Growing Up In Middle School

Growing up in a time where the middle class is disappearing can be tough, this is even tougher when you are the child of a single teenage parent. From a young age, I watched my mother struggle while working a full time job and attending college as a full time student. Watching her struggle forced me to grow up and take responsibility for my younger siblings. Even as an elementary student, I was focused on my education and making a life for myself, so that I would not have to endure the torture that my mother endured throughout her teen and twenties. Leaning on my teachers for help and guidance in school helped me get to the finish line. Nothing was more important to me than making it to college.
Seeing my mother struggle to pay bills while furthering her education and getting her bachelor’s degree while …show more content…
It was pretty rough growing up in this schooling system because the middle school and high school were combined. This meant the school was overcrowded and the sixth graders were subjected to the high schoolers. Throughout my entire middle school career I was able to keep up an A grade average, this pattern carried on throughout high school. I learned from my mother’s mistakes and tried my hardest to stay focused on what was important to me-- making it to college. More importantly, making it to college with excellent grades, an outstanding amount of extracurricular activities under my belt, and no children of my own. Growing up in such a small community was tough, everyone knew what was going on in your life and there was no way to hide it. This was especially true for school; if you received a low grade in a class, most of your peers knew. I believe this was another reason why I worked so hard to get outstanding grades in every class. I did not want to be that person who received a failing grade and had to retake the