Despite living in a one bedroom apartment with my mother for my entire life, I have learned that I cannot let my background and environment alone shape who I am or how I view myself. Becoming a first generation college student can conjure its own negative connotations, but these do not apply to me. Instead of being bashful, ironically, these circumstances have given me greater anticipation to be strong and strive for excellence. At the age of about 13 I was the victim of depression and ever since then some of the effects still stay with me now. One of the main reasons why I suffered from depression is because I was mostly in the house alone, with my mom working eleven to seven shifts mostly every day. That led to me developing antisocial habits and not being able to have the experiences that someone would have with their cousins or friends. I was not able to have those play fights with siblings or go to the park and not feel alone. I was missing those common bonding activities. In addition, since many of my friends around me had their dad figure mainly in their lives I rather felt sad that I did not have one. At first I thought maybe it was just the struggles of being a teen growing up in a world where if you lived with only one parent and no father figure you were at a disadvantage. However, it was deeper than that, imagine waking up one day on an island all alone with only the clothes on your back, some coconuts around, and a small shed just enough for you to sleep in. In the Hollywood world that may sound great as far as shelter, and food. Nonetheless, bringing it back to my life obviously being all alone will represent my mom working long hours, some coconuts around will represent the little bit of food that was always in the ... ... middle of paper ... ... entrepreneurs and artists who are passionate about making a difference in the world.” “Permanence, perseverance and persistence in spite of all obstacles, discouragements, and impossibilities: It is this that in all things distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.” (Thomas Carlyle). This is a quote that I believe goes well with my story that despite all the things I have been through I have overcome those trials and tribulations striving to be a better person. I can say that I was one of the strong ones. I did not let all the obstructions, and the depression moments define who I am. I could have just been so disappointed about my life that I simply said to myself what the point of living was. Alternatively, I could have thrown away all of my faith that I am going to be someone in life. Nonetheless, I would say that I was self-motivated to not live with grief.
Throughout the length of schooling, students go through various changes. In their first year of school, children are required to make the transition from being at home for the entire day to being in school for a number of hours a day. These transition periods happen many times through the schooling years, but the most drastic changes occur during the transition from high school to college, where students weather numerous lifestyle changes. While each individual student goes on their own journey, certain themes remain common between different students. Studies are done to look at these themes identifying the numerous differences and similarities.
The author, Julia Brookshire Everett commenced the article, “Public Community Colleges: Creating Access and Opportunities for First Generation College Students”, by first characterizing first- generation college students and also expounding on the difficulties first-generation students encountered when acquiring post-secondary degrees. According to Everett (2015), the term ‘first- generation college student’ was first coined in the 1960s in order to regulate student eligibility for federally financed programs to aid students from low-income households.
Having grown up in a single parent home that was terribly dysfunctional, I can give firsthand accounts of what this type of environment was like. I can remember growing up with a strong mother who refused to show weakness. Which in hindsight, was not good at all for me in the long run. It led me to become very distant and uncaring towards others that I came in contact with. In some instances I now realize I was over compensating in relationships based upon the dysfunction in my single parent home life.
The competition in today’s job market makes it seemingly impossible to be considered a competitive candidate without having some sort of college degree. This very fact has pushed researchers to analyze and report on the performance of students with various educational backgrounds along with the factors that affect their ability to obtain a college degree. One particular subset of students who show interesting graduation patterns are first generation students, whose parents have do not have a college degree. First generation students frequently encounter difficulty in school and must jump over many hurdles in order to graduate and receive a college degree. These hurdles include language barriers, intergenerational gaps and social class achievement
Picture this. You are heading off to college to begin the next chapter of your life. It is a moment you have always been waiting for. You are past the high school drama, and are ready to start taking classes that will allow you to obtain a degree in something you have always been passionate about. It’s your first week on campus and you are invited to a party being hosted by a group of upper classman. You show up to the party and immediately are handed a red cup with what you know is something you shouldn’t be drinking. You take a sip anyway and soon start talking to that guy in the corner who at first seems friendly, but soon begins to take advantage of you. Just like that everything changes. This is a situation millions of people face every
Something that I have learned after overcoming this battle is that life is very unpredictable and it is up to the individual to rise above and choose the right path. This excerpt from the poem “Recovery” by Maya Angelou has given me encouragement and inspiration to move on with my life and become the best person that I can be: “A last love, proper in conclusion, should snip the wings forbidding further flight. But I now reft of that confusion, am lifted up and speeding towards the light.” I live by these words everyday because they motivate me to succeed and overcome the impossible.
In this article “What It Takes To Make New College Students Employable” written by Alina Tugend, she argues that your time in college does not necessarily prepare an individual for jobs in society today. This is mainly due to employers who expect recent college graduates to have the skills prepared for a working environment. Unfortunately, that is not the case because the social and technical skills that you learn in college do not translate into the corporate world. To solve this problem, students can become more well equipped with the skills necessary to work by attending training programs, have employers work with them to fix certain issues, and teach them where certain social skills should be applied in the workplace.
I have always grown up around the influence of hard work. My mother and father’s life together began off to a rough start. My mother got pregnant at the age of 20 with my brother. Her family was not very supportive of it; therefore, she was on her own. She used to tell me about how she would sit and cry in a one bedroom apartment that she lived in with my brother wondering what she was going to do. Although she had to grow up faster than she
Being the first one to attend college in my family has pushed me to continue my education. Now in today’s society a college degree is so important. I want my parents to be proud of me, and be happy with my high level career after college, and that starts with my education. I also hope to be an influence on my younger brother and show him that a college education is important. He looks up to me, and I need to be a good role model for him. I truly just want to get the best education and job for myself worth and make myself happy.
Growing up as an only child I made out pretty well. You almost can’t help but be spoiled by your parents in some way. And I must admit that I enjoyed it; my own room, T.V., computer, stereo, all the material possessions that I had. But there was one event in my life that would change the way that I looked at these things and realized that you can’t take these things for granted and that’s not what life is about.
Throughout the rest of high school, I was forced to deal with Molly’s death. Now, two years later, I can look back and see how much I have grown as a teammate, sister, student, and Christian. Fortunately, I had my faith to fall back on. I'm not sure where I would be without it. Everyone on the team dealt with Molly’s death differently, and for me, that meant involvement in YoungLife and youth group. After Molly died, I decided to love harder, which led to a stronger bond between my little sister and me. She and I became best friends in high school. I think that came from a subconscious resolution to live each day entirely. That carried into my schoolwork too. I learned to be persistent and to work hard to understand things that don’t come naturally, like writing and social studies. From my commitment to YoungLife, to qualifying for state competition in DECA to my bold personality, and daring confidence, I grew in uncountable ways after Molly
Throughout this whole process I was not myself, I was far from it. I had to learn how to cope with the situation while continuing on with my daily life. I put a smile on my face, cracked jokes with my friends, and ran around with people to make it seem like everything was okay. I learned that a death is not the only time someone has to pretend to be okay. There are many times when a person has to move on and continue to live their life; they cannot put anything to a halt because life does not work that
Because of what I learned from hitting this “hurdle” in life, I have decided to make the most out of the life I have been given. Overcoming the adversity of losing a loved one has not only challenged me, but has given me a perspective and wisdom that most people are only able to learn through challenges like this one. Life is unpredictable. Like hurdles, life evokes fear, strength, and courage. Life is often like a race, everyone is forced to face their own obstacles, however, like Nelson Mandela once said, “Our greatest glory lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” Throughout life, everyone is bound to face their own set of hurdles, however, the important part is learning to get up, keep moving, and apply what was learned from the experience to overcoming the next
I was an only child in my family for about a year and a half. Of course I don’t remember being an only child, but I feel that time will be similar to my first year at college. I’ve en...
I grew up having more than the average kid. My parents bought me nice clothes, stereos, Nintendo games, mostly everything I needed and wanted. They supported me in everything I did. At that point in my life I was very involved with figure skating. I never cared how much of our money it took, or how much of my parents' time it occupied, all I thought about was the shiny new ice skates and frilly outfits I wanted. Along with my involvement in soccer, the two sports took most of my parents' time, and a good portion of their money. Growing up with such luxuries I began to take things for granted. I expected things, rather than being thankful for what I had and disregarded my parent's wishes, thinking only of myself. Apparently my parents recognized my behavior and began limiting my privileges. When I didn't get what I wanted I got upset and mad at my parents somehow blaming them for all my problems. Now don't get me wrong, I wasn't a bad kid, I just didn't know how else to act. I had never been exposed to anything less than what I had and didn't realize how good I had it.