From Failure to Success by Lacquetta

From Failure to Success by Lacquetta - August 2014 Scholarship Essay

As an Early College student it is often difficult to balance both college and high school classes. In my freshman and sophomore year I managed to handle it well. I was primarily taking high school classes at the time and at the most two college classes per semester. However, in junior year I began to take more college classes in the hopes that I could finish the five year program in four years. I was determined and felt that I had what it took to do just that but nothing could have prepared me for the struggles I faced that year.

Until my junior year I was pretty much a solid A and B student. My grades were not as great as they were in middle school but I was happy with them and so was my family. In my junior year, I decided I wanted to try and graduate with my high school diploma and associate’s degree in four years instead of five. This meant taking four college classes along with three honors high school classes but I thought I could handle it. However, the workload soon proved too difficult for me to handle. I was not able to keep up and starting turning in assignments late and then not at all. My grades began to drop quickly. My A’s became B’s and my B’s became C’s. I was stressing because suddenly my best was not good enough. Then the worst possible thing happened – I failed a college class. I did not realize I was failing it until it was too late to save my grade. Reality hit me hard because for the first time ever I had failed a class.

Having never failed before I did not know how to handle it and my family was not really providing me with the emotional support I needed. I began to face an internal emotional breakdown. Showing emotions to my family and friends was not a choice because they viewed it as me being weak. I was stressed, disappointed and feared that I was heading down the same path as my birth parents. However, I did not let any of this show. Instead I just acted like it was no big deal. I was no longer motivated to be the perfect student I was before. I just knew I was going to be a failure anyways. My grades continued to be below par. My family chalked it up to me just being lazy. Little did they know I was suffering inside. However, everything turned around in my senior year.

The beginning of my senior year seemed to spark something within me. Despite having another year before I graduated, because I was on the five year plan again, I realized I would be graduating soon and it was about time I get myself together. I pushed myself to work harder and by the end of the semester I had all A’s in my college and high school classes. Making all A’s was an accomplishment I had not achieved since middle school. Seeing my name on the Dean’s List for the college filled me with proud. All of a sudden I was determined to make something of myself and there was no stopping me. I even retook the Spanish class I failed over again and made an A the second time around. My outlook on failure at the time differs greatly from my outlook now. When you fail you should take the time to step back and reevaluate the situation so you can make it better. So many people don’t realize or realize too late that failing does not mean you should give up but rather than take it as an opportunity to better yourself.