“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things” said Leonardo Da Vinci. I am the type of student who believes in this statement. Accomplishment does not simply appear. Accomplishment comes with a tremendous cost of time, energy, and hard work. In complete honesty, I have had a wonderful life; I come from a traditional family with a middle-class income living in suburban America. As a result, this question had me stumped at first. Then, talking with other students and educators, I realized as a first generation aspiring four-year college student, my journey to higher education has been challenging without the experienced guidance that students with generational higher education parents have. I realized that I have used these circumstances to develop positive attributes as well as educational and social achievements.
When you struggle to support families, work and live sometimes “letting things happening”interfere with the accomplishments . This is why my grandmother never received her high school diploma and none of my grandparents pursued a four year degree. Life happened. They have good lives, but didn’t “happen to life”. In addition, my parents completed high school and earned their Associate 's
…show more content…
Reflecting on my past, I realized that I would not have achieved what I have without the failures I made. I chased after perfection, but I learned that my parents always had pride in me and my personal achievements. I quickly learned that I am the type of person my parents are extremely proud of. I did not need to chase after this idea of perfection in order to be the person I am. In the words of Da Vinci, I did not let something happen to me, I went out and happened to
First generation college students are students who comprise a distinct minority within most institutions of higher learning. These groups of students are the first generation of students in their family lineage to attend a college or university (Allwood, 1966). Due to the lack of family guidance in navigating through the college experience, first generation students face an array of obstacles upon entering the realm of higher education. These students are less likely to obtain their bachelor degree due to finance, family support and retention, all which ultimately limit their college experience. Not only do these students experience issues migrating through high school into college, they also lack the necessary resources some students need to achieve higher standards. For instance financial assistance, mentorship, and other motivating factors that can help a student grow into a professional.
I was raised in an encouraging household where both of my parents greatly valued education. Although they were high school graduates, neither could afford to attend college; a combination of family and financial woes ultimately halted their path. As a result, my parents frequently reminded me that getting a good education meant better opportunities for my future. To my parents, that seemed to be the overarching goal: a better life for me than the one they had. My parents wanted me to excel and supported me financially and emotionally of which the former was something their parents were not able to provide. Their desire to facilitate a change in my destiny is one of many essential events that contributed to my world view.
Success. Society tends to correlate “success” with the obtainment of a higher education. But what leads to a higher education? What many are reluctant to admit is that the American dream has fallen. Class division has become nearly impossible to repair. From educations such as Stanford, Harvard, and UCLA to vocational, adult programs, and community, pertaining to one education solely relies on one’s social class. Social class surreptitiously defines your “success”, the hidden curriculum of what your socioeconomic education teaches you to stay with in that social class.
My story began on a cool summer’s night twenty short years ago. From my earliest memory, I recall my father’s disdain for pursuing education. “Quit school and get a job” was his motto. My mother, in contrast, valued education, but she would never put pressure on anyone: a sixty-five was passing, and there was no motivation to do better. As a child, my uncle was my major role-model. He was a living example of how one could strive for greatness with a proper education and hard work. At this tender age of seven, I knew little about how I would achieve my goals, but I knew that education and hard work were going to be valuable. However, all of my youthful fantasies for broader horizons vanished like smoke when school began.
My junior year of high school was filled with high emotions, stressful moments, and tension about where to apply to college and where I would be accepted and ultimately attend. At a “Making the Most out of your Sixth Semester” forum that year, the entire junior class experienced lectures from the school’s college resource counselors about how to prepare for this arduous battle of college admissions. The way Sue Biermert, who is the College Admissions Counselor at my high school, opened the forum was by asking a question to the parents that put everything into perspective: “How many of you parents feel like you are successful?” Every single hand shot up from the 500 parents in the auditorium. Of those that had their hands up, she asked, “How many of you parents received an Ivy League education?” Every hand went down. I could see friend’s mouths sit there in awe that getting an Ivy League education is not necessarily the greatest factor at having a good life. Even though these shocked students were the ones hoping to be accepted by Yale and Harvard, they all simultaneously recognized that going to an Ivy League school is not a guarantee for success in life. The reality about American culture is that success is the result of individual experiences that suit the needs of each person, not necessarily the prestigious institution of learning that one attends.
When I was born, my family had just migrated to California from Mexico. In a new country, my father worked in landscaping earning less than $4 dollars an hour, while my mother relied on public transportation to take her newborn child to and from doctor visits. In the land of opportunity, my family struggled to put a roof over our heads. But never discouraged, my parents sought to achieve their goals and worked tirelessly to raise my younger brother and I. From a young age, I was taught the importance of education; this became a major catalyst in my life. My desire to excel academically was not for self-gain, but my way of contributing to my family’s goals and aspirations.
. My grades were usually B’s but I was able to achieve that with little effort and made it all the way through graduate school with applying the bare minimum effort.
I have not had a single accomplishment that is worth writing about but I feel that my college completion will be one accomplishment that I will be most proud. I feel that I am taking one step forward in life that will make me become a more successful person.
I started college ten years ago with the hopes of graduating back in 2010. That dream was derailed multiple times due to my life being “more about the past than their future,” (Palahniuk, 1999, p. 117) but in the fall of 2015, I started for a third time and proved to myself that I do have the determination to continue this dream. As for my parents, they’ve helped support me each time I tried my hand at school. They are the first people I’ve called after receiving a grade on a tough exam or assignment I’ve worked hours on, they’ve let me read them papers or presentations for opinions on flow and content, and they encourage me to try my hardest, to never give up. I would love to repay their hours of support by finishing my bachelors for them
...you in your past, you are not your past, you are the resources and the capabilities you glean from it. And that is the basis for all change.” In conclusion, learn from your mistakes, remember what talents got you where you are today and success will eventually come along the way.
When I left my room, my mother knew that I had gone through a rough time, and I did not want to talk to her about it. Even though there was only a month left in my school year, I promised myself that I would be completely truthful to my friends, my family, my heritage, and myself. I expected all my friends to leave me, but I was fully prepared for this. However, none of this ever happened. My friends didn’t leave me, I wasn’t alone at the lunch table, I wasn’t even seem differently by those around me. I had failed my family by doing this, and I wished I had stopped acting like someone I wasn’t sooner. This is one of the only mistakes I have made which I consider a failure because it had taken me close to a year to fix, and this is why I consider it my most successful failure.
What defines a successful life? In other words, what are the measures of success and to what extend is college important to achieve success? Although most of mankind link a successful and a fulfilling life with money, success can be determined by other factors. These questions spark a controversial debate, creating factions in people’s minds. While one side of the debate is more vivid, people tend to deny it. Most people argue that in order to achieve a fulfilling life, the success must be structured on a basic foundation and element, that is education. College paves the way to students for a successful life not only on the workforce scale, but also on the personal, social, and economic level.
As an adolescent, Gilbert, who is seventeen, did not have a multitude of accomplishments, but the few tasks he was able to accomplish were grand. For starters, one of his proudest accomplishments would be when he was nominated to become one of the five leaders of NJHS. Additionally, being a leader of the NJHS also meant that Gilbert had to play the “leader” role, meaning that he had to be the role model towards the other students in NJHS; he also had a sizeable responsibility as the leader. He needed to prepare a speech that would be given to a few hundred people, about society and how the NJHS is supposed to contribute back towards the community.
My journey as a student has always been focused on the path to college and success. Before I even set foot in kindergarten my mother, a college dropout, always told me that “honor roll wasn’t an option” and that I would be attending college in the future and achieving a degree. Most of the time I made these requirements. Most of the time I was awarded honor roll or had a newly edited list of colleges to attend, but sometimes life got in the way of my dreams of achieving success.
To be the person that I am now, I had to reflect and accept accountability of my past actions. My past is one that many would love to erase from their memory, a past, which remained dormant, until I found myself. The steps involved in regaining myself encompassed letting go of my anger and self pity. I had to look within myself and see my self’s worth, which lead to my belief that I ran away to college to forget my past. During the years leading to entrance to college, I became caught up with friends, cared way too much about my appearance, and became “that girl” who needed others to be happy. I lost sight of my goal, to become a lawyer. My goals were buried by my present materialization infatuation, thus my dreams, and my values, failed just to create a façade of which I came to despise. Through my journey and reflection, I came to appreciate family values and redemption. Like others, my trials and tribulations came full circle.