Personal Narrative: Year Up To College

Fear and anxiety plagued my mind during this transition, however my wife and daughter kept my mind at ease. The information and instruction that was provided from the Professors at Durham Tech galvanized something deep within me. I began to strive for goals that I thought were unattainable as a naïve adolescent. Instructors encouraged me to work hard and to be persistent when it came to the immense obstacles of my course work such as giving a presentation at an honors symposium as an honors student. After countless years of self doubt and negative feelings towards education as a whole, for the first time in my life, I felt like college was an option for

After days of sorrow and helplessness, I contemplated quitting everything. However, I then got results that I had been accepted into my second choice university. I realized that I did have a future, just not the one that I had planned perfectly. I could still become a successful nurse and still help others by taking a different route. This experience taught me to become flexible I was so used to everything taking place the way I wanted it to that I forgot that some things are beyond my control. This challenge helped me to realize that there are more paths than one in life. With an optimistic attitude, I can still succeed and contribute to society. I also learned that my time spent studying and participating in extracurricular activities was not wasted. The memories that I made from participating in the activities are worth the time and effort. As a result, I came to not regret my spending a great amount of time toward my education. It still helped me develop into a well-rounded student. I learned that I will continue to face more difficult challenges in the future as I enter college. However, I will continue to persevere with a positive outlook because the challenges will one day serve as memorable experiences that I can learn

I have defiantly not had a normal or a comfortable life. I have lived in RVs and cars on the streets of NE Portland, been homeless twice and I have left the country on multiple occasions cause of my family financial situation. As recent as two years ago I was in Central America and Southern Mexico looking for a safe and decent place to survive in. I missed a year of school. Currently, I live in a leaky, moldy, single-wide trailer home in Rockwood Neighborhood in Gresham. My parents are divorced; my dad, who I live with, is unemployed, has health issues, and has no formal education. So I provide for him and myself.

It was the last last few days of summer before I started my Sophomore year of high school. My freshman year I applied and ran to be Sophomore class president, and I won. Before the start of school SGA (Student Government Association) had the responsibility to welcome and show new students around the school. While showing and bonding with new students I meet two new sophomores students named Ethan and Olivia. Ethan was a very attractive young man who was six feet and had nice dark hair, that was swooped to the right. Olivia on the other hand was a very short and pale girl who had orange hair that was very thin. Olivia and I both found Ethan to be attractive, Olivia made it known to me that she liked Ethan. It was the first day of school and

Collecting my belongings and putting them into my bag, I felt exhausted. I had tried my hardest but I didn’t know if my hardest was good enough for the college qualifications. Getting into college was one of the most important things to me. I dreamed all my life of getting accepted into a great college, and increasing my education to become something I love. I always strived for success in school, and I was always being complimented for my work of ethic. I believe that college is my path to a great

Coming to college is hard. You have to keep your grades up through 13 years of public education. You also should obtain a car to get from point A to point B. This also requires having a job to keep the car fueled and money in your pocket to live off of. Motivation is also a tricky thing to pin down. It seems to appear when you don’t need it, and then just vanish when you need it the most. And organizational skills, what are those? These are some of the challenges I faced when deciding to go to college.

It happened all through-out college. I had always heard stories about body-shaming with overweight individuals, but I never thought that it would happen to myself or the millions of other young women on college campuses.

Going into college, I knew that there will be an abundance of life lessons learned, but I did not ken that I would be able to absorb so much in such a short duration. This past year in college, I gained vital skills and grew stronger mentally. College is a place where everyone learns from their failures and successes, and with that, there are numerous things to learn from that. My experiences in college edified me how to work with others, communicate with professionals efficaciously, and make perdurable relationships. In addition, being away from home and living in an unfamiliar environment without my family availed me to become independent. Surviving on my own, I learned to make my bed, cook, do laundry, clean up after myself, and more. College taught me skills beyond the classroom, and it withal a leeway to becoming independent away

Most thirteen year olds crave the attention of older kids, particularly boys. In my case, I dreaded it. I was born shy. My natural instinct when someone approached me was to look away, and if they talked to me – heaven forbid – I would smile, blush, and then quietly mumble something inaudible only to become more embarrassed. It wasn’t necessarily my fault, my entire family had a natural shyness about them. We rarely craved the limelight and for the most part it worked out just fine, that is until we were forced into an assertive role. Along with the attention, most kids want to be the kid who hits the big shot, has the token girls on his arms and is adored by just about everyone. That’s every kid’s dream – except for mine. My experience in

The droplets of rain emerge from the towering clouds as I step onto the vibrant green grass for the first time. I lock eyes with the monstrous building and tilt my head back until I have reached the roof. There I was. A stick-like, puny, first year college student looking at my home for the next four years. Yet I can't manage to take a second step. I stand there, staring at the giant brick block and lift my classic yellow rain jacket hood up over my impressively soft chocolate hair, protecting it from the harm of the rain. Four years of Ireland weather lays ahead of me. Four years of bunk beds in dorms. Four years of competing for the number one student. For years of awkward parties and tests. Four years until I'm out.

My life has been like a dark maze. I have absolutely no idea what's around the next corner. Each path I've taken has lead me to one of two things. Something fantastic that I'll enjoy and remember or something I wished never happened that I can forget. That's why I'm scared to take the next step because I don't know what will happen to me. However a few years ago I learned to give to give each step a chance, no matter how far back that step will take me. Being a senior this year a cartoon word has been shoved in my face a hundred times a week. That word is college. Just getting into college is a challenge. Thinking about all my test scores, GPA, applications is enough to give me a migraine. If just getting into a good college is this hard, I

Upon entering college, I thought that you had to have a majority of your life planned out. You had to have a career of interest, an intended major, and a solid plan for after college. Little did I know, you didn’t need your whole life agenda prearranged after high school graduation. A lot of people say that college is a time to explore and find yourself, and that was something I never fully grasped until I was enrolled at Western Washington University. Throughout my first year and a quarter, I’ve had the ability to take classes in many different fields of study ranging from; humanities, lab sciences, multicultural studies, and many more. Even though these array of different classes were taken for General University Requirements, it allowed

A family sitting around a dinner table, refugees being placed into healthy environments, a house full of family and friends, these are all images I conjure up when pondering my future. I wish to begin my journey to obtaining this fantasy by pursuing college. College represents an extremely important piece to my future and to get there, I must work extra hard. I see myself attending a University to attain a masters degree in global studies. To be able to get to that point I must reach out and ask for help, the reason for applying for scholarships. After college I would like to locate a job somewhere in the south, such as Tennessee. Once I've had a few years of settling into my career, I enjoy the idea of starting a family. Yes, this does involve

Once I leave to college to start my future I hope that I won't leave my father with the constant fear of worrying about the financial troubles that lie ahead of him. I want him to be able to relax and know that his daughter is well taken care of. This scholarship will help me accomplish my goals and watch out for my family.

For many, after graduating high school the next big step is college. I never asked myself why or if I even wanted to. Yet, since I was not yet ready to join the work force, and didn’t want to disappoint my parents, I simply followed the path that I was supposed to take. For a while I had no direction, but through the loss of my high school English teacher and my dream of making my family proud, I discovered that college was the place I wanted and needed to be.