Attendance is Key by Kennedy

Attendance is Key by Kennedy - June 2016 Scholarship Essay

For my last quarter of high school, I could feel myself losing concentration and motivation to finish strong. My Chemistry class started at 7:45am and the struggle of getting up early was hitting hard. Now typically, I could miss a class or two of one of my easier classes as work was easy to catch up on, but with Chemistry, you had to be present or you would fall behind the other students. Instead of missing one class, I missed three, in a row. Granted they weren't all my fault. Other things had come up that had held me back from going to that class, but I struggled, a lot.

After missing three classes in a row, I went back and fought to grasp the material that had already been taught and struggled even more trying to learn the new material, as it fell back on what we should have known from the previous classes. I figured I would be okay to somewhat understand the material and finish off this last quarter, but I was wrong. My teacher had a 200 point test planned the last day before senior grades were due, and this test would be 50% of my grade. I was freaking out. If I didn't pass this test, I could fail the class and not graduate, or get a D- which is failing in my book as well. I immediately had to figure out a game plan in order to pass this class with an acceptable grade and learn this material for my college chemistry class in the fall. Let's just say, the internet was my best friend. I managed to figure out how to solve the problems and understand the concepts and while my grade wasn't all that impressive on the test, I passed the class with an acceptable grade.

After that experience, I learned that attendance is very important. Had I attended the class the way I was supposed to, I wouldn't have struggled with the class, and would have a complete understanding instead of what I have know, partial understanding. Attendance is key to understanding material and maintaining a good grade in a class. This is especially important in college as your professors aren't as willing to help you when you choose to not go to a class. Just because you don't have to go, doesn't mean you shouldn't go. Attendance is very important, and I will take that lesson with me to college.