Perseverance by Cassandra

Perseverance by Cassandra - September 2013 Scholarship Essay

     To me, the phrase “academic role model” conjures an image of a dignified scholar. Immediately, my mind entertains a picture of a professional man or woman with multiple degrees hanging over a cherry stained business desk; someone who has a venerable, limitless (and perhaps a bit ostentatious) vocabulary and can recite pi to a thousand places. They’re the paragon of academic excellence in school, the teachers’ pet who really enjoys learning and can explain anything from ancient languages to quantum gravity.
     My mom is nothing of the sort. At the green age of twenty-one, she dropped out of college. School has never been her strong suit; even today, she has me look over her math after completing it. While she possesses an ingenuous desire to understand, sitting down at a desk amidst the commotion of everyday life is difficult for her. Even so, fourteen years after withdrawing from school and with three kids to care for, my mom matriculated in a community college. Though it was an arduous effort for her, she pushed through it, and received her Associate’s degree in nursing. Today, she is continuing her education online, despite working full time and having a busy schedule. Her dedication to pursue academic avenues despite personal struggles and life getting in the way has shown me how to persevere in my own academic endeavors.
     My mom is my academic role model not because she is a perfect student, or because she understands the most convoluted problems plaguing the universe today; she is my academic role model because she persists at her academics, no matter how challenging they are. Her tenacity has shown me how to apply myself to my academics as well as other areas of my life.
     Through circumstances out of my control, I will be graduating high school at twenty years old. Needless to say, academic perseverance has been invaluable to me. Through my mom’s willingness to succeed despite many setbacks, I have learned the importance of education. For this reason, I have decided not only to finish high school but continue on to college as well. Her persistence in academia is an inspiration to me, and a lesson I will take with me into college.