I lived in a small town called Hamlin, and I went to Hamlin High School. Hamlin Is where many high school graduates don’t even think about going to college, the thought of that horrified me. I know that it will take hard work to get where I want in the end, but ever since the start of my junior year, I have started to focus on my grades. In high school, I went from A’s, B’s, and C’s to mostly all A’s. I have been planning on attending Texas Tech University in the fall of 2019. I want to double major in Political Science and History. I haven’t decided if I want to be a teacher or not, but one thing is for sure, I want to be the first in my family to graduate college, but the fact of the matter is my family just doesn’t have enough money to pay for all of my education. …show more content…
Hard work, service and determination will get me where I need! Leadership will also get me where I need. While in high school, I was in the service learning class at my high school we played bingo with the people at the nursing home, recycled, picked up trash around our high school. Also, we packed bags at the food bank in our town for children in low-income families at our elementary school, not only that but I have been with my youth group numerous times to pack food boxes, and I have also helped paint the slides at the elementary school. While in high school I was actively involved, I was in many extracurricular activities such as The Hamlin Marching Green Band, UIL Academics, Hamlin High Student Council, and The National Honor Society. Just the thought of not being able to complete college is terrifying because I don’t want to be like the rest of my family! To me, college isn’t something that most families can just pull the money out of their pocket to pay for. Out-of-State tuition and a Private University education are just too expensive, and the price keeps on
yet I also believe that being able to pay for college is crucial. Recently, I completed my first year of high school. I joined Key Club and Chess club. I also made the JV softball team and earned the second ranked spot on our chess team. My extracurricular activities have taught me in numerous ways. For example, I have learned more on how to deal with stressful events, while also helping others through theirs. I have also experienced the mutual joy and satisfaction of doing good for others. I decided to make high school worthwhile by taking extremely challenging course work, such as Advanced Placement and honors classes. I successfully finished freshman year, ranking first of 587, with an
I am a daughter of a father who migrated from Sierra Leone with nothing but a suitcase, opportunity and a high school degree. I am a daughter of a mother who struggled to finish high school and she never went back to school for her college degree. I am a sister of four brothers: 1 didn’t graduate from high school, 1 graduated from high school but never pursued a college degree, 1 enlisted in the army and went to college for chemistry and the last one struggled in college for 6 years because of his learning disability. I am Gonto Robinson, a senior, psychology and nursing major, and I will graduate a year and a half late in order to pursue two degrees. Staying in school and pursuing a higher education wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for my family and teachers in high school.
“If you want to continue your education, you should go to the local community college like everyone else here and be a teacher, daycare worker, or nurse. You really cannot afford anything else, and why would you want to leave home?” These are the general comments I heard when the time arrived for me to decide my future after high-school. As if to the echo their words, I was rejected at big name colleges and waitlisted at the out-of-state college I would eventually attend. With my mom being a single mother and I as a McDonald’s employee, it was also true that my family could not afford the price tag of an expensive college. Following the path expected of me would have been easier, but I wanted to see another side of the world and experience something new. This is why I left my hometown to attend a liberal arts college where I knew no one and would make a fresh start. However, striving to be an individual in a society imposing conformation and perfection has been the greatest obstacle I have had to overcome.
Neither of my parents went to college, my father works multiple jobs, and my mother suffers from MS, a degenerative neurological disease. Attending school at a university would have been impossible if it hadn’t been for one of my favorite high school teachers, who helped my raise my ACT score and taught me how to find and apply for scholarships. To quote the hit musical (and one of my personal favorites) Hamilton, I wrote my way out. I wrote over 30 scholarship essays and managed to earn enough money to finally get out of the tiny town I had grown up in. Because I have been afforded this wonderful college experience by people who believe in me and trust in my abilities to do well in school, I passionately squeeze every drop of experience out of each moment I spend here at K-State, whether that means staying up all night to study for an exam or eating four blueberry opal donuts at
Every high school senior knows the stress of getting into their dream school, the stress of not wasting the years of knowledge they have obtained, and the anxiety of awaiting a college response. That feeling is amplified when someone comes from a tough environment. My mother didn’t graduate high school, leaving at an early age to help support her family as the eldest sibling, and she came to the United States when she was 18, with little opportunities for her own life. She taught my siblings and I that living in the U.S., we could pursue our passions but it would be difficult because of our ethnic and socio-economic background. For me, it’s unbelievable how I transitioned from taking care of my siblings to working long hours and studying until
For as long as I can remember I have dreamed of being the first person in my family to go to college and receiving a degree. The older I got the more I realized it wasn’t just as simple as going to any college I wanted, there are many factors that come into play when making such a major decision. The biggest issue for me was the financial aspect, hearing horror stories of people leaving school with mountains of debt didn’t sound appealing to me and I knew I didn’t want that, so I set out to figure a way to get an education without being buried in debt.
So I’ve been told. I feel it requires so much more than that. Dedication, commitment, and sometimes a little motivation is very necessary. Seeing family struggles firsthand over the years has been enough motivation for me. If I sat around doing nothing, just letting college application deadlines roll on by I would feel nothing but utter disappointment later on. It would feel as though I‘ve been a big letdown to the entire family, who always have and always will expect great things from me. My commitment to gaining a college education is truly the greatest commitment I‘ve ever had. I’m now past the stage of “when I go off to college” or “when I grow up”. It feels funny to say but I’m pretty much grown up and will soon be preparing to go off to college. The thought of it all seems quite surreal, but I’m glad to be at the stage in my life where I can better myself and be all that I can be. Going to college is what makes this possible. Honestly, knowledge is a critical value to have in life. Some may feel ignorance is bliss but Martin Luther King, Jr., once said, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” I’d have to
Heather Bresch once stated "There is simply no substitutes for hard work when it comes to achieving success." During my senior year, I not only maintained a 4.4 GPA but was an officer in our schools National Honor Society. I played two varsity sports while working a full time job. Now that I am embarking on college, I look forward to a new set of challenges. My expectations for next fall is to be top of my class. I understand that this goal is more achievable in a high school setting, however, I am more than willing to work my hardest to obtain this goal. My overall desire is to make my parents proud as a first generation college student and study to help individuals in need. I am enrolled to attend Texas Sate University in the Fall, from there
I have always wanted to go to college and my parents would always tell me to “start saving now”, even when I was a little kid. As someone who has always wanted to go to higher education, but lacked the money, the concept of saving never really seemed outlandish or difficult to me. Of course, everyday life gets in the way of that; doctor visits, grocery shopping, and taking care of pets make saving for college a low priority. Now that I am heading off to college soon, I am really worried that I will be in a mountain of debt like many other students are. Money has been a touchy subject for my family for as long as I can remember and it would make sense to think that spending over $20,000 in a year is horrifying to my family and I. My parents already spend quite a bit to ensure that both my brother and I live comfortably, have nice clothes to wear, and good food to eat, but they also have to buy medications for all of us, pay for the care of our special needs pets, and pay for the care that my grandmother receives in the
I became more self-motivated than ever, and I was maintaining perfect grades with near perfect attendance by eighth grade. My classmates, though typically kind about it, could never truly understand the depth of my devotion to school. To my knowledge, none of them had grown up in the way I had, where every family decision was based entirely on money, where days were spent dreaming of a better future. As I began to consider college, I worried incessantly about the costs I would face and sometimes wondered if it was even a possibility. To this day, I am extremely thankful to my councilor for informing me that anyone can go to college, despite their circumstances. She explained scholarships, loans, and financial assistance to me, making my goals seem more obtainable than
Berfiely describe a sitation in which that you felt you or others were un tearted fairly
My decision to go to college never really seemed like a decision. My parents had always told me things about college starting with, “When you go to college” and “You need to get a degree.” They had ingrained in me that I needed to go to college if I wanted a good job. So, I have always known and assumed I would be attending college after high school. It seemed like the next logical step in my life and thought that it was expected of me. I did want to go to college and not because my parents wanted me to. I wanted to expand my knowledge and learn more than what my public school had to offer. The problem was that I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I felt pressured to make a decision on a major because everyone around me seemed to
From that day forward I made up in my mind that I was going to college! Not only was I going, I was determined to finish. Being that my brother didn’t finish high school, it seemed as if our family had a curse. Being the youngest, I felt it was up to me to break that curse. From elementary school to high school I thought about what colleges I wanted to attend, what I wanted to major in, pledging, and joining NAACP. As the years passed I noticed my mothers actions reflected how she felt about school. I attended Fort Lauderdale High school as a Pre-Law magnet student. I entered high school with a middle school mentally not
During my 8th grade year, my algebra 1 teacher asked me if I had thought about attending college. My answer at the time was very nonchalant: “I don't know, maybe.” But since then that question often crossed my mind, becoming “Why not attend college? What’s holding you back? Is it doubt about being capable enough?” Eventually, I told myself, “Yes, you can take on anything you set your mind to.” So I looked for the classes required for college and put all of my energy and resources toward academic achievement.
Throughout our life, we are often presented with various opportunities. Opportunities at love opportunities, at the big promotion, even educational opportunities. Those opportunities are often fraught with challenges. I endured many changes while in college. As a shy, quiet, and introverted person, asking for help was something that I didn’t like to do. My education started at an early age. I was fortunate enough that from the age of two until five, I attended a Head Start Program. I breezed through elementary school, junior high school, and high school. While in high school, I played basketball, softball, and was a member of the marching band. I never studied or even learned how to study. I graduated high school with a 4.0 and