"Try-Hard" for success by Reilley

"Try-Hard" for success by Reilley - October 2019 Scholarship Essay

When everyone around you is trying to fail, where do you find the motivation and inspiration to break the mold, and find success? Growing up in Sheridan I have had to ask myself this countless times throughout my schooling so far. The culture here isn’t to be successful. It’s “cool” to not care about your classes, and you get called a “try-hard” if you get good grades. Because I have always cared about my classes and worked for a 4.0 GPA, I have never been the cool kid, and have been called more names than I can count. Where did I find the inspiration to be different from everyone else for my own benefit? My biggest inspiration to achieve academic success came from my own parents.
Since a young age, my parents have taught me to always give 100% in everything I do. Not only did they preach that, but they also demonstrated it in everything they did. My father would always have me help him when working on projects around the house. This allowed me to see him giving 100% effort in things.
Doing all the housework and chores also showed me to not slack off on work. I learned that the sooner I did the work, the sooner I would be done. This helped tremendously with my schoolwork. When I didn’t want to do my homework, which was very often, I would think “the sooner I started it and completed it, the sooner I would be free to do other things.” This would help motivate me to do my work.
So while everyone else in my classes were pushing me to stop trying so hard, I have my parents to thank for giving me the inspiration to achieve the success I was capable of, and still am capable of. With high school ending soon, I will be moving on to college and tougher schoolwork. With everything my parents have taught me, along with the inspiration they continue to provide, I know that I will continue to strive for success.