Reflection Paper

When I first decided to expand my education, it had been so long since I had been to school, and I was very hesitant. I talked at length about my decision with my husband and with his encouragement, decided to enroll but still was not quite sure which degree program to enroll in. I knew that this was something that I had always wanted to do since I obtained my Associates Degree in Nursing, but I did not have the courage, nor did I want to give up the time with my family and children. I second guessed my abilities and my knowledge because it had been so long since I had been in college. Now that my children are about to graduate high school and

When I was a young child I was shy, socially awkward, and horribly insecure, so when I realized popularity would never be my strength I decided to put all my efforts into what I was good at: school. As early as kindergarten I was identified as an advanced student and teachers quickly highlighted my efforts as exemplary to the other students. I fed off the high praise. The better I performed academically, the greater the approval I received, the better I felt about myself, so as a naive child I determined my self-worth and academic performance were inherently linked. As long as I was successful in academics, I would be a successful person. For years, I believed that, putting school beyond all else.

Throughout the course of this semester, I have continuously grown as a writer. Prior to taking this course, I had little experience or knowledge when it came to writing. I used to struggle with forming my thoughts into writing, let alone a paper. I was never confident with what I wrote. My writing had no greater purpose other than the assignment. My writing process included: writing my paper, proofreading it, and turning it in. Once the paper left my hands, it also left my mind. Throughout this course we worked with others, visited the writing lab, wrote critiques, and we were able to revise our papers. I believe that all of this is has caused me to grow greatly as a writer.

When I entered into high school nearly four years ago, my motivations were purely academic. I was there to get the best education I could, and to maintain a standard of scholastic excellence. Of course, the only way I knew to measure my own “success” was through concrete and quantitative means; this led me to spend my Freshman and Sophomore years fawning over test scores, GPA points, and even fractions of percents in my grades. I know now that this strategy, while effective in getting me what I wanted (or at least thought I wanted), actually left me missing a huge part of what it means to be truly educated.

Growing up, I’d always been expected to do well in school. Which isn’t out of the ordinary, every parent wants their child to be successful and have a beneficial career. So, since good grades were what my parents expected that’s what I got. All throughout elementary, I strived to do my absolute best in every subject. At my sixth grade graduation I was awarded the Presidential Award for Academic Achievement, in my junior high years I did well as well. My eighth-grade year I achieved my goal of obtaining a 4.0 G.p.a. The first year of high school was nerve-racking but I still managed to keep my grades up. However, Sophomore year was definitely a bump in the road for me. In all my ten years of being in school (including head start and kindergarten)

In elementary school, I was a very good student, but that did not stop my classmates and even my teachers from belittling me. I loved learning: from the mysteries of science to the wonders of the gods of Olympus. At the end of one school year,

In 7th grade I was unfocused, unprepared, and childish. I didn’t know my grades would have an impact on my high school career. I thought everything that happened in middle school stayed in middle school so I focused on useless drama. I used to blame my C’s on bad teaching but now I realize I have no one else to blame but myself. I was the one coming to school unprepared to work not my teachers. Now I know all of my grades count. I have blossomed into a person I am proud of. This year I’ve made it my mission to actually pass not just get by. I now sit promptly in the front of the class and take notes. I focus on test scores and grades not drama that’s not even going to matter next week. I now know what’s important and what I should just leave

This academic growth came at a cost. I became very cocky and arrogant. I wasn’t labeled as a teacher pet, but rather a “bragger”. People hate braggers more than teacher pets. To shield myself from being bullied or hated, I disassociate from everyone. My popular friends who had average grades all seem to despise me.Talkative Weimin was gone. I was alone again.

Ever since I was young, I had a strong will to learn. I was curious even at a young age, and made it my goal to do the best as I could in every element of my life. From my academics to my extracarriculars, I strove to do my best. I came in the top percentage of my classes every year, and gained good testing scores. My grades were all As, and below that made me feel devistated. At one point, a B on a report card

Also, I didn’t try my best like I would usually do. Like I know deep down inside me I am a A and B student. So for me to tolerate C’s, D’s, and F’s lowkey mad at myself. But, the funny thing Is that I didn't even try or honestly didn’t care until it was to late. Like instead of doing my homework, I would Talk to friends who honestly don’t care about me. Also, not going to sleep until 2am played a major part of

During my time spent in elementary, I was filled with hope. Hope that one day I would grow up and go to college. Till this day this dream hasn’t changed, but my grades have though. Constantly, I was on A honor roll. My parents congratulated me for having high grades, and being smarter than most people in my

As a child, I always loved school. Sometimes I struggled with the work but I managed to pull through. As I got older and attended middle school I struggled the most with my classwork, I didn’t think I was going to make it because of my grades, I didn’t think any high school would take me. Whenever I step foot into the classroom I always thought to myself, I’m never going to understand the work I’m never going to learn this, but then I realized grades don’t define who I am. I’m more than a letter grade. 8th grade graduation arrived, I was the only one who didn’t receive an award. During the ceremony I felt ashamed, I felt like I could’ve done better and I know I could have. I felt like I let my parents down. But that ceremony opened my eyes, I knew I was smart and I knew I had the potential to learn and expand my education. Freshman year of high school came. I was nervous, I thought I was going to fall back into the same place I was in. I proved myself wrong. All year I studied hard, up long nights, I received tutoring my freshmen year, and I maintained a 3.5 GPA throughout my high school career.

Many of my peers know me to be a sedulous person. I have always had to work harder than everyone else to get decent grades and even then I still did not do as well as most of my peers. However, my junior year of high school my hard work paid off. I was determined to excel, and I wanted to prove to everyone I had potential. I put 110% into all of my assignments and I used other resources to get ahead of my classmates. Conversely, there were nights where I felt like I would never be as intelligent as my friends but I continued to work diligently. There were many days where I stayed after school to work with the teachers in my school’s learning center. In addition, I started to go to a tutor for a few of my classes to get extra help. I did everything

Being surrounded by people that were so much better than me and had better grades than I did took a toll on me. It made me feel like my work wasn’t good enough and I always felt like I was doing something wrong. I was judging my work based on everybody else’s, everything I did was just

When I got to high school, my grades started to climb. I was trying. In middle school, learning was hard for me, so instead of trying, I chose to give up. When faced with failure in class, I caved and quit without a second thought. When I encountered failure yet again with my grades, this time being worse, it made me feel like nothing, so I decided to conquer it and become something. Feeling ashamed of myself for being a poor student has brought me to improve myself. At first I wanted to improve my grades so I didn’t look dumb, but now I was doing it for me and my future. If my friends didn’t make an effort to receive good grades in school, I wouldn’t be the same student I am today. They helped change me for the better, and they don’t even