Success : The Journey To Success In My Life

Neither of my parents attended college nor did they finish high school. My family is a one-person income family. I had to get a job to help pay for my expenses because my parents cannot afford to pay for everything. I use the money I earn to pay for my gas, my phone bill, and my other living expenses. Even when my parents can not afford to pay for something my younger siblings want, I pay for it. My parents will not even be able to help pay for my college. The reason for them not being able to pay for my college is because they have two children going to college this year.

I can’t help but think on the definition of success by Maya Angelou, for her “success is liking yourself, liking what you do and liking how you do it”. I would like to encourage everyone here to continue to be trailblazers and overcomers in spite of the challenges that may come. You may encounter many defeats but you must not remain defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter those defeats so that you know who you are, how you can

I was born and raised most of my childhood in Colombia with a big family. My grandmother had fifteen kids and my mom was the youngest one of them all. She was also the only one that was able to go to college; my uncles didn’t even finish high school. Because my mother was the only one that went to college I was expected to go to college, not only from my mom, but also my family was expecting me to.

For my Personal Success Project, I’m currently bouncing around the possibilities of either a poem or piece of artwork. I’m very interested in both reading and writing poetry so I think that would be the simplest choice. Furthermore, I find the idea of learning and expressing that knowledge through other outlets besides worksheets most satisfying. I also love art and would love to be able to utilize that creative side of myself. If I were to create an art piece it would most likely be a painting representing the task at hand in an abstract way. Ultimately my decision will come down to the amount of effort I wish to express on the project. Therefore, if I plan accordingly and don’t put it off I should be able to execute either perfectly.

“You can work at McDonald’s for the rest of your life and live at home, but you will pay your own bills. Do you want that?” Throughout my entire life, my mother would never stop repeating this and it has stuck with me ever since. My mother was unable to achieve her academic dreams, but she assured that the mistakes made by her parents would not be repeated again with her children. The entirety of my motivations and ambitions set forth through my education have been influenced by my family’s inability to receive and sustain an academic mindset. I learned through my interview with my mother that the key factors that influenced my direct relationship with education came from my grandparents lack of motivational support and my own inherent

Success is the reason why we wake up in the morning, it is the reason we want to work towards our goals everyday. Most people don’t know what success means to themselves because there is no definition of success. Only you know what is important to yourself. Values change and so do your goals meaning that the meaning of success changes every day. Success is measured in many ways. By staying motivated and focused, it helps us feel some type of drive to reach our idea of success. The feeling of excitement helps us constantly feel like we are becoming more and more successful because we are getting positively reinforced by our work which keeps us working towards our goals. This causes habit to always do the best we can to our abilities to be the

I was raised in a single parent home with four children. So college wasn’t an option after I graduated high school. I was the oldest. So I was essentially my sibling’s mother as well. This put a strain on my education in high school, as well as stopping me from going to college. I had actually always dreamed of becoming a doctor. But I knew I lacked the grades, and funds to do so.

Growing up, college was never a topic of discussion. I was raised by a single mother who had me when she was still in high school and my sibling on her twenty-third birthday. I was only ever told, “Graduate from high school, child-free, and get a job. You don’t need college and I can’t afford to send you anywhere.” Years later, I was told by another family member that I was my mother’s dream killer; being pregnant with me caused her to lose the scholarship she’d earned and prevented her from attending the school of her dreams. My mom worked hard to provide for myself and my sister and has had a long, successful career with a high salary. I believe this to be partially because she felt that she had to give us a good childhood.

I come from a middle to low class family. My mother raised my siblings and I by herself because my father died in a car accident when I was two years old. Years later my mom met my sister’s dad, things didn’t work out. She then met my brother’s dad, but he got deported and she moved on. Finally, she met a guy and had my baby brother and got married. I am the second oldest of my four siblings and the second to go to college. Seeing my mother work so hard in a factory job making mediocre money for a family of six motivated me. My mother got pregnant with my older brother when she was 17. She decided to drop out of school because she didn’t want to be judged by the other students. She always said that education is important, and we need to go to college, so we can have a better life. Gudmunson stated (2011) “Quality family relationships have been characterized by warmth, trust, mutual reciprocity”, I knew I wanted to go to college and my family wanted it for me too. I simply found it impossible because I couldn’t ask my mom for help or anyone in my family because they didn’t go to college. Going to college was just a dream and unrealistic in my life. Socialization in my family was occurring but unfortunately cheering me on didn’t help me figure out what to do. My family always emphasized the importance of school. My family didn’t get the opportunity to get an education and made it crucial for us to not take the opportunities we have for granted.

Throughout high school my family always supported me and encouraged me to do my best, but never pushed me to strive for a college education. I knew I wanted to go to college, but I was uncertain and scared of the process. As a junior I applied to Chicago Scholars whose mission it was to help minorities and

I grew up in poverty, and I refuse to go through it again. Education is the only way to my dreams, and I'm willing to use all my strengths to get there, no matter the effort it requires. My mother is my motivation and my dominant support; she supports my schooling and encourages me to exceed expectations. For example, one of my weaknesses is my learning disability: I was diagnosed with ADHD in elementary school, and I started taking medication to control it. My mother, seeing my potential, later encouraged me to wean off of the medication, use other strategies to deal with my condition, and now I’ve learned to cope with my learning disorder. Although it is harder for me to concentrate than it is for my classmates, I took up the challenge and have proved to myself and my teachers that I can do just as well as anyone else.

Education is the ultimate key to empowerment within oneself and is the path towards a successful life. Throughout my life, knowledge has always been rested between the pages of books. Reading was my ultimate escape from the realities of life. My parents immigrated from Cali, Colombia to Queens, New York when I was only three years old. My education in New York is what deeply rooted my love for schooling. My parents instilled within me a set of beliefs that included the importance of education and literature. In recent times, literacy rates in Colombia are on the rise after multiple campaigns geared towards improving the amount of resources available to schools for teaching reading. Due to my parents growing up in Colombia, my parents dealt with these unfortunate circumstances. Nonetheless, my parents taught themselves how to read and and influenced my life tremendously through their actions. In Colombia, education is not enforced and there is no worth placed on the importance of learning. Whereas in the United States, education is of the utmost importance and resources are readily available for those who wish to further their education.

The era of the 21st century brings many changes in the lifestyle. Immense range of new and innovative ways of living take part in everyday operations, which lead to increased expectations and experiences from the people, especially in hospitality sector. It is important for the companies to adopt the modernizations in order to stay ahead in the business. Today people seek for luxury, high value and comfort. If these needs are not met, the consumers will loose the interest in spending time and money for the organization and opt for an alternative, thus the service of a competitor. As people travel more not only for the business, but also for vacation purposes, for the

My parents grew up had some social class differences in their childhood. My mother’s family grew up on the verge of poverty. There were five kids when my mom was growing up in a three bedroom, one bath home, which was the original homestead from the 1890s. The only heat source they had was a wood burning stove. My grandfather farmed for a living, and all of his children were expected to help around the house. Their gender roles were pretty traditional. My grandfather worked to provide for his family, while my grandmother raised five children. Since my mother was the oldest, and only girl, she quickly learned responsibility, and the value of hard work. She often told me that her goal in life was to give us, her children, a better quality of life than she had. This determination led her to a bachelor’s, and eventually a master’s degree from Stephen F. Austin. Her mentality that pushed her through was the idea of getting a degree would allow her to earn enough money to provide for her family in ways she never had when she was little.

The children slowly board the nostalgic buses and drove to the fields. She waves farewell, and once more glances at each of the children, knowing that one day she will never see them again. She hopes that each and every one of them becomes successful in life. A successful life they were not given because of poverty, language barrier, education, care, health, and a need of a second mother. She packed them the tools of life, education, emotional help, food, and love. This mother is Corrien Mateo, a graduate of Illinois State University, and a proud advocate for her students.