everything they could for me, So my first choice (in state) was University of Denver. However, as my family lived pretty far in Boulder to be exact, I moved into the dorms on campus. That's one of the worst decisions i’ve ever come to.

From early on, school has been a challenge for me. I am one of the youngest students in my class, which meant that I always struggled to keeping up with maturity, which meant I had a hard time being prepared for things. However, given that this was my situation, I worked really hard to prove to myself, and to others that I was not going to fall behind just because of the age difference and maturity difference between my classmates and myself. Although school is difficult, I know I have to continue to pursue a higher education because it is important for me to have a successful and happy future. I have learned that I really need to work hard and not give up even when I am faced with obstacles. I do this by challenging myself and having my goals set out ahead of me so I have something to work towards.