My Academic Role Model by Toni

My Academic Role Model by Toni - March 2021 Scholarship Essay

Growing up in a small town, higher education was not brought up in everyday conversation. Most people had the mindset that they are not academic, and that further education was not for them. I probably felt the same, however, when my mon married my stepfather, education was essential to him. He spoke with every young person about higher education, whether they wanted to hear it or not. He spoke with me many times and drove me many miles to speak with community college counselors.
In my high school years, I was facing kidney failure and everyday things were hard for me to do. But his words of going to college always stuck with me. It was a bit hard to break away from the idea that I wasn't cut out for college. Not many people I grew up with went to college, but after I got my kidney transplant, I was given a new lease on life, and a desire to dream. In the past, dreaming of the future was hard to do, especially when your ill.
Today I am very pleased with my decision to follow my stepfather's advice and pursue higher education. I am currently registered in the AA paralegal program at West LA College. My stepfather is very pleased with my decision and my choice in law. That has always been a dream of his, to have a lawyer in the family. He raised 5 children as a single father and all his children have pursued higher education. He has a son that is a lawyer, a grand daughter who just graduated high school, also perusing law school, and a grandson with a PHD. Having an academic role model is why I am in college today; I have made the dean's list on a few occasions and could not have done it without a little encouragement. I am living proof that a little encouragement can go a long way.