I Can and I Will Go to College by Emily

I Can and I Will Go to College by Emily - January 2018 Scholarship Essay

The one word that I feel reflects why I want to go to college is, "Overcome."
There are several reasons that I choose this word as a reflection of my desire to go to college. Many students are born without complications and enter life prepared to learn and grow as soon as they hit the school doors. Learning for me would be a struggle beginning when I was two and a half years old. My daycare teacher spoke with my parents about the other kids not playing with me because they couldn't understand my speech. This led to two years of speech therapy.
Another reason, "Overcome" represents why I want to go to college is, when I was in first grade I would often come home and cry because I couldn't read like to other kids. They were already reading, "Junie B. Jones" books and I barely could read a sentence. School became a place where I struggled but inside of me I deeply desired to be able to read.
During my second grade year a diagnosis of dyslexia put a concrete reason as to why I wasn't keeping up with my peers. For three years, I attended an after school program at, "The Children's Dyslexia Center of Youngstown." The mystery of words began to make some sense, but I still struggled to learn as quickly as my peers. While other students seem to have the ability to hear or read something one or two times to understand, I had to work with much more effort and push through until I could understand and remember the information. This work ethic pattern has followed me throughout each grade level.
Now that I am a senior I literally have had several adults tell me to my face that I should change the career I desire or the college that I want to get into. I don't believe they have any idea of my life as a student and how much I have had to overcome and how hard I have had to work to learn. Their words stung me to my core, but they will not crush me because I will not let it. I can and will achieve my dreams of going to college with the same tenacity that I had a little child in daycare. The same work ethic that has allowed me to earn a 3.12 grade point average, and the same spirit that has never given up despite my tears and struggles to learn and achieve will carry me into college. All in all, I believe the word, "Overcome" perfectly describes why I will to go to college and continue working until I achieve my desired goals.