Coffee Stains by Raisa Jana

Coffee Stains by Raisa Jana - March 2021 Scholarship Essay

White desks with coffee cup stains. The lamps light blaring since 9 o’clock yesterday night. Eyes carefully examining the content in front of her and mouthing each of the words to remember. As the sun slowly rises and peeks through the window, she rubs her hand against the back of her neck, her neck tired of perching over her Nursing textbook since last night. The only breaks she’ll take are to re-clip her hair and occasionally rub her eyes, tired of the endless content.

This is one of the earliest memories I have of my mom. The youngest of 12, my mom has been familiar with hardship since she was born. Growing up in poverty was one thing, but the pressure by her older siblings was another. A lot of pressure was placed on her young shoulders, wanting to grow up and be successful. Her older siblings invested their own money into her: to get out of the Philippines, move to America and build a better life. They paid for her education: paid for the bus trips to her school, the uniforms, and her university expenses.

My mom studied to become a Nurse. But a lot of her credits from the Philippines didn’t transfer over to America. My mom had to retrain and restudy a lot of old content to prove herself here. The earliest memories I have of my mom are her sitting at our desk in the living room all night as she reviewed old content. Waking up too early one morning, I remember her stretching up from her desk after spending the entire night studying. The memory of her immediately heading over to the kitchen ready to make breakfast for her family and start the day will always be engraved in my head--the memory of just how hardworking she was.

Her hardworking attitude and sacrifice for us allowed my siblings and I to pursue our own dreams. She had a goal: to not only study hard enough to medically take care of others but to also take care of her family. She is my academic role model. While she didn’t make any crazy scientific breakthroughs, she did have one quality every academic role model should have: a hard working mentality.

Whenever I feel like giving up, I’m reminded of the coffee stains on her desk and her hand rubbing against her neck--the memories of how academically hard she worked to not only prove herself but also provide for her family. Her hard working mentality makes me want to work harder--to follow my dreams and work so hard to one day be able to return the favor and thank her for everything that she's done for me.