Surpassing My Past by Chelsea

Surpassing My Past by Chelsea - March 2014 Scholarship Essay

I would say my greatest academic achievement is simply graduating high school. Other students have higher achievements than this, like winning awards or studying abroad. I think my achievement suits me well, because I have only attended school for a total of six years.

As a child, I thought it was normal to not attend school. All my life, I hadn't ever gone. Honestly, I thought it was just something from the movies. Eventually, I found out it was real when my parents enrolled me into first grade.

I didn't stay there long, though. They took my out of school in November, when they decided that the school wasn't treating me right. My parents decided they would home school me. But, I don't think I actually saw a home school book, ever.

That was my only taste of school that I had until my grandmother got her hands on me when I was thirteen. She took me to school and enrolled me in sixth grade. I was older than everyone and much taller than everyone, but I liked it. I hated getting up early, but I liked learning. It wasn't long, though, before I learned just how far behind I was. My math teacher realized that I had no concept of division or multiplication, and even my addition and subtraction was lacking. She helped me to learn those concepts, which got me here.

Eventually, my parents got me back and they tried. They tried to enroll me at the new school, but I ended up not attending any more school for another year. When I finally was enrolled again and got to go to school, it was in eighth grade. My grades were strong in everything except for my math class. I continued through into ninth grade, and then we moved again. I was, once again, out of school for another year.

When I finally got to ninth grade, I was seventeen years old. I was told that I could start in ninth grade and complete the required credits or not receive a diploma. So, I decided to go to ninth grade at seventeen years old and since then, I have been in school.

I consider graduating to be my biggest academic achievement because everything was against me. I never thought I would get to graduate. Here I am now, two months from walking across that stage and earning a diploma. For me, that's achievement.