My Desire To Attend College

For many, after graduating high school the next big step is college. I never asked myself why or if I even wanted to. Yet, since I was not yet ready to join the work force, and didn’t want to disappoint my parents, I simply followed the path that I was supposed to take. For a while I had no direction, but through the loss of my high school English teacher and my dream of making my family proud, I discovered that college was the place I wanted and needed to be.

I enrolled at Shoreline Community College with no idea of what I wanted to do, causing a lack of motivation. It’s easy for me to be below average if I don’t know why I’m doing it. On top of that, I made the mistake of taking 20 credits instead of 15 since I thought everyone took four classes. Big mistake. As a result, I couldn’t juggle all the material causing me to fail pre-calculus. Math never came naturally to me since I was always more interested in writing. Regardless, one class that truly sparked my interest that quarter was Humanities, which explored the history and influence of art from Medieval Europe to the Age of Enlightenment. I saw that cultural artistic expression reflected philosophical evolution, interest in growth, perspective, observation, and interpretation. Analyzing the works of Leonardo da Vinci and William Shakespeare gave me an appreciation for culture that I never had before. With my newly found interest, I ended up with a 4.0 in that class. It was my first ever. Although that might seem like a standard for most other students, it felt like a congressional medal of honor to me. I proved that I had the capacity to be a better student, though this would not come to fruition until my third quarter.

My winter quarter was a low point for me. Becaus...

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...teacher. I want to follow the example Ms. Stewart set for her students. Teaching is a very noble career. I know I would be passionate about my job. I would be more than a full-time babysitter for teenagers. I want to share my love of culture and writing with another generation. This in turn could make them appreciate reading and writing and open my students to creative ideas.

My academic career is a continual tug-of-war between high points and low points. Through my failures successes, I learned that hard work must be combined with passion in order to achieve my goals. For the future, I expect it to only to be filled with high points. It won’t be any easier, but I’m prepared and willing to face an uphill battle. I know that once I look back at my life, I will consider getting my degree from the University of Washington as one of my most important accomplishments.