Personal Narrative: My High School Shaped Me For My College Experience

As my high school years come to a close, I reflect on the decision I made four years ago as a doe-eyed, overeager eighth grader who believed she could conquer the world. Do I regret coming to Marymount?

After recently graduating from Fullerton College with two associate degrees in psychology, I could have not accomplished this goal all by myself without the proper guidance that I received from EOPS and FYSI at the time. These programs were established to support former foster youth at Fullerton College in their education as long as they met all the conditions for each semester. As a result, this was valuable for me during my time as a community college student, allowing me to guarantee that I would finish all my requirements on time to transfer to a good university, and becoming more involved with the campus each semester. That being said, this is one of the main reasons as to why I am applying to your program, so I could receive the support

At Ardrey Kell High School, students are often confused about whether or not to take an AP class. One might see your GPAs and feel that it is not high enough to get into that dream college. One might just want earn college credits early so one can save money when college rolls around. One might also take these classes simply to learn more about subjects about which he or she are passionate. No matter the reason for taking these classes, they require a momentous commitment to work hard and an extreme amount of effort in order to pass. Students can cope with these requirements by managing time efficiently and becoming organized, which will help them achieve a higher assignment completion rate and score higher on tests and quizzes.

Spring 2016 was a semester I thought I would give my all to since it was just one step away before I graduate. I did not realize the overwhelming stress it would have over me struggling to keep my GPA. When I spoke with my advisor for Spring advisement I wanted to transfer to a 4 year college since my GPA was high enough at that point but my advisor informed me I am close to graduating and the better choice would be to finish and graduate with my Associates Degree. I took the advice and enrolled in two science classes, on music class, and one statistics class. Taking two science classes was not the best idea especially being so close to the finish line of graduating. I took a Bio 210 class and Chem 121, I am not a science major and I have decided

The college process is extremely stressful and pressurizing. There barely even was an option to not go to college. Almost all the adults spent our senior year trying to convince the seniors that college is the biggest decision of your life. If you don’t go now, you will become a failure and have no job, and no future. They would then proceed to tell us that we should lean on God’s voice to guide us, but not His actual voice because then that wouldn’t be God. That there is no right way to hear from God, but plenty of wrong ways. This left my senior church group feeling overwhelmed and confused.

The first day of classes had arrived and I felt as if I was the lost puppy in a big campus. I had no idea what I was about to endure, when it came to transitioning. I was in the process of making the transition of high school graduate to college student. I had chosen to take my first writing class of the school year, wanting to rip it off like a band aid. I had previously come to the decision that it was not one of my strong subjects, but had the hope I would improve. I walked into my first class of that Monday morning and sat down in front one of the many computers surrounding the walls. I then see a woman enter who appears to be around the age of her 40’s. She came in with a bright smile and a coffee mug in her hand. She came ready to teach and I was anxiously ready to learn.

High school changes people. You've heard it before, most likely from the oh-so-wise college kids only a year or two removed from it, or maybe even from your old man. Quite possibly, even followed by seemingly far-fetched stories that just don't add up, but are juicy enough to keep you engaged. Unfortunately, this is not one of those stories. Every once in awhile, you get to watch a story unfold in front of you, and is one of the most enlightening feelings when you realize that you're the main character. Everyone has a unique story that applies to them. High school changed me in regards to my outlook on life, as well as my work ethic, and I'm positive that a few slight changes to any struggling student in high school can work wonders beyond

The interconnectedness of math, science, and humanities epitomizes the beauty of education. Throughout high school and even college students will often isolate themselves in a specific field, thus disabling their ability to see the true beauty of the entire educational picture. Hofstra University, miraculously, superimposes the field of Natural sciences and Humanities and develops new understandings in student’s philosophy, ambitions, and traditions. Living in Hempstead, I have the privilege of integrating Hofstra’s campus and amenities as an extension of my high school experience. Just last year, for instance, a few peers and I were invited to the presidential debate at Hofstra; we conversed with media outlets, professors, and

Something I chose not to do probably could have made my time in highschool much more fun and exciting. I decided not to get involved more in high school, maybe it was cause I was nervous to try new things, and it’s made me wonder what else I could have experienced. nI also think that maybe it would help me get into the college I want to go to if I got more involved. However, I also really like how my high school years are going for me now, but I feel as if it could have been better.

Im writing this letter to my future self for Ms. Meyer’s English class and is to be placed in the Freshmen Time Capsule to open when I’m a senior. So I guess I’m a senior now? I hope it’s fun, Daniel is a senior right now and he seems like he enjoys being at the top of the high school food chain. I recently finished my first soccer season on the high school team, and I’m getting ready for the upcoming track season. I hope to be on the 4x8 team again this year with Rachel and Gillian, and we really want Sydney to be the fourth spot runner for our team (even though she really doesn’t want to). I can’t wait to get my restricted drivers license. It took forever for me to get my permit and I was kind of mad at dad for not getting it for me earlier but I guess he’s “really busy”. Freshman year is going really well so far, I have really good grades in all of my classes and I’m having a lot of fun and I can’t wait to see what the next years of high school have in store!

Throughout my high school education, there have been many factors that contributed to my performance. Some were out of my control and others were solely my actions. I take full responsibility for not pushing myself to try harder in school. Some circumstances made this difficult, at the time I lived at home with my mother, sister, and brother but then one day it all changed. First, my brother joined the Marines and left home and soon after my sister followed and joined the Air Force and also left. Since my mother is a single parent, my siblings contributed a lot financially and helped her tremendously. For this reason, she began to work even longer hours. To attempt to help my mother, I started working a lot when I turned 16. My mistake was

I had just returned to school after a long weekend. I scampered excitedly down the linoleum floors of the dimly lit halls of my middle school. I was almost running as I reached the black double doors of the band room which sat at the end of a very long hall. It was her I was looking for, she sat hunched over her game boy her short red hair covered her face. She stood up as I approached, looking up at me with her big eyes, I was happy to see her; I adored her. We had finally exited an awkward phase in our relationship and she agreed to be my girlfriend. We chatted idly as we tipped toed verbally around each other until it was time to go our separate ways, we glanced up and down the halls for signs of authority before parting with a peck.

When you’re a teenager, you start to go through a lot of changes in your life. You need others support and help to get around these toilsome times. For me freshmen year of high school was distraught. With both parents always working and my older sister away at college, I had no one to look up to or to ask for help when I needed it. It was difficult figuring out the transition from middle school to high school. Not knowing what to expect or what I needed for college, I settled for B’s in my classes. It wasn't until the summer going into sophomore year that I realized I needed to buckle down on my grades. Knowing that my parents did not have four-year degrees and worked multiple jobs to support our family, I came to the realization that I didn’t

I was very nervous in the beginning but I tried to hide that from my client so she would feel more comfortable. I mainly listened in the beginning and started offering more answers as time went by. It felt more like a conversation then an official interview. It helped that we were in a familiar area and had an easier time talking to each other even in front of a camera. I did have a problem with my camera and had to stop halfway through to get a new one. We would have started the interview over but we had a limited time frame to work with because she had to leave soon.

My high school valued college education significantly. I went to Achievement First for middle school and middle school. They have always taught us that we had to “climb the mountain to college” because the goal is to not only graduate high school, but to also graduate college. They had our schedules set up like college courses and we frequently had seminars. They even had a class called College Readiness that specifically focused on preparing us for college. Majority of the students were black and we were expected to secum to the stereotypes that majority of our young men will be in Jail by the age of 16 or that majority of the females would be teen moms. However, over ninety percent of my senior class graduated and was accepted to a four