The Struggles of a Community College Student: A Thirst for Knowledge and a Degree
I grew up impoverished. Financially underprivileged, my parents whose total annual net salary of $3000 struggled to raise me and my brother to afford basic education. They did not miss to provide our needs, in fact they provided more than what was expected. I lived in a developing country where I was forced to wake up 4am to pump up water six blocks from my house. Considering my parent’s income, our daily staple food - rice, was accompanied by dried fish. Having meat on the table was a call for celebration. I also remember we often get cuts from our electric company. Candles were my companion in the night. Literally burning the midnight candle, at a very young age I was dedicated to get my degree. I thirst for success – I had the passion to lift my family from the social status that we are currently in. We cannot live like this forever. There is a way, and I will do it.
Fast-forwarding to 2013, my aunt who lived in New York for 10 years called to congratulate me when she received the message that I was the high school class valedictorian. Like others, she came to the United States in the hopes to achieve the American Dream. She offered to sponsor my degree in the United States in agreement that I will pay for my tuition, and she will shoulder the housing. I applied for five colleges – four of which rejected me for they were four-year colleges and I didn’t have the sufficient credentials to be admitted. Fortunately, I got accepted to my last choice: a two-year college, more commonly known as a community college. Speaking from experience, a job alone cannot suffice one semester of tuition. Coming to the United States, I work four jobs – two of which I volunteer. I study full time. I strive to get involved in extra-curricular activities in the hopes to be recommended and be connected to scholarship opportunities. I strive to excel to maintain my GPA qualification for certain scholarships. Summing up these hours, I am fully occupied from 8am to 3am. It is indeed a sacrifice to drag myself up in the morning for the first class and to be cautious in the subway not to sleep and miss my stop at 11pm. Spite all these involvement, consequences are, I sometimes fail in examinations. I often miss deadlines. Worse, I skip classes. Last semester, I applied for a scholarship and I am very fortunate to have received tuition assistance. Experiencing free community college tuition for one semester was indeed life changing. …show more content…
I call them super students. They have overcome major tribulations, which almost cost their life. I have high respects for my friend (Michael), a Nicaragua native, who for one week, due to staggering unpaid bills, lost his apartment and was forced to live in the streets. In those days of the week however, he still managed not to skip a single class. His commitment to attain a degree is something to look up for. He now graduated from LaGuardia and is the only student from his graduating class to be admitted in the University of Pennsylvania. Another acquaintance of mine, a first generation Mexican student, worked as a janitor, cleaning bathrooms and garbage cans throughout his whole community college life just to afford tuition. Like me, he took advantage of network opportunities and now he is a recent graduate of Columbia
I grew up impoverished. Financially underprivileged, my parents whose total annual net salary of $3000 struggled to raise me and my brother to afford basic education. They did not miss to provide our needs, in fact they provided more than what was expected. I lived in a developing country where I was forced to wake up 4am to pump up water six blocks from my house. Considering my parent’s income, our daily staple food - rice, was accompanied by dried fish. Having meat on the table was a call for celebration. I also remember we often get cuts from our electric company. Candles were my companion in the night. Literally burning the midnight candle, at a very young age I was dedicated to get my degree. I thirst for success – I had the passion to lift my family from the social status that we are currently in. We cannot live like this forever. There is a way, and I will do it.
Fast-forwarding to 2013, my aunt who lived in New York for 10 years called to congratulate me when she received the message that I was the high school class valedictorian. Like others, she came to the United States in the hopes to achieve the American Dream. She offered to sponsor my degree in the United States in agreement that I will pay for my tuition, and she will shoulder the housing. I applied for five colleges – four of which rejected me for they were four-year colleges and I didn’t have the sufficient credentials to be admitted. Fortunately, I got accepted to my last choice: a two-year college, more commonly known as a community college. Speaking from experience, a job alone cannot suffice one semester of tuition. Coming to the United States, I work four jobs – two of which I volunteer. I study full time. I strive to get involved in extra-curricular activities in the hopes to be recommended and be connected to scholarship opportunities. I strive to excel to maintain my GPA qualification for certain scholarships. Summing up these hours, I am fully occupied from 8am to 3am. It is indeed a sacrifice to drag myself up in the morning for the first class and to be cautious in the subway not to sleep and miss my stop at 11pm. Spite all these involvement, consequences are, I sometimes fail in examinations. I often miss deadlines. Worse, I skip classes. Last semester, I applied for a scholarship and I am very fortunate to have received tuition assistance. Experiencing free community college tuition for one semester was indeed life changing. …show more content…
I call them super students. They have overcome major tribulations, which almost cost their life. I have high respects for my friend (Michael), a Nicaragua native, who for one week, due to staggering unpaid bills, lost his apartment and was forced to live in the streets. In those days of the week however, he still managed not to skip a single class. His commitment to attain a degree is something to look up for. He now graduated from LaGuardia and is the only student from his graduating class to be admitted in the University of Pennsylvania. Another acquaintance of mine, a first generation Mexican student, worked as a janitor, cleaning bathrooms and garbage cans throughout his whole community college life just to afford tuition. Like me, he took advantage of network opportunities and now he is a recent graduate of Columbia