Prompt: Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
Conewago Packaging. Responsible for making display models for major businesses to put in big box stores like Walmart and Target. It is also the place that six different people in my family have worked. Most of these people run the machines that make the display models. My father worked in the office, first as a scheduler, and, more recently, as a sales rep to get other businesses to use Conewago. Three generations of my family have worked here, and no one would have been surprised if I joined them. No one would have been disappointed, or upset, or shocked in anyway. But from a young age, I knew I would be disappointed, upset, and shocked if I had to join them. I always dreamed of something more. And my dream is so close to being realized. But this dream could have easily been a nightmare.
Some people have all the resources in the world. Some children can go to school and receive top notch education. Some children don’t ever have to worry about divorce. Some children don’t ever have to worry about if their mom will keep her job after being injured at work several times. Some children don’t have to worry about death during the school year. However, some children have to worry about some of these things. And some children have to worry about all of it. And an even smaller amount have to worry about all these things while being in highschool, trying to achieve more than what is expected of them. And one of these people is me.
I don’t mean to use all of these problems as excuses. I mean to use them as motivation. Many people crumble under these circumstances. I am determined to not be one of them. I work harder than anyone else, because I know what happens if I don’t. I am stuck here, in my small town of Biglerville, working at a factory. In my life I don’t want to be a factory worker. I want to be a surgeon, or a corporate lawyer, or the head of a big business. And I know that to achieve this goal, I need to put everything I have into this dream. College is a sign of hope for many students. It is a time to be optimistic. I am not full of hope. I am not optimistic. I am sure. I am realistic. I know that I will become great at whatever I choose to do. And it is because I know how to work hard. I know what it is to struggle. I have had people in my life that have shown me how to overcome adversity, how to work hard, and how to be great against all odds. It is because of those people that I have been successful. It is because of those people that I will continue to be successful.
Success is measured in many ways. For me, being successful is not just reaching the top of the mountain. Being successful to me is getting to the top, looking back, and pulling others up to the mountain. My family does not have the economic means to allow me to look at every college I want and say the price tag doesn’t matter. I have several cousins that are small children. I don’t want them to ever worry about how to pay for college. I want to be the person at the top of the mountain. I want to be the person who they can look to to pull them up. When they get tired, when they get scared, when they get frustrated, I want to be the role model that they can look toward. I am not just fighting and working hard for myself. I am fighting and working hard for my sister, and my cousins, and future generations in my family. I want to show them that you can make it, no matter the circumstances.
Actually, many people say they want success. I need success. I need all of the things I mentioned in the previous articles. And maybe I won’t get accepted to every college I apply. And maybe I will struggle being away from home to start. And maybe I will fail my first test, or find it hard to build strong relationships, or be overwhelmed from all the opportunities I will now have.
But there is no chance that I will fail because of these problems. I want this too badly.