Reflective Essay: Urban Prep

From 2014 until now I have witnessed several of my younger siblings graduate before me. The bittersweet moment of seeing someone younger than you doing better, is a strong moment. You can either let it demotivate you or you overcome it . John Wooden once said,”Failure isn't fatal, but failure to change might be". I declared myself as a failure in 2014 because I was suppose to graduate from a traditional high school. I attended Urban Prep Academy. Urban Prep is known for having a one hundred percent graduation rate and it made me ashamed that I defied that statistic. My mother demanded a high school diploma from all her children. My fear of letting her down was overwhelming and led me to detour from my goal. Although, I have encountered obstacles

There’s this society built where you can’t complain about your conditions because “anyone can make it”. Even when there was times I was informed, very late, that I wasn’t on track to graduate or that I couldn’t graduate because I was missing one credit. However, I’m not allowed to speak on the subject because “I wasn’t trying hard enough”. Nevertheless, this tribulation did not deter me. I still attended school and maintained a “B” to “C” average. Until— I saw my older cousin graduate, then my big brother...then my little cousins...then my little sister. The constant observations of success left me bombarded with emotions. Once again a critical decision revealed itself. Either, I let their success discourage me or I let it empower me. I sadly chose the wrong decision. It’s so easy to become the bad guy within your own story. Rather it was getting into fights or— breaking my mother’s heart, I was willing to become what I needed too to survive without school. My mother soon kicked me out because she didn’t condone pity parties. At that point it was no longer the school system’s fault that I failed, nor was it my parents, nor was it my friends, it was mine. After I was sick of playing victim to the situations I’ve caused I made it mandatory for me to finally get my