Personal Narrative : A First Generation College Student Essay

I had always assumed that my legs were strong and that I had decent muscle control, however, this thought was proven wrong at the beginning of my junior year in high school due to a detrimental injury. It was the first game of fall league for basketball, and within the first five minutes I had succumbed to an injury. Tearing my ACL and Meniscus has taught me to continue improving on my strength, not let this one injury keep me down, and to keep a positive mindset.

Growing up as a first-generation college-bound Hispanic woman has proven to be a difficult journey. Both of my parents left their home countries at a young age and came to this country without any ideas or real opportunities on where to begin. At a young age, I have been taught that having a higher education is the key to having a successful and plentiful life. However, the journey towards achieving my dream of receiving a higher education has been filled with moments where I have challenged the stereotypes about getting pregnant and dropping out of high school, facing my grandma’s unexpected illness that affected me both academically and mentally, and the challenge of being a first generation college bound student in my family.

Coming into the University I didn’t know what to expect, especially with taking 16 hours, and Comp being one of them. Being a first generation college student, has been rough especially since my older sister exceeded my parents expectations. I believe I am capable of succeeding in anything I set my mind to. I have always struggled with English/Writing since English is my second language. Many people tend to get surprised when I tell them I learned English at the age of 4, since they believed English would be my first language since I was born in the United States. Long story short, English is my second language because I was raised by my grandparents, since my parents always dedicated their time to work to provide us with a better future.

Serving others by utilizing the lessons I have learned through my experiences and my talents is how I want to live my life. As a first generation college student, I want to integrate myself in programs or start my own mentorship program where I am able to mentor and give back to students who are first generation college students as well. I feel it’s important to reach out to first generation college students because the amount of pressure we receive with little to no guidance can be discouraging and lead us to feel alone in this process.

they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please

1. What experience do you like talking about the most? What has been the most interesting, intriguing, and exciting part of your life- why, and what did you learn from it?

As my high school years were coming to an end, all anyone could talk about was college. Where they were going, what state they would be a resident in, and what they would major in, what campus they would be visiting that weekend. I, however, thought I had it all under control. I thought that when my Senior year came by it would all fall in to place. That's crazy, right? The shows that I grew up watching did not have to deal with this. That is when expectation went out the window and reality kicked me in the butt. I had five months left to start applying to colleges and looking in to different campuses that offered my dental hygiene program. Lucky for me, my community college had a two year program.

I am a single parent first generation student. My family is low income and my father left us when I was beginning 9th grade after coming home from prison two years previous. He not only left us but my five month old brother. My three D's in first semester freshman year were hard to increase not only because we moved three different schools in a span of 4 months but I also had to fill into my fathers role as the caretaker of my siblings. While my mom was working I had to watch my baby brother which explains my large amount of absences, I do not want to seem as if I am excusing my self because I am not I let this moment in life define me for a short period of time before I final snapped out of it and realized moping would not excuse my performance

I grew up in a family that grew up in Agoura Hills, my mom, two uncles, aunt, and brother all went to Agoura High School and my grandpa is really involved in the community with the high school football team, AYSO, and pony league baseball. My brother is two grades above me and I had all of his teachers throughout elementary and middle school, even now i have some of his old art teachers. I was constantly referred to as his little sister and i really struggled with identity issues because of that. As much as I love art I couldn't really enjoy it because I felt pressured into it and I knew i would never be as good as my brother, as one of his ceramics teachers put it, “he is one of the top 1% of artists to come through this school.” I was so tired of always just being someone's daughter or niece or granddaughter and sister. I wanted to establish a place for me and be myself and sports medicine ended up being the answer to that.

We stared at each other speechless, literally speechless. No matter how hard I tried I could make a sound. Her eyes darted back and forth and slowly she opened her mouth and out came a small insect. She screamed, or it appeared she made the motions of screaming but like me no sound came out, she pushed herself away from the desk and stood up baking away in fright. We watched the strange insect like creature scurry away across the room and slide between a crack in the front door.

I am passionate about trying my best. Throughout my high school years, I’ve tried to be as successful as I can. Whether it’s classwork, homework, or tests, I try to prepare myself as much as possible and persevere, even if it is difficult. I usually take my time to do work and make sure that whatever I’m submitting accurately portrays my knowledge and persistence. Though I’m concerned about my success, I am not self-absorbed. I always help others when they’re in need, even if it may seem like a hassle. Helping others motivates me, I cannot let others fail when I know that I’m in a position to help them. Even when I’m asked to help others in an area that I’m not proficient in, I try to assist in the best way I can, whether it means applying

Legacy has provided a wonderful foundation for me as a first time college student. To start, Legacy has created a cohort in its own to provide support for me and many other first time and returning college students. Before entering into college I did not have a lot of different responsibilities to take care of. My main focus was to go to high school, got to work, and go home. Starting college and especially the Legacy program has taught me more responsibility. I have been taught how to manage my time. Although, it is still a work in progress, I still have learned how to go to work, go to school, study, and take care of my responsibilities at home as well. Taking English 60/100/117 and Ethnic Studies 129 has help me everywhere from studying

My mom called me crying about a week ago, after she dropped me off at the University of Akron and helped me move in my things. In an attempt to console her I repeated that I wasn’t very far from my hometown, Brecksville, and it wouldn’t be difficult to see me. Between sobs, she asked me what I’ve learned from her; if I felt she had taught me everything she should’ve. I’ve never been so sure of an answer in my life. My mom has inspired me more than anyone and has taught me to be hardworking, independent, accepting of others and myself, and to never sell myself short. It has been my dream since fourth grade to be lawyer, so while it is difficult to be away from people at home who I love, I know that I am in the right place and doing the right

I attended the Homecoming Trivia Night on campus at the Pub on the 30th of March, which is hosted by The Student Activities and Transition Program. It’s a weekly event where there are a variety of groups that consist of students, faculty members, and guests competing against each other to win. There is an award for every week to the winners; every Wednesday they give away $40.00 in gift cards for local stores. The game was presented by a man called Daniel who distributed paper which was numbered based on the question numbers either from one through seven or to ten. The game questions were about the celebrity cultures as athlete, actors, and historical people.

After the initial stumbling block more commonly known as residential life, I faced the towering challenge of settling into classes. Once I had registered (which was itself something of a dilemma), I had in my hand a sheet of abbreviations that rivaled a military briefing or a computer manual. My first class, on a Thursday morning, was located in a building called CBW, which stood for Classroom Building West. Surely the