Personal Narrative: My Challenges In My Post-Secondary Education

Throughout the years, I have grown and matured as a student, and a person. I have had several experiences which have shaped me into who I am and also shaped my values. I value family. As a senior in highschool, I had a lot of things on my shoulders. I needed to pick a college, a major, pretty much figure out my entire life in a matter of nine months. Many students had their family to fall back on when they needed support, I however, did not. My parents both had jobs that would take them away during the week. I would be home alone, taking care of the dogs, the house and myself while they were gone. It was very hard at first and I struggled. I was use to coming home and talking about whatever happened that day at school and practice, or something

Although most people would continue post-secondary after high school, I plan on going to college, most likely Langara college, first after graduating. At first, I did want to go straight to UBC or SFU after high school, however, I started thinking of what I wanted to do. Then it occurred to me of how this is going to affect my entire life. From what I heard from others, people sometimes change their decisions based on what they want to do as a career. Not only does this take a lot of time on studying something else after changing their primary focus, but also costs a lot of money. Unfortunately, I know that I won’t have enough money to pay off the financial expenses just to study for the career I want for my future. I need to make sure that

I have taken many different college preparatory classes throughout my college career that include: Chemistry 1100, Chemistry 1111, AP English, Trigonometry, College Algebra, and Calculus. These classes are the most difficult I have taken and they are the most difficult the school offers. I believe that these classes have prepared me the best for my post-secondary education from what I learn around the subjects we are taught. To succeed in theses classes you need countless hours and focused effort towards studying. These classes have given me a insight to how I should study for college exams and tests. My Math and English courses will give me a head start when starting my first year of college during the intro period of classes. The courses

In the previous years, I have made the decision to work concurrently with my education. I have been working as a waitress in a local restaurant for years. My parents were opposed to my working since they wanted me to focus on my grades, but I wanted to lessen the financial burden for them. Both of my parents never received an education and they wanted me to solely focus on school to secure myself a better future despite our poverty.

The progression of my education goals are as follows: My short term educational goal is to accepted as a nursing student here at York Technical College. My next goal will be to graduate from the nursing program as a Registered Nurse.

During the summer between my sophomore nad junior years in highschool, I had attempted to switch homes from my dad's in South Dakota to my mom's in Texas. The transition would went smoothly if it hadn't been for my dad not wanting me to move. We had to go to court to fight for custody over a legal adult, and even afterwards I had to worry about him coming to my school to take me, which he has accomplished before. So when I finally started my Junior year I was feeling terrified. I would eat my lunches with my teachers and some had storage rooms that I was allowed access to if the time ever come to hide. Finally, everyone calmed down once we had confirmation that he was back in South Dakota and school returned to a sort of normalise.

So now here I am. The Tribe was able to fund me in continuing my education, and I’m finally able to attend college. I never thought that I would make it to college. I was always beating myself up for having a GED and giving up in School. My first day of college in January, was filled with anxiety. I thought I was going to faint. But I survived. I now I’m enjoying the college life. Although it’s not much of a fabulous life. It’s challenging, stressful, intimidating, intense, but also fun. I want to encourage my children to never give up. I also want to remind them about how important school is just like my grandpa did. That getting an education is important. That without one they would struggle like I had. And reflecting back to when I was a

There I was, poised with the first draft of my masters thesis, ready to jack it under the rear wheels of my car so that I could vent my anger and frustration. Never had I felt this kind of undiluted rage in dealing with a piece of writing. As far as I was concerned, the first draft was complete and therefore the entire piece was finished; however, my thesis advisor didn’t quite agree with me. A less deranged friend of mine talked me out of repeatedly backing over my thesis, and convinced me that it didn’t really matter if I did leave tire marks on it because I had multiple drafts on my disk. But still, I knew that it would just feel so good to leave some tire tread on the paper.

It was a bright sunny day and I was ready to play. I was on the playground at recess. It was in April. I was on the monkey bars when my friend told me to jump down and she would catch me. My 3rd grade self thought it was a good idea and jumped. When i jumped from the bar, she moved. I slammed into the ground. I learned from this experience that you can’t trust everybody, not even your closest friends. No matter how much you know a person, you never know when they could change just in a second. Even if she moved because she was scared, or she wanted me to hit the ground, it doesn’t matter. Through it all I learned that you can’t give your just to everybody.

As graduation nears, everyone asks "What're you going to do after high school?" I've always responded by saying I would be attending college, but I didn't ever think about the idea anymore than that. Recently, I have taken time to sit and actually think about what and why I want to do once I graduate.

I'm pacing on the hardwood floors, the music is blaring to block out the city noise, and the aroma of coffee fills my small two bedroom apartment. My clothes smell like they just came from the dry cleaners and the lightly starched blouse clings to my skin as I rush to beat the clock. Briefcase in one hand and the cup coffee in the other as I shut the door and zip down the stairs. Six months have passed since I've graduated from high school and life couldn't get any better. However, there's only one problem...that 's not how I picture my post-high school graduation self anymore.

I really started to go and develop in the 7th grade. I started to take school seriously. Before the 7th grade, I did care about school but I wasn’t serious about it. I used to mess around with friends in class, do my work sloppy, and not taking time to study outside of school. When 7th grade started, I told myself that i gotta focus on my education because it will prep me for the following school years and develop good habits. During the year, I put school as a higher priority than other things like video games and sports. My grades were good except the one C grade I had in English class. Overall the next two years my grades were great, I had only A’s and B’s in my classes. Once I entered my sophomore year at Puyallup High School, my focus

I began to understand my need for advanced coursework while still in high school. As I completed those first assignments in courses like W131 something profound began to happen to me, I started making meaningful intellectual discoveries. Although not science related, writing those exploratory essays allowed me to discover my voice, and with my voice, I was able to reveal my abilities and ambitions, not just to others but also, most importantly to myself. I might have completed that self-discovery with any general writing and science courses however, the recognition as a student in an Honors program meant prospective schools understood that I was one of the best students in my school. Fast forward, a couple of years and the revelation of needing

this week there were no parts of the text which were difficult to read for me. In fact, although it has been passed a long time since I finished studying, I have to say that I can still remember many things I studied at high school many years ago. I got a high school diploma for scientific studies, and I am at easy with these things we're studying here, at least for the moment. I have just got some troubles in memorizing definitions: I have never been good at learning things off by heart. Luckily, I have no problems with formulas, and I have been always good in solving math problems, too. I'm doing all my exercises because I know that practicing is important, but I have to confess that it's getting rather hard to keep pace with

Good to meet you! That is exactly the reason why I decided to give it my all at SNHU and finish my four-year education. The trade-off was just too important to put it off with any more excuses. I was a legal secretary for many, many years and in the last 5-10 year (more or less) I have noticed that employers will not even look at my resume if I cannot prove that I have a four-year education. It is really great to see you made that same decision.