Everyday I am faced with choices. Some choices I have made led to positive outcomes, while others have led to negative outcomes . One thing that I have learned from all the choices I have faced so far is that, good or bad, my past doesn’t define who I am, but rather serves as lessons for me to learn from and create paths to better outcomes. Overcoming these struggles, being equipped with several strengths to succeed and a passion for my educational path are key features of why I would be a great candidate to attend Nevada State College My previous educational struggles were due to: the pandemic which resulted in online distance learning and becoming a caretaker for my grandma.
During the Fall 2023 semester at UT, I experienced a series of devastating events that affected my emotional well-being and ability to concentrate on my studies. Within a short period of time, I lost two loved ones – my grandfather and my friend and fellow
Having immigrated to the United States from Vietnam many years ago, from a poor family in a small town that couldn’t afford post-secondary education and didn’t need nor want it, James was the first of his family to go to college. He had no guiding hand other than that of his small number of American friends. Not knowing many colleges and being unable to research universities, he opted to go to the nearby community college, San Jose City. He was interested in construction, and decided to major in it. Soon after, he received his degree and transferred to San Jose State to pursue a 4-year degree.
College is a big decision in one’s life, especially as a senior in high school. Students are expected to go to college to gain further knowledge in the career path they have chosen. Amanda Baratz, for example, is a freshman at Kehillah Jewish High School in San Jose, California. The summer after her freshman year, she will fly to Georgetown University for a five week course about medical careers. She hopes to see an open heart surgery while she is there.
Upon my return, I expected to resume going to the school’s campus and only be half online. This wasn’t what happened, however. “We live too far away now. I can’t drive you so far every day.” My mom had said when I asked her about my returning to school.
Finding motivation to attend college is easy, keeping the motivation to finish is the difficult part. I decided to enroll in college to earn my Bachelor’s degree in Business with a concentration in Finance. I hope that the degree will give me the opportunity to apply for a better position within the organization that I currently work for. A secondary goal of returning to school is to demonstrate to my son that attending college is required for many jobs and that returning to school as an adult has various difficult challenges. I have been working for the past nine years as an Assistant Financial Officer and am highly competent at my job.
As I turn over a new leaf in my life, starting all over in school, this is the best decision that I could ever generate. Needless to say, although I have made the conscientious decision to come back, I have discovered that I have a great deal to work on. There are 3 specific challenges that I face but I will not let determine my future. These challenges include; time management, motivation and anxiety.
August 14th, the day when it really hit me that I would be moving into college in one week. Up until that point I was really really excited! Although I was still excited the nerves started to kick in, I felt that I was not prepared to start a whole new chapter of my life and that there was still so many things that I needed to do, so honestly I started to panic a little bit, but that is just between me and you, no one else knew that I was stressing so bad. The Monday before move in day comes and now I realize that I seriously need to start getting ready, so finally I start packing everything in my room to make sure that I do not forget anything, but at the same time I have no clue what to pack seeing as this is my first time ever packing for college. The day finally gets here, move in day, all at the same time I am nervous, excited, sad and happy.
I feel that going to school is for the better-good, because with more education I can get a better job and better pay to support my family. Failure is not an option. Second, when I made the decision to go back to college, I was not prepared for projects and assignments being due at the same time. This is something I should have researched more and by taking a full class load in my first semester seemed to have made it worse. I am receiving a Pell grant, so I was thinking that I could take classes equaling 12 credits, to get as many as I could in a semester, to graduate on time, but that was a bad idea.
Returning back to college at this time in my life, is purely God lead and directed. When He calls, even if I’m late, I have found it is better to answer with obedience than not. The blessings that follow including the opportunity to grow closer to Christ make it all worthwhile. While Biblical Studies is not the adventure I imagined as child I would experience, the Lord has not forgotten me and continues to keep me on my toes with adventure around every corner.
Since a very young age, I have loved learning. My sister, Jessica, started attending kindergarten when I was four years old. On that day, my father walked us to Jessica’s first day of kindergarten. She was excited, but when we were going to leave I said that I didn’t want to. I told my father that I wanted to go to school too, but my father said I wasn’t old enough.
Throughout my whole childhood I never liked school. I never felt that I was good at school so I never wanted school. It took me being out of high school for 2 going on 3 years to actually want school. I nerved studied barley turned in homework and barley passed school.
The transition to college can be a very difficult, but also exciting. Every factor, from your family situation, to where your best friend is going to school helps to influence your college decision and how well you adjust to it. For me, I had to be one hundred percent independent in order to make it to college and stay there successfully. Improper support from various social contacts can make the transition extremely difficult. Personally, independence was a driving factor behind my transition to adulthood, and has been for a long time.
Graduating High School A day I will never forget was the day that I graduated high school. All the emotions were overwhelming and hard to handle sometimes. It was hard to accept that one of the biggest chapters in my life was about to be over and I was about to start an even bigger one.
My first article of clothing is a maroon crewneck derived directly from my final decision of where to attend college. Originally, ever since at least junior year of high school, everyone knew I was to attend the University of Kansas. I had visited the university twice and even had an orientation date planned. It was very late into my senior year before the final decision of choosing Iowa State was finalized. I was extremely hesitant, especially towards the proximity of ISU and my hometown.
