What I Wish I Knew Then by Kymanie

What I Wish I Knew Then by Kymanie - July 2025 Scholarship Essay

This year has been one full of milestones – I turned 18, graduated high school, and will begin college this fall. With all these changes, introspection and looking back at my journey and life experiences has become a priority to be able to move forward.

One of my most prominent struggles has been building and maintaining relationships with the people around me. The height of this issue was when I entered middle school as I was not only very introverted but also didn’t understand what was acceptable when speaking with my peers.

Some advice I would give to my past self is to take the feelings of others into consideration and communicate more effectively. This would have helped me a lot during that time because I did not understand the weight of my words and how they would affect not only others but myself as well. My remarks and diatribes would later turn me into a social outcast and I was isolated due to my own words, actions, and mistakes. I only realized the damage I had caused after it was done and this led me to have lots of regret. Had I known the discipline to stop myself before making questionable decisions, life would have been a whole lot easier during that time.

That being said, as a prospective collegiate student looking back on middle school, I wouldn’t change much. Not because I’m proud of what I did, but because the alternative isn’t favorable. Had I not learned the things I learned when I had learned them, I would have learned them much later in life which would be worse.