When you’re an adolescent, more often than not you’re constantly surrounded by older generations encouraging you to dream big; “you can be anything you want to be” is repeated until your ears bleed and becoming an astronaut is placed on the top of your life goals list. You will hear these optimistic words until your youth turns into young adulthood and your once carefree secondary schooling days evolve into a stressful high school experience. Shortly after such occurrences, “you can be anything you want to be” is suddenly limited by that last report card and lack of extra-curricular activities. In fact, I firmly remember my junior year of high school being the first legitimate time I was told “no” and really feeling the power of such a word.
College applications were suddenly the world’s hottest topic and it was nearly impossible to escape a conversation revolving around such an important decision. I was constantly hearing “do this in order to go here” or “make sure you have blah blah on your resume to really get blah blah’s attention.” The whole scenario was chaotic and stressful, but like I said, everyone was talking about it and I did suppose it was time to take it seriously myself. So I printed out everything I had been considering since my freshman year of high school, and I presented it to my parents. Now, their immense surprise in school of choice was no shock to me; I knew they both eagerly wanted me to attend a college in Texas and attempt to stay close to home, but that isn’t what I had in mind for myself and my personal future. I had chosen Penn State a long time prior to the moment I decided to tell my parents. However; despite my preparation of their shock, I was certainly unprepared to hear the word “no” exit BOTH of their mouths. And it wasn’t because they disagreed with the academic performances arousing from my University of choice, nor were they concerned with the value of education I’d be receiving. Their point in telling me “no” was to help me understand that considering my academic background, the option was just not suitable of likely for me. You can imagine my disbelief hearing my own parents telling me that they didn’t think I was smart enough to accomplish something like getting accepted to the University of my dreams. I was hurt, I was angry, I was embarrassed and I was sorry that I had spent so much time partying and worrying about the daily drama over focusing on my studies and proving to my family and friends how intelligent I knew I could be.
After that evening I buckled down and worked extremely hard to prove my parents and their beliefs wrong. I spent the next year and a half busting my butt in order to improve my grades and extend my hours involved in extra-curricular activities/sports without putting too much on my plate. It came to my attention during my preparation for my SATs that even some of my teachers did not believe I could attend such a University. This only motivated me to work that much harder. And I did; I persevered more than anyone I had ever met before. I was determined to prove people wrong and I knew that power behind my perseverance would eventually pay off.
I suppose we all know how this story ends, considering my position here as a senior at Penn State with the plans of graduating in May of 2015. My perseverance paid off. I received my acceptance and I’ve been here ever since, continuing to prove most of my family members wrong day by day with each impossible assignment I’m given. This is why I believe in the power of perseverance.