The Role Of The Underdog

As a senior at Red Cloud High School, I’m a member of National Honor Society, captain of the cheer squad, lifeguard, swimming instructor, and part-time employee at the local grocery store. I’ve come to learn from a young age that money doesn’t grow on trees. When growing up, it was just my mother and I. While living on her single parent income, I learned money doesn’t grow on trees. My mother worked a minimum wage job, facing financial struggles at times. Her willpower drove her to get the job she has today. My mother married, and I have a little brother now. As his big sister, I always wanted to be someone he could look up to. At the age of fifteen I became a lifeguard at the community pool. The next year I took classes to be a certified Water Safety Instructor, so I could teach swimming lessons to local children. That same year I applied at the local grocery store, to have a job during the school year.

Getting an education is considered a blessing too many, in America many of us believe that everybody should get equality when it comes down to education, but is that really the case? I believe that education is something that many of us take advantage of, especially when you are a kid and you think your education is free and you dread waking up early in the morning for school. Though, when you grow older we are glad that we have received an education and we can contribute to new technology, or we have the opportunity to create a top selling novel, learn about the history of the world, or just knowing why the sky is blue. We all know, and if you don’t you

My mother worked four jobs at once to make financial ends meet, while always stressing the importance of education and financial independence to my brother and myself. My grandmother only achieved a second grade education due to the financial constraints on her family at a young age, but still in the end managed to make certain that of her children and grandchildren had what was needed to flourish and become successful, educated members of the community. The tenacity and history of these two women I still carry with me today. Their struggles have inspired to me to only want more from life, but also serve as a positive role model for the younger members of my community. I observed from other family members how an education can open a multitude of doors and opportunities. I want to make the biggest and most significant on my community and on my family as possible, and the only foreseeable path is to achieve a college education to gain the necessary skills, knowledge and connections needed to flourish and implement positive

I was determined to finish college even though I know that they couldn't support my studies that time. I volunteered to stay with my old maid aunt, whom I know she could help me achieve my dreams. I stayed with her throughout my college life. She was the school guidance counselor that time, so I was properly guided and taught how tough life can be. I graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Secondary Education major in Mathematics. When I finished college, I worked as a factory worker in Laguna to somehow support myself and help my parents in raising my siblings. I did self-review for the LET(Licensure Examination for Teachers) exam. With God’s grace, I passed the test on my first try. With 2 siblings in college, 3 siblings in high school, and the rest are primary students our income was never sufficient. That's why by the young age of 21, I went to Thailand to work as a teacher. I left home with determination to succeed. I was able to support my brothers and sisters. Two of my sisters have degrees in education and are now working as teachers here in Thailand, too. Three of my brothers have finished college and are now seafarers with degrees in Marine Transportation and Marine Engineering. My seventh sibling is also taking a degree in Marine Engineering and my last two siblings are still in high school. It was indeed a roller-coaster-ride for our family, but it is worth

A fire rose within to burn social economic barriers that imprisoned me from achieving an education. As a member of a low-income household, I continually witnessed my parents struggling to pay for utilities, rent, and groceries. Although we received government assistance, it never seemed to be enough. My father worked long hours at a dairy factory to provide for our family, but his addiction to alcohol took most of his income. My mother depended on government assistance due to her chronic asthma and arthritis. Not being able to rely on my parents for stability, my six older siblings were forced to drop out of high school to become providers of their own.

My granny was the only person in my family to have a college degree. I am the second because of her. From middle school on we talked about college, where I would go, and what I would do when I grew up. Parents encourage careers that lead to the greatest profit, mine were no different. My granny never encouraged me to choose a career based on the profit. She only encouraged me to choose what made me happy. Life had it’s own plan and some things changed how my educational journey would pan out, but that didn’t make it impossible. Because of her I knew anything was

Even as my older brothers were failing their classes and disrespecting my parents, I continued to set and achieve my goals while still being a pillar for my family. Even though I didn't have the same opportunities as my peers, I still enrolled and excelled at some of the hardest courses throughout middle school and high school. Even though we have introduced and gave home to two younger boys to our family and have shifted the balance once again, I still managed to maintain an aire of normalcy and maintain my grades. Even with three older siblings who have barely passed high school and one who didn’t finish at all, I am still going to be the first go to college and I do have lofty ambitions which I do plan to accomplish. Even though nobody could probably fathom or understand what I’ve been through, what I’ve seen, what I’ve felt, I am determined to not let that hinder me, and to make a future for myself without

Never thinking that she would own up to much but always hoping that she would accomplish more than hoped Larissa Brown worked hard all throughout high school then held down a steady full-time job while going to college. Larissa didn’t know what she wanted to do for a living she simply stated “I was unsure of what career path I wanted to take my last year of college.” She continued to say, “I was still debating whether or not I wanted to go the medical route or be a teacher….my [chemistry] professor was very passionate about the material she was teaching. Her passion and determination inspired me to want to do the same thing for younger generations.” My sister had only two specific goals in her life after college and those were to move out of our mom’s house and get a good paying job teaching kids science. So working for that career she gained a lot of responsibility which “played a great role in my coming of age process. She went on to say, “I gained the most responsibility my last year of college when I was working 40 hours a week managing two yogurt shops and taking 16 credit hours at ASU. All of these new responsibilities did help me become a responsible adult and have the ability to live on my own. I was officially ready to be responsible for me, 100%.” Larissa grew the most during her college years and she said that high school was when she developed her own persona and college was when she developed

After living in three different foster care homes in the middle of South Dallas, I was adopted into a low income household. My adopted parents drilled in me the importance of having a college degree, father a middle school drop-out and mother just a high school graduate. I became the first-generation college graduate in 2014, just to show my siblings that your background does not predict the level of education you can receive. My mother taught me that repetitive style of learning in a simplified form was best in my early ages of school. Growing up with a learning disability, I was behind other students that was five years old; since I did not start talking until I was five. My parents were patience with me when it came to my education, making

Mariano Azuela's The Underdogs tells the story of a dauntless Indian farmer who almost unintentionally rises to a generalship in Pancho Villa's rebel army during the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Though the events that occur throughout the book are not actual events that took place during the revolution, Azuela is able to paint a very realistic picture of the revolution and leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of the reader as one witnesses the failure of the rebels. This novel is a great teaching tool that reveals truths of the revolution that would not have been given justice through the traditional historical scholarship. Through fictional characters, Azuela's The Underdogs

At a young age, I learned to look after myself and my brother while my mother painstakingly worked day and night. Installed into my heart was the fear of failing expectations, so I attempted to master every aspect of life. Balancing a student life with my almost parental

My father found himself out of a job and accepted a new position requiring him to live out of state. My older brothers were off to college, and my mother went to work to help support our family. The job she took involved odd hours, including late nights, early mornings and some overnight shifts. Of course now I realize how lucky we all were that my parents found good jobs, even if there were some complications involved. At the time, the child that I was could only wonder “what about me?”

My love for being a positive role model, incited my resolve will to have an honorable legacy. This kind of dower drives me to have faith in goals that I can control. Always trying my best when I am at home working in the family childcare center, once again gives me a successor role. I would also like to be an example of transcendence in my family. Also show that taking a year or two off of school will not always blind your decision to better your education. I personally, was unable to start my education and commit to my overall goal due to my father not lending a helping hand. I needed financial aid to pay for my education and didn’t know where to go to get set up, or who to ask for help. Without his help and tax information I was unable to

I grew up near Miami, Florida, as an only child, for quite some while, in a single-parent home, with only one source of income. In addition, as I watched my mom struggle to provide for me, I assimilated the idea that through education i would exit the cycle of poverty and that i’d be the first person in my family to go to a university to my schema for life.

Raised by a single-mother in a small farming town south of Detroit called Monroe, I learned my values and character traits vicariously through my mother, father and brother. My father was not in my life while growing up due to his battle with alcoholism, but to me that illustrated addiction’s ability to ruin one’s life. Raised solely by my mother, she demonstrated her mantra that anything is accomplishable if you work hard and never give up. Becoming the first female Cub-Master-of-the-Year for our Boy Scout Troop, teaching us to race dirt bikes and play every sport at the Catholic grade school we attended were only some of my mother’s accomplishments that helped shape my perspective. While most of my family attended a Catholic High School, I chose to be part the pilot class of a pre-medicine focused middle college. Beginning to dual-enroll as a sophomore in high school, I was soon recommended to become a college level writing fellow. Over the next three years, I expanded my skills to tutor over 10 courses, lead a supplemental instruction course, and tutor for students taking the GED and ACT, while attending my courses and working as a deli server, bag boy, and ice cream server. Through working to support myself, I discovered that I am most successful when I am productively busy, which I apply to my jobs, school work, and research. Furthermore, working towards my goal of learning as much as possible, I became an adept learner and spent my time most efficiently. This allowed