A commencement application sat on my desk; I stared at the stack in front of me, contemplating if I should even walk across the stage for my bachelor’s degree. I earned my degree with the support of my family, nonetheless I was the one who established the scholarships, endured the sleepless nights, and dreaded the early mornings. My degree was my achievement and I felt the need to preserve it for myself. However, I understood I should share my accomplishments with my family since they supported me through every struggle I faced until that moment. As I sat in the commencement ceremony, I reminisced on the all the academic challenges I went through to embrace my degree. The first time I ever experienced an academic encounter was in the 8th grade. My teacher conveyed to me her concerns about my success rate at Mission Early College High School (MECHS); a school that offers students a …show more content…
The professors were committed to the success of each student and took time to ensure all our academic essentials were met. Numerous topics did not come easy to me, but the level of difficulty did not deter my dedication to my success. I frequently remained after school, or in my professors’ office periods to attempt to grasp the concepts discussed in the class session. I learned early on that asking for help was necessary if I was struggling to comprehend any particular concept. I knew if I persistently worked hard I would achieve my goals. My hard work and willpower paid off in December 2011, when I earned my associate’s degree, a semester prior to my high school graduation. In June 2012, I obtained my high school diploma with honors from the National Honor Society and the National Technical Honor Society. While it was a small achievement, it was significant to me, because my work and determination proved obstacles are like bricks you can walk over rather than walls that bring you to a
David McCullough Jr., delivered the commencement at Wellesley High School in Massachusetts on June 1st 2012 to staff, the 2012 graduates, and their family and friends. The speech was straightforward and supplied valuable information for their future. . McCullough’s speech at times felt harsh, offensive, and insulting. His words and examples were given to achieve insight, knowledge, and awareness for each student’s future. The commencement expressed a great deal of achievement, but conveyed that there was more work to be done. His speech was effective and appreciated through humor parallelism, repetition, and anaphora. His point of view has obtained respect and determination by all those that have been challenged and have heard his words.
A look back at the institution of education over the past 20 years will reveal that once upon a time a bachelor’s degree was long since considered the marker of ultimate success, the highest level of achievement that one could make in their lives. In those days, if for some reason you failed to march across the stage on graduation day after an epic, four-year stretch of high tuition, long nights studying, and unrelenting professors that found great joy in riding your back, then you had indeed failed at life.
Growing up, my parents never expected perfection but expected that I try to accomplish my best. The effort I’ve put forth in learning has been reflected in my grades throughout my high school career. I’ve entered myself in vigorous course work such as AP Government and AP English to become well prepared for my college career, all while maintaining a 4.4 grade point average this year. Not only do I engage in AP classes, but up until this year I had no study halls. I wanted my day to be packed full of interesting classes that I would enjoy learning about. My grades and choice of classes prove the effort that I put forth in my learning. Working hard now can only pay off in the future. Learning now creates a well-rounded human being. Working to learn is why I am so dedicated to my studies now.
During my years in high school, I have learned many valuable lessons. I’m proud of the person I am becoming. Life has not been easy, but thankfully I’m a strong hard worker. I started high school with a high GPA, and never intended for it to drop throughout my years. Within the last three years, I’ve moved around, participated in sports, and got a job.
The end of my first graduate school semester leaves me with a bittersweet feeling. Although I'm glad that the stress and pressure of continuously feeling unprepared to take on graduate school is now over, the feeling that I can successfully accomplish my goal and become a School Counselor seems more attainable. Working towards something I feel passionate about, and coming to the end of the beginning of a long journey has never felt so satisfying. What feels even better is all of the knowledge that I have acquired about the profession which society needs in order to function in times of despair. During our very first class we were asked about, “Our life’s motto?” From this day onward and after listening to the different perspectives, backgrounds,
College was such a big ordeal around this time last year! Many students had no choice but to think about it every day and I was surrounded by friends and classmates thinking about the same thing. Am I sure this is the school for me? Do I really want to move away or just stay near my mom? I even thought to myself, “What about moving out of state?” Everyone was so nervous, and everyone had the right to be. We are all trying to take the next step into moving on after high school. Until April 5th, 2016, my proudest moment was this day. I received acceptance into the Alabama A&M university. It was just a regular day that I had come home to mail from different universities, and my mom and I had applied here already with my mind on going to a predominantly
A major theme in Becoming a Learner is that the journey of learning and who we become at the end of that journey is far more important than the resulting accomplishment. Internalizing this theme will be helpful throughout college as well as within subsequent career and private life. Far too often we get caught up in titles and outwardly appearances and lose sight of what really matters. What really matters is how the journey of learning has impacted who we are on the inside. Sanders states, “It’s not just that you completed a degree; it is how you earned your degree and the cumulative effects of your education that matter” (9).
Coming out of my senior high school was one of the most difficult tasks I 've been given up to this point in my life. I was overwhelmed, excited, sad, busy, and uncertain of the near impending future. The past 13 years of my life I had been studying, practicing, playing, and working my way towards a brighter future. I could see the future in front of me, it was as if I could reach out and touch it. It was almost like getting a shot at the doctors, I knew it was what was best for me but I was terrified anyway. But I pushed aside my fears and on August 8, 2015, I set foot on a college campus, my home for the next four years. I knew why I was there though; I came to college in order to channel the love I have for my country into the motivation necessary to take the next step up the ladder towards a constitutional law degree, a degree I’ll use to protect this country and the people who reside in it. But to truly understand why I came to college, I have to start at the beginning.
Commencement is a critical juncture in our lives; it is a momentous occasion where we believe we are about to start anew. However, graduation is the bittersweet moment where the forces of past and future are simultaneously acting on us. Consequently, the past is not dead. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, suggests that our past experiences will be with us forever as he states, " [we] are a part of all that [we] have met; yet all experience is an arch where through gleams that untraveled world." That is why graduation, similar to other turning points in our lives, possesses two halves, which accentuate each other. We are looking forward, but the "arch" of experience beckons us to remember, value, and learn from our past experiences. Thus, I feel that in order to appreciate commencement fully, we must remember our own past, and in particular, the last four years:
Let’s flash back in time to before our college days. Back to then we had lunch trays filled with rubbery chicken nuggets, stale pizza, and bags of chocolate milk. A backpack stacked with Lisa Frank note books, flexi rulers, and color changing pencils. The times where we thought we wouldn’t make it out alive, but we did. Through all the trials and tribulations school helped build who I am today and shaped my future. From basic functions all the way to life-long lessons that helped shape my character.
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
At the start of my undergraduate education, I was taken aback by what I had ahead of me. Now finally out of high school, a bevy of opportunities suddenly sprang themselves upon me. I was faced with the questions of what classes to take, what to study, what to participate in, how to fend for myself, how to accomplish my goals, and countless others. After struggling with these monumental questions, I realized that, in fact, nothing had changed. I was still the same person I had always been, only now presented with much more opportunity and room to grow. Thus, rather than continuing to flounder in grandiose thought, I began to experience what only a university can offer, by embracing the infinite potential presented to me.
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.
When I was in high school I had a problem, which was being shy. Being shy made me seem as if I was anti-social, and caused me to have no friends, but my shyness was decreasing each year of high school because I talked more, and by the time I reached 12th grade I had many friends, who are very close to me till this day. While being in high school, I was always focused on my studies. People believed that I was a genius in high school, but I really wasn’t, I was just focus on the lessons, and understood what the teacher taught us. As I reached eleventh grade, I was chosen to be a part of the National Honor Society; I thought that I was never going to be part of the National Honors Society. I was at the hospital when my friends told me the good news—that I was selected to be part of the National Honors Society. As I reached 12th grade I learned that working while going to school is a bad idea if you can’t multitask right. When I was working I didn’t realized that I wasn’t multitasking right; I wasn’t putting enough effort into my studies, and having a job was distracting me, so I decide to quit my job, and continue my education by going to college. Growing up was scary, but I’m ready what the future is holding for
When I was 8 year old I scored 100 out of 100 marks in Mathematics and when my class teacher announced the results whole class stood and clapped, I can never forget that overwhelming moment in my life, I was so happy and contended, and that day I understood the importance of education in life. My parents couldn’t study after high school due to financial restrictions but they always taught me importance of higher education to imagine and pursue goals. My family has been extremely supportive throughout the journey and has constantly motivated me to realize my potential to the fullest extent by providing conducive environment for studying and encouraging me in my endeavors. Throughout my high school, I enjoyed two things: Mathematics and Extra-curricular activities, these activities helped me to gain team skills, stress management skills and social relationship skills. (Around 100 words)