Practicing the Baby Steps to Success by Jacqueline

Practicing the Baby Steps to Success by Jacqueline - November 2013 Scholarship Essay

Summer before freshman year I thought of high school as a jail, where there was only one purpose to school. The purpose to school was to study and do all the homework to get straight A’s. There was no other life outside of school. This mind set completely changed throughout the four years in high school. High school was not about retaining all this foreign information, high school was a place where I learned how to take the baby steps to be successful. The way I took these steps taught me how to balance, what type of student I am and that school is what I make of it.

During high school years a student has a triangle to balance, where one peak is academics, the other is extra-curricular activities and the final is family and friends. It was crucial for me to find out how much work load I could handle and still be able to be involved with activities and my family. My main peak for the first weeks of high school was academics, and I overloaded myself with study time, which only caused stress. This was not healthy for me so I joined sports and school clubs as stress reliefs. Then I noticed I did not have any time to hang out with my family because I would be at school until the sun went down and the time at home was spent on homework, so I dropped out of some school clubs. Once my triangle was balanced I was able to breath and enjoy my years in high school. Balancing this triangle taught me how to take easy step to success without falling on my butt because one side was heavier than the other. Since I learned how to balance in high school, college and life has been easier to go through.

High School was not the place that taught me how smart I was, but it was a place where I learned how to become a smart student. The first few month of high school are meant to be the months where student learn how to approach certain situations. During these first few months freshman go through the process of meeting new people, having professors with different teaching style, and their first round of tests. All of this become really stressful but it is the student’s job to figure out how they will approach all of this. When I approached these obstacle I learned that I was a student that work hard and had long hours of studying to get an A on my test. I was a student that was shy but warmed up to people after a while. I learned that I am a student who sets goals and is determined to achieve the goal. High school taught me the type of student I was. High school taught me the how to approach obstacle in a way that are simplest for me. Learning the time of student I am makes it easier to take a step to success by knowing if it is easiest for me to jump to next step or to walk up to the next step.

The high school experience is different for every student. How a student views high school depends on what they make out of high school. The student is the one who chooses if high school will be full of stories or if it will be dreaded the rest of their life. Throughout these four years I found a ways to make school as fun as possible. I became a student that enjoyed going to school and learning new information. I made school enjoyable by doing activities that I enjoyed. I joined the classes that made me feel accomplished, made the correct friends, and played the sports I loved. In high school I learned how I can make life fun. Leaning this is important in life because if a trip to somewhere is unpleasant than there is absolutely no reason in making a dreadful trip. Life is a better experience when there is a smile.

The most valuable lesson I learned in high school was how to take the steps to success. High school made me practice the baby steps to get to a goal. First of all, high school taught me how to take a balanced step up to success. Secondly, it taught me the type of student I am and how the ways that are the easiest for me to get up the step. Lastly, high school taught me that school is what I make out of it, I can either enjoy my way up to success or agonies the way up. High school is not to learn that 2+2=4 but the process to get to the solution.