Education is the path that I have always followed. Instead of following the pack I decided that I want to have a better life for myself. Saying it is much easier than actually doing it. I have slipped and fell along the way, but every time I get up dust myself off and keep moving. When I first came to high school my head was on straight, I never got into anything bad like drugs or anything but I started to procrastinate on homework and coming to school. I also missed a lot of school because of my migraine headaches and my weak immune system, I was always sick. Now, being a senior I have to learned organizational skills and learned that in life you have to push through things in order to truly be successful. There are so many obstacles and distractions I have faced in my life. From my parents not being very present in my life, to the neighborhoods I grew up in. My family is beyond dysfunctional; my sister is more like my mom, my brother my dad and my parents are like stranger I'm still trying to figure out. It's kind of weird to not have your mother and father around all the time. Where I come from its not uncommon, when I was younger it really hurt me that my parents wouldn't want to be there for me and siblings at that time I wasn't old enough to understand that they weren't abandoning me, but that they couldn't break their drug addictions. Despite all this I want to build a better life for myself, and I know that college is where it should start. I lived with my sister majority of my life. I feel as though I owe her, she sacrificed so much for me to not have to remain in foster care. After high school she got accepted into a lot of colleges and had to turn them down because she had to take care of me and my older brother. She also has two of her own children, and still managed to get through a two year program at Kaplan and pursue her dreams on a limited income. When I think back on the past I don't know how we ate some days or got around. My sister always remained strong for us and kept pushing through to better out lives. Going to college, is the only way I feel that I have paid her back. She is the reason I have the passion to better educate myself. I want to go to college to better my education and the life I lead. College will not only be a great experience were I make life long friends and memories but the place where I will make a life worth leading. I will be able to look back and know that I made the right decision and for me the only decision is to further my education by moving on to college. I want to go to college for me, my sister, my nieces, my brothers. To prove that not only can I do it, but I can succeed and make something out of myself, and set a good example that even though we all go through things in life, as long as we have the drive and determination to make it, we can succeed.
