Personal Narrative: My New Life In Washington

In 2012 I had to make a choice of standing still where I was at or taking a leap into a whole new life in Washington. On January 6th, 2013 one month after my 18th birthday I left my hometown of Stockton, California on train to begin my new life in Federal Way, Washington. I knew nothing about Washington other than that it was wet, cold and Nirvana come from here, but my girlfriend was here to show me the wide and diverse world that is the Pacific Northwest. She help me land my first job as a mover in south Seattle and from there I began traveling all across Washington. Learning the local areas, learning how to pronounce the names of the cities, meeting people from all walks of life and slowly becoming a part of the new culture that was around me.

Spring of 2014 I started my college career by enrolling at Highline College in Des Moines and take Highline’s placement testing. I scored significantly lower in math than what I had in high school, but I scored into college level English. I was highly discouraged with my math scores, I made excuses why I got those scores, blamed how long the test took, blamed how early it was but, after I calmed down and took the time to really look at the reason why I got the score that and realized It was because of my choice not to study beforehand. There understood that I wasn’t ready for college level math and where I placed was where I needed to start at if I wanted to start my college education with a solid foundation in mathematics. In Fall 2014 I began my first quarter as a Highline