As humans, we are constantly learning, especially from a young age. Education gives us a different perspective on life and knowledge of the outside world. Schooling is not only important to the eye of knowledge but also, the key to social interactions. People are given many incredible opportunities to help self-grow and further our mental ability to a better lifestyle. College opens the minds of young ones and helps shape one’s future since it provides knowledge and skill to expand education and job ability. Life comes with many struggles, by pushing through you can receive the reward after all the hard work.
Learning came easy to me as a young child. By being able to tie my shoes a year before everyone else my age, or even riding my bike without training wheels until dawn, never once stopping until I nailed it. Always being determined and never giving up was constantly in my mindset. College was never really introduced to me until I was old enough to understand the concept.
I knew what it was and what the basics were, but I did not know how necessary college was and how much it pushed you to go far for your upcoming life. There were and still are not a lot of people in my family who have sought out and received a college education. Out of both of my parents, my mom was the one who received a bachelor’s degree in nursing. However, my dad started at college but did not go through with it. Watching my parents and seeing how stressful it was on both of them mentally and physically showed me their true colors.
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Every day there was a new obstacle for my family, whether it was not knowing what or when our next meal will be, even if there was enough money for the bills to be paid. My parents have worked hard to get where they are today with good jobs in their lives and constant love in their hearts. After seeing my parents struggling, but pushing through, I made a promise to myself to work hard and make sure I can support not only myself but my entire family. However, this was not always my driven attitude toward schooling.
Looking back at my middle school years, I was a slacker and the class clown. I tried to care about my grades and how they looked, but at the end of the day, I knew they were not my priority. Even though middle school does not count to your transcript, I should have paid more attention in class and got into the habit of caring and wanting to be better.
My mindset sadly was the same for the start of high school. Taking my first steps into freshman year I thought I was ready to conquer but I was hit with a big curveball. If I had a chance to start over, I would take it and realize how serious this needed to be taken. I kept telling myself I would try better next year, but when my sophomore year came around the same thing happened. I did not try my best until the end of sophomore year when friends and counselors were telling me how junior year was the year for college visits, the ACT, and so much more. Junior year was the year I was going to push as hard as I could and could live up to my promise.
Even though I mostly slacked off, I had a majority of my high school credits. I had an opportunity to either graduate early or continue with my junior and senior year. This is when I was introduced to College Credit Plus. I was told that if I were to go through with my junior year that next year I could have an easy year and get an early start on my education journey. I went through my junior year doing my best and working extremely hard. Cedarville, my high school offers a free ACT, and the time of the test was coming up soon and I was getting extremely nervous. Test-taking is not my greatest, so I was studying as much as I could so I could meet the requirements for the ACT score here at Clark State. I had received a letter in the mail with my scores on it. I waited a long time before ripping open the white envelope that was in my hands.
My heart sank when my eyes saw that I did not meet the requirements for Clark State. Telling my mom the unbearable news she told me about the placement test, which made me feel way better about the situation. We ended up setting up three different times so I was able to have time between each test to study and understand the material in a better way. On my last test, I received my scores, and I was unbelievably excited to know that I made the requirements to be let into the program and take the classes I want. Knowing and understanding that I have come this far not only by taking college classes but also getting all my high school credits out of the way has shown me that pushing yourself to another level can help receive the reward in the end.
When we try new things they either come with excitement or nervousness. The build-up to the first day of school was filled with many different emotions, from being proud that I was enrolled in a college class to being nervous about how my performance would go on the first day. I was scared but excited to go. Many people have given me advice on what to expect at a college level. Even though I have been told many times what was going to happen, I still felt like it was going to be a complete surprise entering this next chapter of my life. So far in this college experience, I have learned that you have to mature extremely fast and learn how to time manage a lot. This past year has made me sit down and look at what colleges I want to attend and what I want to study. I have changed my perspective on my goals, making sure that I go through with it one hundred percent. I want to continue my studies of becoming a counseling psychologist at Urbana University
Although at first, I was not the best worker, I am now proud of where I am. I have come a long way of trying to pull my grades up. As a student, a classmate, a friend, and a family member, I see myself as a person who is willing to try my best and stick through with it no matter what. I am at the point in my life where I know I am a learner and I am learning to grow out of my shell. Others see me as someone whose goofy and loud, but also someone who knows when it is time to get things done. College is the place where I take my time and have my turn to shine. College gives people so many opportunities to help self-grow and further our mental ability to a wider picture, and I am eager to see the amount of growth I have at the end of the year.
