Attending College Is Important by Lizbeth

Attending College Is Important by Lizbeth - April 2020 Scholarship Essay

Many high school seniors like me have thought about attending college or going straight into the workforce. It’s not easy coming from a small town knowing all you have left if you mess up is either the fields or warehouse. Since I was in eight grade I got the “talk” from both great and bad teachers. The positive teachers always said getting a degree was important to become successful in life and also to represent the community I came from. Negative teachers always said college was not for everyone especially people who lived in small towns where gangs were bad. I never let the negative things take over my thoughts, instead I let them be a push to believing that attending college is important.
To me attending college is super important, not only because of the great experiences you get out of it but also because you make your family and community proud. Coming from a first generation Hispanic giving up is not a part of us. My parents never got to finish school because they didn’t have those opportunities in Mexico, they chose to come to America and have a better future for them and their future family. Growing up I saw how my parents worked to live.. They would come home from work exhausted, eat, and sleep six days out of the week. They always told me and my siblings to be thankful for what we had because the opportunities of free education and the opportunities to be successful in life were one step away.
Being the first person in my family to even graduate high school is a big deal but attending college is a huge milestone that shouldn’t be taken for granted. Starting senior year was something I looked forward to since I was a first grader, seeing seniors say their last goodbyes before graduation and saying we were going to be them one day gave me hope of finishing strong. Senior year came, all my friends and I would talk at the lunch table about college and graduation. I started applying for schools, being afraid of rejection. My first acceptance came three days after I applied; it was my safe school. Next, I applied at my dream school Washington State University, many friends had gotten their acceptance letters already but, I had to wait two more weeks. One night my family and I sat in the living room talking about our day, I came to my room to get my phone and saw I received an email from the school. I ignored it as I thought it was just information about the school, later that day I sat on my bed and read through my emails, opened it without thinking anything of it “Congratulations”, huge bold letters written across the screen. I was accepted to my all time dream school! At that moment I realized how important it was to have a plan after high school. My family and I started to run and jump knowing I have a bright future ahead of me.
Attending college is a big opportunity for everyone who finished school from not knowing what major to pursue to becoming the next president of the United States. Everyone has a shot at college and should take that opportunity. To me and the people around me believe college is an important step to become a successful person in life.