Unionville Student Motivation Report

I think I speak for many people when I say high school is a critical point in one’s life. Coming into high school, things seemed to be tightly-knitted between my peers and I; those of us who had just

Attending a Historically Black College and University is something I have never imagined, by reason of living in a world where competition is a standard. Growing up during my childlike years I have attended schools where instructors would not take the time to avail you because they are brought under the impression that everyone is on that same level of knowledge. All my life I was stationed in an educational environment where the majority of students were predominantly white. Therefore, making an effort to be driven has guided me where I am today since contention was at an all-time high. At first, I wanted to attend a predominantly white institution as I formulated my college choice. I have always had to compete against everybody, and I knew that my success would derive from my emulation. Virginia Union University was a college I decided on instead because I sought to be in an environment surrounded by people, who are uplifting and exhilarating,

My high school years, unlike the past years of steady achievements, felt much more like a sine graph with ups and downs. To begin with, I conquered my freshman year in a breeze. My easily achievable classes not only earned myself confidence, but also admiration and respect from my classmates and teachers. As a result, I comfortably acclimated myself to the status of a star student.

Growing up in a small town, with the knowledge of a small town community can have an effect on you. Having the respect and dignity to know between right and wrong adds and interesting aspects into a life style. Growing up in a small community makes you realize what it is like to have small class rooms and having your teachers know you by a first name basis.Knowing everyone on each sport team because “everyone knows everyone in a small town”. I had the ability to be able to ride my bike down the street without a real question of my safety where I grew up in Worland Wyoming. I have different academic interests than others may, I enjoy different extracurricular activities than other students, and life experiences that are unlike anyone else that have shaped me into who I am today.

High School culture has changed since the “old days.” Students from all grades are not only striving for academic success, but also participate in many extracurricular activities as outside forces continue to impact social life. With this comes the typical struggles of students figuring out who they are, and what kind of person they want to become as college becomes a daunting factor.

If it was not for making a best friend at All State Chorus who went to a private high school, then I would not be attending Franklin & Marshall College. I attended a high school with an International Baccalaureate program, and 45 out of 300 in a class were in this program. The majority of the students who were not in the program either dropped out of high school, did not go to college, or took up an associate's degree in a community college. Many of the students in the IB program stayed in-state, and I almost did the same. At the time, College Park or UMBC seemed like the only options as other schools were rarely advertised.

Walking into school on my first day of high school, I felt out of place. My face covered in acne, my teeth covered in braces, and the callicks in my hair stuck up through the abnormally thick layer of hair gel that coated them. My middle school social anxiety still ruled over me as I could barely speak with any member of the opposite sex. Yet, I still had an odd confidence about me. I had always been one of the best students in my class, even without ever studying for a test. I viewed high school as a slight uptick from the curriculum I had easily passed in middle school. I was wrong. High school exists as a microcosm of society, in which I originally failed to acclimate myself to the challenges posed to me in a setting of increased

I have discovered that living off-campus is harder than I thought, especially where I live. To go to an event, I have to drive twenty minutes both ways, which makes it harder to get motivated. It is also harder to make friends. I have met a lot of people, but the person I hang out with the most from SCAD also lives at my apartment complex. When it comes to the campus and classes, I have found that you don’t get to really experience SCAD until sophomore year. This is because freshmen year you take all of the foundation classes that get you prepared for your major, These classes are mainly at three buildings that are for foundations only and happen to also be buildings that I didn’t get shown when touring. However, next year I will take my major classes at the ones I did see on my tour. I was expecting all of the students to be phenomenal at everything art related, but in reality everyone is good at something, but not everything. Different students will excel in different projects and classes, but for the most part I have never felt like I was the worst in the class. I also found that the “art students are bad at math (or any of the generals) stereotype has truth and lie behind it. It is true that some are bad, but there are also students who are really smart when it comes to history, math, english,

“Northside Achievement Zone” someone replied when I asked, “What does NAZ stand for?” from that very moment I knew I wanted to learn more about this organization. After collaborating with NAZ, and learning about the services they provide to a community that I’m a part of, I then knew I wanted to be part of the organization. I believe that my passion not only for youth work but my passion to impact my community positively is what motivates me to become apart of the Northside Achievement Zone and push scholars to succeed.

Things was completely different but the same. The work was harder and different from the work I had in middle school even the teachers I had was also different as well. My transition going into high school was different. It happened to be a different type of scenery and I didn’t expect for that to happen to me at that time. Being a freshman opened up a whole different world for me that I wasn’t really ready for. Going into highschool, I had friends I thought I would be friends with for my entire life. As soon as I got to high school things started to change. On top of the friends I had I also made new friends as well. When I was a freshman I had to look up to the upperclassmen to guide me and to lead me by example. When I was a freshman, it meant I had to be on my P’s and Q’s. I felt a lot of pressure when I was a freshman especially from teachers. Fitting in while I was a freshman wasn’t a good start for me because I wasn’t really involved into any school activities or

is past October, I had the chance to complete my service work while working alongside with other students from Cabrini, the Villanova community and other volunteers within the local community at the 29th Villanova Special Olympics. The reason why I have selected to do my service work at the Special Olympics because ever since I was in high school, I’ve always loved showing my support for both children and adults with intellectual disabilities because despite our difference there is no reason that everyone deserves their time in the spotlight. Even if that means me providing their help by providing water as runners past the rest stops to cheering on the sidelines on the soccer field. I love knowing that the end of each event that I volunteer

As a student going into my first year of high school, it seemed like I got a lot more freedom but that also came along with a lot of responsibility. I was always given a lot of leeway and trust by my parents until I did something wrong. Being a freshman meant spending many hours studying to get good grades that I was expected to get, because I didn’t really believe that grades were as important as I should have thought. But my parents continued to push me to get exceptional grades. Freshman year I always wanted to go out with my friends and have fun,

I’m applying for the FOTA Summer Education Grant so that I may use this grant to pay towards the tuition of $1850 for the California State Summer School of the Arts this summer.

As I went through my first four classes my mind drifted away from me. I was stuck in quicksand of envy towards my friends. They had friends for parents who didn’t hold them back from being who they were. No curfews, no chores, no schedules. They both were out of the closet about their sexuality and didn’t have a care in the world about how people perceived them. I was throwing a tantrum like a child in my mind that my life was nothing like

High school was an easy transaction. I felt like I had the education and maturity level of a young adult. I knew I could handle all of the work and stress that was going to be dealt out in my classes. I noticed that high school was a lot like middle school and that I could handle the schedule. I did not really have any close personal relationships with any of my teachers like I had had in the past at my other schools. I only really liked two of my teachers out of the four years I was at school. Both of them were my math teachers for my junior and senior year. The last two years of math I learned so much that now I enjoy doing math because I actually understand it. The only other teacher that made an impression on me was my junior year English teacher. She was the only English teacher I had that actually taught me how to write and read great books. She took the time out to work with me individually. She gave me the tools I needed to write papers. High