My Work Ethic

The experiences I have encountered to this point have molded me into an individual I believe ready to endeavor my next goal, being the study and subsequent practice of law.LSAC Number: L34094895 Kaleb Zelazoski From an early age, I was taught the value of a strong work ethic. I found my first job when I was sixteen years old at Dollar General, a small retail store, next to where I attended high school. I had been looking for a part time job for the entire month of January before I finally ended up at this Dollar General. The manager was an older woman, in her sixties, who looked through the top half of her bifocals at me, passing her judgment in that first meeting. She clicked her tongue at me before turning me away with a wave of her hand,

There were no “now hiring” signs up in any business windows, and this particular store was no exception. This woman gave me the opportunity to prove my words and offered me a job. As it turned out, the eighteen year old requirement was a personal mandate from the manager, which she put aside to give me my first job. Everyday after school, five days a week, I would walk the half mile to work four hours before walking the two and half miles home. It was this phase in my life, my first job, that really kindled my passion for the feeling of accomplishment that hard work

In what seemed like little more than the blink of an eye, my time management skills were put to extreme tests in order to balance work and college. However, I very rarely found myself choosing between work or school. Time became an item of great value to me, but my focus was on finding the possibility of success in both work and school. Many times, this meant reading a textbook during the graveyard shift at Waffle House, or giving my coworker a list of Spanish vocabulary words to quiz me on while we organized the stock room at Peter Glenn. Still, I always focused on finding the appropriate division of the time I had to complete everything I needed. The development of these strong time management skills helped me to find the “and” I desired instead of the “or” that could have been used as an