Struggled with Reading by Jordyne

Struggled with Reading by Jordyne - February 2017 Scholarship Essay

I started kindergarten at an early age of 5 as my birthday is in mid-July at a private school. Everyone else in my class was already either 5.5 years old or getting ready to turn 6. In mid-year of first grade at one of the parent teacher conferences, my teacher informed my mother that I could not read well and was not grasping the material to be advanced into second grade. That night made my parents feel as if they had failed me and were not adhering to their responsibilities as a parent. My mother researched ways to alleviate the situation and made flash cards for me containing all the sight words utilized in the reading material and purchased my Biscuit books to enhance my preliminary reading skills. No one instructed them that most of the schooling took place at home. By the end of my first grade year, I advanced to second grade and was able to attend public school in my third grade year.
Boy, the second challenge of my life came when I was introduced to the public school system. Things would have probably been different on the learning curve if I had attended from the beginning of kindergarten. The SOLs were terribly hard but as always my mom assisted me with flash cards and extra study materials. I excelled in the social aspect of school because my parents from the time I could walk enlisted my in karate classes, gym/tumbling classes, youth cheerleading, basketball, soccer, and softball. Living in a small county has its advantages and I knew so many kids in the elementary school its just as if we grew up together at school. Throughout my elementary and middle school years, I passed all my SOLs with no problems and evidently overcame all my shortcomings from my first grade experience. That is not to say that I don’t have to study more than the next student.
Another challenge came in the fall of 2014 when I was diving into second base while playing travel softball and I heard my shoulder pop out of place and back into place. Boy did it hurt. It turns out I dislocated my shoulder and I was out of softball for four months and had limited activity in volleyball during that time. I was in therapy for twelve weeks. Thank goodness, it was in the off season of school softball. I spent most of my time with our athletic trainer at school to help me out on what actually happened so I could comprehend what I was up against. She showed me what happened and all the muscles and the tendons in the shoulder. That influenced me to take an athletic training class that is offered at my school. I am taking it now and I enjoy every bit of that class! As I started physical therapy, I met some wonderful people that I grew close relationships with. Now I'm interested in pursuing a degree in Athletic Training upon entering college to become an athletic trainer so that I can assist and help athletes with their injuries to help them understand their injuries and how to prevent them. Since my softball career will continue at Lynchburg College, they have a Masters degree in Athletic Training. This degree will help me achieve my life goals in a way that I can be happy in the work that I am privileged to have, I will be successful in pursuing my dream to become an Athletic Trainer.

After that incident, I am currently doing weightlifting and conditioning at the gym for three days a week with another fellow athlete. In our senior year of high school, we are training so that our high school softball team can obtain the right to tell everyone that we are three time Region 3A state champions. Back in 2014 and 2015, we won back to back Region 3A states and in 2016 we were the runners up only losing by two runs scored in the first inning. That was such a defeat for our softball team but we held our heads high and are looking forward to our futures. Academically, I have been working on an individual basis with a test prep specialist in our area to attempt to increase my SAT and ACT scores for my second sitting.

My goals for my future are to obtain a Masters in Athletic Training (a 5 year program) at Lynchburg College, play softball as a Hornet, and graduate with as little debt as possible. I see my mom struggle every day with her college loans as she is a military veteran of the US Army for whom no one assisted or even schooled on college scholarships while she obtained her Master’s Degree in Business Administration. My mother went to night school while she was pregnant with me to obtain this degree. I often hear her say she wished now she had furthered her education and went to law school which was her teenage dream. Both of my parents are government employees and want to see me succeed in whatever I choose to do with no regrets.