We Don 't Grow When Things Are Easy

A few years had past since my family had become a statistic, when my sister and brother left home on their way to their own goals in life. This new change produced even a greater effect on me than did the departure of my father. Now came the time where I decided if no one else had to stay in the family, neither did I. I took this opportunity to become closer to my friends and their families hoping to become more welcome there than I did at home. It was not long after my constant deviation from what was left of my family that my mother decided she was going to keep me out of the house for extended periods of time. Now the time had come for me to really find my path in life.

Growing up I didn't have a lot of time to read, I did not grow up in a stable environment for children to thrive. When I was in the third grade my life would take a drastic turn into a downward direction. My mother whom I loved so much changed drastically, started locking us out of the house. Doing any type of homework was impossible to accomplish when you are stranded outside. Later that year my parents got a divorce. There was constant turmoil; my mother was now living with a man that would later become my stepfather. Their relationship was very toxic; at first my stepfather seemed charming, we traveled to places we have never been to before. After a couple of years, things changed, they couldn't manage their finances and we were constantly

My mother became depressed, my father became disabled, and my brother was skipping school. I continued going to school from eight until four, which was a big relief in my life because it made me forget the hard times. My grades slowly began to decline, as well as my motivation. I gave up many opportunities such as attending New York’s number one specialized high school. I recognized my mistakes and was able to identify my failure. School was not the only place where I lacked interest in because I also slowly started to push my friends away. As a young teenager, I did not think I would ever make it to college. I became frustrated at my parents because my life was ruined and it was all their fault.

It felt as if I was surrounded by freezing water while on the inside being burned alive. I let my grades drop I did not care, all that mattered was being an adult and supporting my sister. My teachers did not care, I was invisible. Easy to lose in the crowd.The kids in my grade avoided me because I was “ abnormal” because I did not speak. The people who were supposed to be my guardians did not have enough money to feed both my sister and me. So I did not eat except for what was left over from dinner. I became pale and skinny. I looked like sick all the time. The only time I ate good was every other weekend when I went to my great aunt and uncle's house. This was the very best that life was going to get from me. I believed I was going to end up like my mother a drug user, and have no life. A few years later, my sister and I moved in with my aunt and uncle. They took my sister and me and gave us a great home. We both started to do a lot better. I got healthy and not so sickly looking, I started to talk a lot more, and I got my grades up. Unfortunately, my little sister did not like the fact that she wasn't entitled to anything anymore, and moved back in with our old Guardians.

Since I was a child, my mother would tell me to try my hardest in school. She told me thought thing because as a child, she never had the opportunity to go to school. She only completed up to 4th grade, because her family couldn’t pay the tuition to attend. She would had to wake up at 4oclock in the morning to sell food, to make a living for her family. We were fortunate enough to be able to come to the United States in 2005, but tragedy happens a year later. She received a phone call, saying that my father was in a serious car accident, on the night of Christmas Eve, he passed away. Since then my mother, became a single mother having to support two children by herself in a new country. There

"I ran away from home when I was sixteen. And then I came back. But there was never anything to come back to to. Everything was already destroyed. My parents didn't want to have anything to do with me because I ran off with an older guy. I was pregnant. The baby did not survive and the guy I was with, left me alone for a younger girl. I had no choice and I was forced to come back home and finish high school. My father made it clear to me that if I didn't attend a university or college, I would be kicked out and put on the streets. So I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the sad aspects of my adolescent

I was born in slavery in Diamond, Missouri, during the Civil War. People don’t exactly know the year and the date of birth of me. The people that raise me and my brother, James, were Moses and Susan Carver. Susan Carver taught me and my brother to read and write because the local school didn’t enappect me and my brother to school. I escaped my parents house to go to school that was 10 miles away. I attended a series of schools before receiving my diploma at Minneapolis High School in Minneapolis, Kansas. After finishing high school, I was accepted

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

I always thought I’d be the perfect girl growing up. Always taking home Honor Rolls, as well as Certificates, but sometimes mistakes happen and can make your whole world change upside down. You never think things can happen to you, until it happens and you’re left there with nothing but tears streaming from your face and being scared to tell anyone. Thinking that maybe it is better if your life was taken from you. The year 2016 was a hard year for me. I think about my mistakes from time to time and often wonder what would have happened if that had not have happened to me. I am a Haitian-American born in Naples, Florida. Seeing the people around me in my ethnicity group, not really thinking they are able to make it into college due to financial

During my junior year, my grandmother, who raised me, passed. This news devastated me to the core because she had just gotten orthopedic surgery and was doing a lot better. I fell into a major depression. I bothered very little about my environment, even my academics. This caused me to miss major assignments in my advanced placement classes, bringing my cumulative GPA to a 2.75. It wasn’t until my senior year when I ultimately realized how childish I was being. I learned my future does depend on any person. Even though my was very instrumental in my life, she is gone now, and I must make something better of myself so I could live a comfortable life and make her

My entire life, my parents have always wanted what was best for me. My dad, an immigrant who moved here at the age of seven, speaking not one word of english. He lost his father at the age of five, and his mother at the age of sixteen. Therefore, he practically raised himself. He graduated high school from Honokaa High & Intermediate School, but had no desire or intention to further his education. My mom, born and raised in Puna, had parents who were separated for majority of her life. A father who wasn’t very involved in her life, and a mother who chose drugs over everything else in her life, especially her five kids, my mother being the second youngest. My father, for all of my life, has worked six days out of the week, to provide everything I could ever possibly need; along with my mother, who has, at times worked multiple jobs at once, to support me, in

Born in Haiti to Mr. & Mrs. Lormeus Frederick, my lifestyle as a child was very modest, humble, and supportive. We weren’t rich, nor were we poor; my parents provided food on the table every day and enrolled us in the most prestigious school in the country. Our home was very peaceful and fun. My father had five children from previous relationships while my mother only had two. Being the youngest child, I was always well protected and spoiled by everyone; it got annoying sometimes always being babied as if I couldn’t do things on my own. My siblings and I got along very well, of course we had our misunderstandings at times, but we always stuck together and had each other’s back. I sometimes wish I could go back to that life again.

My time in High School was made difficult from the constant strife and conflict between my parents. This made my home an unstable environment not fitted for learning or growing as an individual. As I got older and closer to graduating High-School, I began to find my own voice with the help of my mentor Rahn Fleming, which occurred at the end of my junior year. As a result, I came in control of my life and the constant feuding started to die down. No longer did I have to worry about the next scheduled court date, or the next time I would come home wondering what may await. I felt like I was always walking on broken glass for the longest of time throughout my life, until I began to voice myself and what I wanted. My parents came to realize this

As a family of six I was raised on section 8, barely surviving on welfare. I shared beds and clothes with dreams of making it out of poverty, but with little guidance I was at risk of continuing this lifestyle for generations to come. My mother was always at work and my father was absent, which made me skip childhood and mature in order to become independent. I was never that child who had their mother sitting at the table telling them how to do their homework, but rather a child who stood on the table all day and night trying to teach myself. I knew from an early age that I wanted more in life than used clothes and a bike as transportation. I had the dream of attending college and becoming a doctor in philosophy.

My mother relocated to Birmingham, Alabama my first year of high school seeking a better life. Apparently, my father started to miss having his family because he went from being a “ghost father” to a “pop up father”. My father was here one moment and gone the next; he was constantly in and out of our lives. Initially, my classmates scrutinized and ridiculed me for having a fatherless household. I felt destitute and powerless. I needed to find someone or something to influence me in a better way by helping me change from a boy into a man. I became a recluse, never interacting with anyone.