Moving isn't Easy by Joshua

Moving isn't Easy by Joshua - June 2016 Scholarship Essay

For many people, the high school experience consists of: an awkward freshman year, a sophomore year in which things are getting figured out, a junior year that is busy with school work, but a great time with friends, and senior year is mostly relaxed as preparations for college begin. The pattern works pretty well, and probably would have worked for me if I was not part of a military family, where moving is commonplace.

For many people moving into high school is a little scary, but at least they are able to come into it with their friends. I moved to South Korea before my freshman year, so the change was a little more extreme for me. Not only did I not know anyone, but I had to adapt to an entirely different environment. Admittedly, the experience was not as stressful as one might imagine because Osan Air Force Base, as a military community, is extremely accepting of new individuals, so assimilation into the freshman class was a fairly smooth transition. However, this entire experience of moving was integral into helping me through the next problem I encountered, which was a move in between Sophomore and Junior year.

Moving before high school was hard enough, but doing so in the middle of high school presented a new array of both social and academic challenges. When I first got to Tucson about a week before school started, there was already a huge obstacle to overcome, AP classes. Recently, many schools have adopted the practice of assigning summer work for AP classes, and my new school did this same thing. Consequently, because of my move, I only had a week to complete work that everyone else was given an entire summer to do. This was quite the challenge, but I was able to overcome the obstacle by being extremely focused on my work, and having to limit the amount of sleep I was able to get each night. Even so, I was only able to finish because one teacher agreed to give me an extension as a result of my unique situation. Even though I was able to complete the summer work, my problems were far from over.

One of the AP classes in which I was enrolled was AP Literature, which is largely a discussion based class. This generally isn’t a big deal because I don’t mind contributing to the discussion and providing my input, but in a completely new environment where I don’t know anyone, it can be intimidating. I gradually was able to work myself into it. Eventually, I actually become an important part of the conversations in class, to such an extend that my teacher actually recognized me for an award because I had integrated into the environment so well. Moving was certainly an academic obstacle, but overcoming it was simply a matter of hard work, dedication, and a little bit of bravery.

Moving is certainly a struggle for anyone, but especially for someone who is trying to get an education. It is no easy task to work through the challenges associated with moving, and certainly not to be able to keep high grades while doing so. I was able to do just this by overcoming my fears and working extremely hard on my assignments. The ultimate reason behind my success, was not that I was smart enough or cool enough, but simply that I believed that I was capable of succeeding.