St. Thomas: My First Choice For College Students

Besides graduating from college, being accepted into the Counseling program at NOVA Southeastern University was the greatest day of my life. I was on my way to a much greater success by working on my Master. Paying for college out of pocket was a struggle, but I understand that success comes with great sacrifices. However, I wouldn’t really call paying out of pocket for school a sacrifice, but rather an investment in my future and my family. My first semester went marvelous. I was motivated and enthusiastic about the courses. I must admit graduate school is much harder than I imagine, but I manage to make time for studying and ended making A’s in both of my classes, which I didn’t expect less than that. When the summer semester I arrived, I was as excited and motivated as my very first semester, aiming to make nothing less than an A grades. However, unexpectedly my world seemed to have turned upside down in a matter of time. My mother and I decided to take a week to go

As you know, I was one of your favorite students but I didn’t get to actually tell you my story. When my two sisters and I lost our mother to breast cancer, I was only seven years old. It seemed like immediately after her death my loving and grateful father remarried. I struggled with reality for years and I felt lost. By the time my twenty-first birthday came I was pregnant. I had little knowledge on anything. Honestly, I missed out on my mother’s reliance on God including her guidance. There were periods of hardship until I finally cleared my mind. I started to listen to my step-mother’s military ways and I took action. I started my education with my dreams in mind and enrolled at Parkland College.

My decision to enroll at Grand Canyon University was in August when I turned 25 and felt I was not living up to my potential. I am currently a receptionist and I know I am too smart to be wasting my creative drive answering phones and running other employee’s errands. To reach my goals, I need higher education. I researched many online schools, but none stuck out quite like GCU did. I kept putting it off until I received an email about a scholarship only offered in November and I decided right then and there, it was time to go back to school.

In August of 2015, I started the next chapter of my life at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma. I heard numerous personal testimonies of what college is like and how I will have loads of homework. From these stories and personal testimonies, I decided that college was going to be extremely scary and brutally difficult. As my senior year in high school began, I had no plans of where I was going to go to college and how I was going to pay for it either. As my senior year went along, everything concerning my future plans at college played out the right way. I was accepted into the Honors Program at Rogers State University and the program paid for my education. Reflecting back on the thoughts I had about the college experience

In February 2012, my junior year of high school, my mom succumbed to breast cancer. During her fight with breast cancer and after her passing, I made sacrifices on behalf on my family. I wasn’t involved in afterschool programs because I was cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and grocery shopping while helping my dad take care of my younger brother. Throughout my junior and senior years in high school, college was one of the last things on my mind. However my family and friends helped me realize that grades nor finances were holding me back from attending college but I was holding myself back.

I took one judicial court class and I knew that my end goal was to become a judge and so I begin looking at law schools, LSAT’s, and the law path I would take after I obtained my bachelors. I also discovered at this time I could graduate early, with a full course load my spring semester I set my graduation date for December 18th, 2015 at 2pm. It, of course, had to be during this time that my grandmother found out she has lung cancer and my mom has liver cancer. I am again faced with taking on the weight of my family and the weight of my school work that will decide my future. Being away at school made this go around of family illness harder to take care of, I could no longer drive everyone to the doctor’s office and be there after they got out of surgery. I was in the middle of giving a speech while my grandmother was having a lung removed; it took careful effort to stay focused in class and on my studies. However, in the mist of all this chaos, I achieved the Dean’s list twice, got great remarks for my Resident Assistant duties and events, and I again proved to myself that times of trial can bring out the best I have to

Evaluating my last 2 years in this college, I have recognized that there is no one to fault but myself for the predicament that I am now in. I fell behind in my classes, did not get help dealing with stress, and did not take accountability for my actions. Although, I was under stressful and unfortunate circumstances- some of which were life-changing, I realize that I should have reached out for help.

While obtaining my undergraduate degree at Arizona State University, I underwent multiple personal and academic hardships. My grandmother from Iran became very ill during my final years of high school, and my family worked tirelessly for three years to bring her to America for better healthcare and quality of life. After finally getting her to America, however, she passed away in our home from a stroke during my sophomore year of undergrad. During the recent recession, my family underwent significant financial turmoil. I proceeded to work 50-60 hours a week as a pharmacy technician to fund my education. After my grandmother’s death, I resigned from my position as a pharmacy tech to focus on my family while doing my best to maintain adequate

“I wasn’t accepted?” I wondered out aloud as I opened the letter from my dream school. I thought I had everything I needed to reach the goal that I had set years ago. As I normally do, I began overthinking the situation and immediately had many questions. “Will a different college accept me?”, “Did I not accomplish enough in high school?”, “Were my SAT scores not high enough for their standards?” Everything felt open ended and clearly there was no one to get the answers from. The feeling of frustration grew quickly as I tried to figure out where or what went wrong. I began questioning everything. I know that I worked just as hard as everyone else, but the results were short of my goal. One question was at the top of my mind, should top

My decision to return to school was a struggle, I was raising my three girls and working and worried about the affordability and most of all I was constantly told that I couldn’t attend college because I had a family to take care off or constantly told “put it off until next year” time and time again. I felt resentful, infuriated and guilty and all at the same time.

Initially I was terrified. I never thought I would go back to school. I did not even know the process to take to get back into school. For the next week or so Chelsea hounded me about college, the constant talk about the notion made me begin to consider it. A brief college search went under way until we stumbled upon Florida State College of Jacksonville. Noticing the multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville, Chelsea pointed out how flexible this school appeared to be, and it should not interfere with my job whatsoever. Already wanting to take my career to the next level, I decided to enroll in Florida State College of Jacksonville in hopes to eventually pursue a degree in

I graduated in 2012 from a small rural community before going on to the University of Kentucky with a full academic scholarship. I was full of excitement and wonder, believing I would do great things in a college environment. Unfortunately, only a week into the semester my stepfather passed away unexpectedly, leaving my mother home alone. Depressed and

Coming to one of the best schools in North Carolina seems like an easy decision, but in reality, it’s not. You leave friends behind that you thought were going to be around forever; however, I was not saddened because I believed they were true friends. The saddest part was the fact that I knew I was about to lose that sense of familiarity. I was about to be alone with people who cared nothing about me. This is when motivation is necessary. I not only used my motivation in an educational aspect, I used it to build myself into a healthier strong willed person. There will be so many times that you fall to the lowest parts of the abyss, but you have to be the one to gain the will power and determination to pull yourself out of that low point. Then, once you climb out of that abyss, you cannot stop at the surface; you have to find the nearest mountain and climb to the top. That is when you truly succeed. It’s not when you achieve your goal—it’s when you surpass what you did not think you could achieve.

Trying to work and help pay for funeral expenses, because my grandmother let the insurance lapse, was extremely difficult. I couldn’t take summer courses like I had planned. I was sure to use my grandfather as my motivation for the semester of Fall 2016, but everything hit me at once. Trying to be a big girl and stay busy, I ended up suffering from ER visits & panic attacks. I was given strong medication that kept me sedated. I was so determined, but I was rushing things to stay focused on school and ending up not doing so well.

Attending LMU was by no means easy as most of you reading this already know, it is hard, very time consuming, and mentally exhausting at times. My last year at LMU during my associates degree was the hardest time in my life. It was February 28th 2015 at 7:08pm, and I say this because it was one of the two days that brought me to my knees in my life. As I was studying with my studying group, these people whom are to this day some of my closest friends. I received a call from my mom, stating my dad came home from work and was pale, left arm pain and having a hard time walking. Even though I was not a nurse yet I knew this could be serious, playing symptoms through my mind as fast as possible I told her to take him to Holston Valley Medical Center. Holston Valley being a leading cardiac hospital in the area we live in was my thinking. My first reaction was I needed to be at home, so here I go calling my advisor Becky Arnold. Mrs. Arnold could've told me to go and I am sure she considered it, but that is not what she said. I was told you can go, but you know the rules if you miss two clinical days you won't graduate on time. I called my dad and of course was instructed to stay at school, it was more important than anything else. I called all that night to check on my dad with no answers.