My Challenges by Quinter

My Challenges by Quinter - November 2022 Scholarship Essay

Here is a little backstory of my high school career. In the February of my freshman year, my mom unexpectedly passed away. This was the hardest thing I had ever faced, and to make matters worse, the Covid-19 pandemic hit at full force in March. When I look back, I don’t know how I ever managed to get through those first months. Thankfully, I had my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins to help out my family during those difficult times.
My sophomore year I really struggled with school. Previously a student that school came easily to, I was barely keeping above a B in some of my harder classes. My dad would stay late at the farm, and I would have to take care of my little sister once I got home from school and practice. For the first time, I was living in a home that lacked stability, and it was starting to show in several aspects of my life. In November of my sophomore year, my dad started dating someone new, her name is Amy. She has three kids of her own, and lived four hours away. As their relationship progressed, it seemed like my dad was gone more often than he was home. He proposed to her five months later, and decided that my younger sister and I would move the next year. Uprooting my entire life and leaving behind everything I ever knew: family, childhood friends, and a community that supported us so much. It was the second hardest thing I’ve ever experienced. My oldest sister went to college that summer, and I moved in with Amy and her two daughters, as the oldest is in college. The first months of my junior year were so hard for me. I was making friends, but I was missing my old ones. This new school was four-times the size of my old one, and I was completely overwhelmed.
Things started to get better though, I was back to making all A’s, I had a solid home life for the first time in a year, and I was making close friends. Our basketball season also went really well, I started all year and we made it to the state tournament. Just when I felt like I was getting adjusted and I was finally happy with where I was, my dad told our family that we would be moving back to my hometown. This was so hard for me. I felt disregarded because he was moving us again, without even hearing what I had to say about it. I had to go through the process of breaking the sad news to my new group of friends. I have experienced a lot of change in my four years of high school, and I owe it to myself to be successful. So, my biggest source of inspiration is knowing what I have overcome and the success I will continue to strive for.