Throughout my years of high school I have always strived for the best grades that I could attain, and they didn’t come easy. There were plenty of distractions that had driven me off course. Whether it was long hours at practice, volunteering for my community, or having a part-time job, I couldn’t let these activities hinder my grades. This purpose had sprung in me, to not only strive in my extracurricular activities, but also my schoolwork. Balancing both school and additional activities wasn’t a simple task. This led me to many sleepless nights, in which I had to tutor myself on certain topics I was struggling on. This ranged from my hardest subject, to studying extra hours on my hardest class, and even simple topics that I needed extra work…
Experience is the source of knowledge whether they're bad or good. It gives us confidence, courage, and strength. It is how life teaches us to love and forgive each other. In fact, experience is the worst teacher because it gives us the test before presenting the lesson.…
During my current four years of high school, I have come to a conclusion that life is hard and the decisions you make are very important. This is my last year of high school and I’m the first one to graduate from my family. My grandmother tends to tell me that I don’t need college just a simple 7 month course of medical assistant or dentist assistant and not waste any more money. I’m lost, I wish people could help me out and tried to guide me in the direction of the right decision but is my life and choices. There has been times that my grandmother has told me that I am not going to be somebody in the future.…
Middle School. My first steps into the “North Building” and I was terrified. There was moisture in the air and the carpets were moist from being freshly shampooed. It almost smelled like a new house, even though that building was as old as Abraham Lincoln if he were still alive.…
My junior year in high school I took two classes from teachers who gave immense amounts of work on difficult material. The classes were Honors Pre-Calculus and Advanced Biological Studies II. After a day at school and a demanding golf practice until dark, it was time to start my homework. By then I was already exhausted, but I still had hours of homework ahead of me. Most schools nights I would not be able to start my hefty pile of homework until 8 o'clock. Many nights the strenuous assignments given in Honors Pre-calculus and Advanced Biological Studies II kept me awake late into the night, even as late as 4 am. It was difficult struggling to stay awake and complete my strenuous workload after an entire day of activity. A full night of sleep…
School is place where I have met different people with different ways of culture and living. I have found it interesting meeting new people that don’t share the same beliefs as me because I get to know more about where they came from and what their beliefs are.…
Walking into my honors English class my eleventh grade year, I felt as if it would be a breeze. Thinking back to the previous year to when I constantly maintained an “A+” and without hesitation I knew that any test, quiz, or writing prompt I was destined for an “A.” It was until now sobbing in a big puddle of salty water I knew for a fact I was doomed. Although I had never really thought into what karma was and what it really meant. It was my eleventh grade year in high school it had finally caught up to me.…
Starting your freshman year of college is a really, really terrifying moment. You go from being in a place where you are totally comfortable to being in a new place full of new people you have yet to get to know. And for every single freshman, it’s especially harder for any number of personal reasons. When I first got to Williams I often wondered if I really belonged here at all—was I smart enough, talented enough, educated enough? As I got closer to my JAs and my entrymates, I began to overcome my insecurity and learned that I could and did belong at Williams. I want to be a JA because I want to give a group of freshman the same support and confidence that my JAs instilled in me. I want to be able to work with a group of my peers and my…
This affected me not only academically but socially and athletically. The stress of the work isolated me from my peers and this caused them to complain to me in which I was pressured to work extra hard to complete my studies to make time for them. In addition to the weight of trying to pass and maintain a social life, I had to go to extensive hours of after school practices for my school’s water polo team. As part of the team, they relied on me to play my part and it made me feel burdened to practice harder to make up for my lack of good grades. Because of my naivety on how to balance a high school life, my anxiety was beginning to build. The next semester the pace got faster and the workload doubled. I was horrified with myself that I couldn’t catch up. I found all my classmates around me struggling as well but it felt like I got the brunt of it. It came to a point—my tipping point—when I was depressed and at that moment, I gave up. I thought, “If I can’t even pick up my grade then there’s no point in trying.” By then, it was rounding the end of the school year. My parents were breathing down my neck and treated me harshly to get my grades up but I…
During my freshman year of high school I received a letter in the mail. This letter was an invitation to play basketball in Australia, with other boys and girls of my age. The date was September 13, 2011. The letter stated that we would be leaving June 1, of 2012. Of course I wanted to go as soon as I read the letter, but my family was more curious about the trip. We did some research and figured out everything that would be offered on this trip. In my research I read of playing Australian basketball games, snorkeling, swimming in the ocean, surfing, and spending three days on Tangalooma Island. This was enough to convince my family that it would indeed be a fun trip for me to attend.…
When I was in middle school I would always do my homework every day and keep my average high, but know i'm going down on my average as soon as I went into high school. When I started high school I made myself a promise. I told myself the same thing I told myself in middle school “I will do my best and do my homework all week”, but that didn't happen. It was already the last week of the first 9 weeks, and I was already failing my english and reading class. I was failing english because I didn't do the SAQ’s ( Short Answer Question) during class or for homework. I was failing my reading class because I didn't do my homework…
Today was the day. Packed to the point of bursting open with new notebooks, folders, pens, pencils, and textbooks, he readied me for school. Instead of bouncing around as rambunctious young boys do, he trudged slowly in a peculiar meter of half-steps toward the doorway. He was living a new life in a new school that was filled with people who might as well have been aliens to him.…
Scarce amounts of food. Not knowing the if the lights would be on when you came home from school. Wishing I could afford the latest shoes. These were my realities. Being the oldest of three to a young mother, I was forced to mature faster than my peers. A victim of unemployment and hardships, I had no other option than to get a good education in hopes to better my family’s economic downfalls. As I will be a first generation college student, I have dedicated my everything into my academics and athletics.…
“Team on 3… 1, 2, 3… Team!!” As the whistle blew I lead the team towards the net to shake hands because the game was about to start. This was the time. This was the moment. Everyone cheering. I can't mess up. I just can't. The game has begun. And since we…
I was the kind of guy who always strove in order to get the highest grades but yet hadn’t decided what to do in the future. I wasn’t worried, I knew someday I would find something in what I was good at. I got to live with that thought for some time until I got to attend middle school, where I stopped worrying about my grades and managed only to pass the subjects. I spent most of my time sleeping due to the frustration of not knowing what to do in the future. Most of my middle school experience was tasteless. I hadn’t friends at all, and teachers used to discourage their students about their future. “You're not going to college, you’ll not be able to do it because you’re poor” used to say, Mrs. Vazquez, the math teacher who instead of giving her class, talked on how much his son had accomplished in college and how we would not be able to attend. That was about to change.…