Life's Challenges by David

Life's Challenges by David - March 2014 Scholarship Essay

My greatest academic achievement would be receiving my Honors Diploma. While receiving a high school diploma is a significant event in anyone’s life, when I earned my Honors Diploma it was truly an amazing experience. The process of finishing high school was far from a smooth one for me for a multiple of reasons. Some of these would include my activities outside of school, suffering from depression, and also my home life. Persevering through these obstacles to earn my Honors Diploma made me appreciate it that much more.

Throughout high school I took the most challenging classes I could. By taking the advanced classes, the workload that I received from school was quite significant because I had to dedicate much more time to studying and homework. While I had this academic workload, I was also a student-athlete and held a part time job. Playing in a sport, working, and also taking rigorous courses was often very stressful and I found myself struggling to find time for everything. While I was struggling, however, I also found myself improving at doing so. While this was a difficult process, I am also very proud of accomplishing it as it gave me a good work ethic.

Depression is a very serious thing, growing up I never fully understood the concept of being depressed. It was not until I began suffering from it that I realized how big of an impact it can have on a person’s life. During high school I would often find myself just wanting to sleep, not because I was a growing teenage boy, it was a result of me not looking forward to anything. I had low self-esteem, no motivation, and I simply was not looking forward to the next day. Even though I wanted life to just slow down and stop, that is not how life works. I still had to go to school, go to practice, go to work, do homework, study for tests, etc. All of these things I had to do while my head seemed to be filled with the never ending darkness. This changed eventually, my senior year my depression had escalated, I started to self-harm and was also contemplating suicide at times. My senior year I had also made a really great friend, she encouraged me to talk to my parents about how I was feeling. My parents then helped my go to a Psychiatrist as well as a Therapist. As a result of this I found myself stabilized and the happiest I had been since I was a little kid who did not understand depression.

My family is far from the typical one, I have a brother who has been diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses including, Autism, Bipolar disorder, OCD, and also ADHD. My brother, Adam, is extremely demanding. He is the most energetic person I have ever met, Adam is going full speed from 4 a.m. when he wakes up to 8 p.m. when he goes to sleep. As a result of this he demands a lot more attention from my parents, myself, and also creates a quite stressful household. Coming home from school I would have to hide away in my bedroom if I wanted there to be even a chance of peace and quiet so I could finish my homework and study. While I love him to death, there are times when he stresses me out to no end.

The reason I feel so great about receiving my honors diploma is I feel that I went through a lot in the process to earn it. I participated in sports all four years, held a job throughout high school, fought through severe depression, and also living in a stressful house during all four years. The Honors Diploma not only represents my education to me, but my ability to excel in life regardless of the challenges that life will present me.