My goal in life is to
succeed and be able to provide for me and my family. Back when I was in
elementary and middle school, life felt so much easier. I must admit, I was a
very spoiled child. Both of my parents were employed and I was just growing up
and living life. The start of high school is when things became hard for me. My
father was unemployed and my mother was the only one working to provide for the
family. For most, freshmen year is usually one of the most exciting years in
high school, however not for me. I was unable to focus in class and my grades dropped
drastically. Instead of doing my homework and class work, I decided to take on
a job. I got a job at a local movie theater. While working, I was still
attending school. I tried my best to stay focused in every class, but as a
teenager, the money was in the way.
During my Junior year, I
struggled to bring my grades up. I was still employed and working more hours
than I should have been. By the end of the year, I missed a couple of credits
and had to attend summer school and also had to take a summer course at a
community college. Although I was still working, I knew now that my main focus
was to do better. As Senior year approached, I was short 4 credits from being
an official Senior. I was very disappointed, but I found the reason why. A
teacher from one of the summer classes didn’t submit my grade yet. A few days
later, it came through and I was proud of myself. Having worked so hard, I was
only motivated to continue. Throughout Senior year, I had extra work to do, yet
I was able to pull through and graduate.
After high school, I quickly attended a community
college. Like high school, I was still working and going to school. I was a bit
more focused, but unfortunately I fell back into my old habits. I started
working a tremendous amount of hours and fell off track once again. After a
while, I had no interest in going to school. My main focus was to work and make
enough money to pay off my bills. I became frustrated at myself and knew I
needed to do something better. I had heard about Year Up through a friend and
finally decided to get back up and continue my education.
I am now enrolled in the Year Up program and I am willing
to work hard and stay focused. I know I will succeed because this is something
that I really want to do. I am certain that I will finish this program and get
a good job and be able to help provide for me and my family. One of my most
important goals is to have my parents be proud of me and to be able to tell
their friends that their daughter is successful.