Achieving goals

In high school, I had a hard time getting motivated to do my work. I received terrible grades which led to me barely passing high school. In college, I did not want to have the same thing, or something worse, happen. This could be because I am paying for half of my tuition, or I have finally realized the importance of an education, or both. An education is very important and, with a little bit of work, it is not too hard to get.

My freshman English teacher was, as I heard from other classmates, from a girls private school, thus explaining her harsh grading. I had quickly lost all motivation to do work in that class because I would do the assignments and get a bad grade. Later on in the class, she assigned a research paper. I had decided that this paper could really help my grade and that I would try, and hope for a miracle, to get a good grade.

I worked harder on that paper than any other assignment I had done in as long as I can remember. I spent the majority of my weekends on it and had my parents look it over. After all that work, I got the paper back and with it came a C. I about dropped dead. I was proud of how hard I had worked on it and was thinking for sure I would have an A. At that point, I had completely given up and failed the class. If I had worked on everything else, I probably would have passed. My sophomore and junior year I had teachers that I liked. My grades had improved and I passed both classes.

My senior year was stressful, more for my parents than for myself. At this point, I still did not really realize the value of an education. I had an English teacher that I did not like. I almost put as little effort into this year as my freshman year. I happened to have a study hall with my English teacher. I was forced to work with her to improve my grades. If this had not happened, I would have failed. She helped me study for the tests and made sure I was completing the homework. I still some how managed not to get good grades.

My mom was stressed with my lack of effort to work to my potential. She was already stressed with work. We knew my dad, who my mom divorced and now lives in Grove City, would lecture me for hours about my grades before actually doing anything to help, so we did not tell him until my mom had had enough. To my surprise, he did not talk about it very long. He would now, better late than never, keep me doing work.

By the end of the year, my grade for the class and my graduation was resting on my research paper. I was forced to work on it by my teacher during study hall and my parents at home. My dad would see to it that I would complete the paper. He was always making sure I was working on it. I finished the paper and got an A on it. It was a happy, relieving day for all of us.

Also during this year was the college application process. At my high school, pretty much everyone was expected to go to college and I was highly pressured by my parents to go. I wanted to stay close to home and my dad wanted me to go somewhere cheap. He was hoping I would go to Columbus State, but I found the Newark Branch of the Ohio State University to be a better fit. I applied and was accepted.

When I went to college, I decided I wanted to work harder and get good grades. My first college paper was a simple one page descriptive essay. I finished it and turned it in early. With this being my first college paper, I had no idea what to expect. When I got it back, I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw an A on the paper. Nothing could take that smile off my face. I could not wait to tell my parents. This was when I realized that if I work at it, I can do well in school. Of the entire class, I only missed two reading assignments. I ended up with an A- in the class and a GPA of 3.4, qualifying me for honors.

I plan to keep working hard at my school work. My goal is to graduate with a GPA of at least 3.3. If I can keep my focus and continue to put forth the effort I have so far, I will easily achieve my goal. Anyone can achieve their goals. If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.