Living a Unique Life by Brittney

Living a Unique Life by Brittney - December 2016 Scholarship Essay

My school life has been connected to my life at home for as long as I can remember. The story I'm about to tell is a little different than the others you may have heard. My school accomplishment has been a huge part of my life. Allow me to explain. When I was four years old, my parents had no intention of sending me to a school, which looking back was a very strange decision. My parents were very religious and wanted to keep me locked away from “bad influences”. I realize that they had good intentions at heart, but it might not have been the best thing for me.
I was a very outgoing child and I wanted to be around other kids, but I didn’t have that opportunity. Instead, growing up, I would isolate myself. When situations arose that stressed me out, I refused to reach out to the people around me. I learned to solve problems by myself.
As soon as my parents started to home school me, they quickly realized that the material I was learning was too easy for me, so they allowed me to move through the material that I already understood. In a public school, if the kid understands the work, they still have to wait for the rest of the class to catch up, but that wasn't the case in my situation.
I worked and worked, going way beyond what was expected of me. I remember begging my parents to let me do school. At one point, they would use school as an award for good behavior. By the time I was six years old, I was in third grade. I never skipped a grade. I just did two grades in one year, twice. I remember telling people that I was in 6th grade when I was ten. I didn't think anything of it. It was normal to me, but they'd always look at me in shock. All my life I got told that I was special and gifted. I suppose it went to my head at some point, but what goes up, must come down.
Once I got to high school, I had to make sure that the credits that I took were able to be counted through the state, so I began to do an online academy with other kids and real teachers. It was amazing have teachers that were so specialized. I made friends through an online student website and things were rolling smoothly.
Once I reached 10th grade, I started looking into Running Start. Washington State participates in the program, so I figured that I might as well take the test. It's a program that allows students to complete their last two years of high school and their Associates Degree in college at the same time. I took the test and I made it! That moment, in itself, might have been my greatest school accomplishment, but my journey is still continuing.
I started going to Columbia Basin College when I was 14 and I continued there until June 2016, when I graduated with my high school diploma and my Associates degree. Those two years were the best experience of my life. I made new friends and learned a lot about time management. There are a lot of memories that I will never forget, including the hilarious teachers, the long nights spent with coffee and notebooks, and the many amazing experiences I had with people that I met.
By the time I was sixteen, I had accomplished something that most twenty year old people might have just completed. I’m fortunate to have had a lot of these opportunities and I know that it has made me a stronger person. This is who I am. My accomplishment is a little different and unorthodox, but so am I.