Have Fun, Be Grateful. by Ogochukwu

Have Fun, Be Grateful. by Ogochukwu - January 2016 Scholarship Essay

The ball dropped, and so did the habits of my previous year. Typically one to ignore the fascinations with resolutions and “starting anew”, I decided there was indeed a change that had to occur within myself. With all the stresses coming from choosing an appropriate college, figuring out how to reduce the number of digits on the college pricetag, and finishing my high school career strongly, it became easily to lose sight of what was truly important. I decided my New Year’s resolution was going to be short and sweet. Have fun and be grateful.
As the days go by, the joke of “senioritis” becomes more and more real. The will, the passion, the drive, the motivation for success--they are all gone. Finding derivatives helps me get my mid-morning nap, and the expansion of Persia shrinks my attention span. The question we have been asking all our lives is now brought up more than ever, “When will we ever use this?” While a majority of the information that is learned now may not be directly applicable to future careers, it is important to maintain focus and continue achieving at a high level throughout the process of an educational career. A strong work ethic is extremely important, and keeping good habits will be beneficial throughout one’s life. Trying to have fun with the knowledge I am receiving will help me because though it may be absolutely treacherous and miserable, I will be able to keep myself from lowering my performance due to a lack of interest--something that will most definitely be useful when future jobs are beginning to drag and become more repetitive and uninteresting. Having fun will also be a lot easier when I am beginning my college career in the latter portion of 2016. The information will be more directly relatable to my future career, rather than the less applicable high school curriculum. I will be learning what I desire to and I will be in a location of my choosing, which will make the experience of education entirely more enjoyable.
Appreciation of the education I am able to receive will also benefit me in being a better student. My family hails from Nigeria, an African country with a percentage of the population below the poverty line being near seventy. My family worked hard to be of the minority and to not live in poverty, and some, like my mother and her sisters, were fortunate enough to travel to the United States to receive their postsecondary education. They opened windows for myself and my cousins and we are now held to a standard to which we must work hard to create opportunities for the future generations of our family. Not all human beings are given the wonderful chance to receive a free education, and being grateful of what has been given to me will help me to work harder in that education in order to not waste the hard work of my ancestors.
Though certainly a challenge, I must strive to find the joys of learning and to be thankful for all the chances I have to better myself through education. It is exciting to know that I am going to be setting myself for a career that I can make as successful as I choose, as long as I put forth the effort for such success--which I ultimately hope I can use in some way to assist the country of Nigeria and help the nation reach its full potential. This New Year’s resolution will help me become not only a better student, but a better individual for 2016 and for the many years to come.