Personal Essay: My Educational Journey

There are many challenges I have faced and will continue to face as I continue my educational journey. Growing up a black male, living with my single mother and sister in an environment where higher education is non-existing. Also going to school with people I felt were smarter than me because they had parents who were well educated and had the tools to teach them the meaning of a college education, is a few challenges I face every day. The one thing that has affected me the most is going through half my life without my father. Not having someone to look up too as man or male role model was hard. I had to learn those types of things on my own. I learned the basics from my mother, who is my role model as a person. She is the only one I had to look up too when things …show more content…
Everyone was working to survive furthering your education at that time was not going to put food on the table, shoes on your feet or a place to lay your head. My mother worked two jobs to make sure that my sister and I were taken care. Before the Kalamazoo promise, I was in a school system that didn’t seem to care if you were successful in school or not. No one reached out to those that were struggling to make sure that they made it. I know that parents have to play a part, but some children didn’t have that support at home. School has always been a struggle for me but my mother was/is there fighting for me and with me when I feel like it’s too much. She refused to let me slip through the open hole that society has waiting for me at the other end. Through my journey, I have been able to maintain a 3.0 and above G.P.A. I also have been recognized with high honors while participating in football, basketball and student government. There are some things that I still need to work on. Being involved in programs like MI GEAR gives you a different perspective on life. You meet people that you probably would not have