Five Words by Dustin

Five Words by Dustin - May 2014 Scholarship Essay

My mother has always been the support structure for my educational success. She raised me on her own and made sure I fulfilled my potential. My mother has given me countless amounts of advice that I will always remember. The best piece of educational advice I ever received was from her. "Don't compare yourself to others." She told me these five words many times which guided me in not only educational but other aspects of my life as well.

My mother pushed me to be the best version of Dustin. I would complain that other people did not work as hard as I did and that I was tired of the hard-work. She would respond with that one sentence. The first few times, her words never really took to me. Thankfully, I eventually realized how right that statement was. I realized that if I compare myself with others then I could only succeed as much as the people I surround myself with. If I surround myself with people who do the bare minimum, I will begin to follow their example because "that is what everyone else at school is doing." I began to realize that not everyone is challenged as much as I am by their parents. They also don't challenge themselves.

Finally understanding what my mom meant by "Don't compare yourself to others" led to me accepting that I have to work harder than other people because I lack certain resources. For the majority of my life, my mother raised me alone working two jobs. Even though she put a tremendous amount of effort into it, she could not completely make up for the fact that my father was not there. All throughout elementary school I was enrolled in some sort of after-school program. There were times where I struggled really hard with school. A big personal conflict was my anger issues during first to third grade. There were times were I wanted to just go home and be by myself, but I could not because nobody was there to watch me.

Middle school I had even bigger problems with school. My mother was still working two jobs but my workload become a lot heavier. I was enrolled in honors classes. At my elementary school, everyone did the same work so middle school was a shock for me. I refused to quit pushing myself and spent every single afternoon and night doing homework for at least 6 hours. I was overwhelmed by the surprisingly challenging and plentiful work.

If I were allowed to work as hard as the people I compared myself to, I would be nowhere near where I am now. As a Hispanic child from a single-parent home, I would have allowed myself to do the bare minimum because that is what society expected me to do. Thanks to my mom I knew I was capable of greater things. Now I plan on going to the University of California, Irvine to pursue a career in computer science. Due to this sentence of five simple words, I continue to persevere through any struggles and go as far as I can. Because in the end I have to live my life, not others.