Reflection Paper

My alarm goes off. It’s six o 'clock in the morning and a balmy twenty degrees in North Brunswick, New Jersey. I drag myself out of bed, quickly review my homework and wake up my nine-year-old brother. I walk downstairs and start making breakfast for my family. After that I would go to school and come straight home to help out my family by cooking, cleaning the house, helping my brother with school, or making sure my mother took her medicine. I repeated this same routine every single day. Since my mother has been sick I’ve taken a more prominent role in helping to raise my brother. On June 27th, 2011, my mother was diagnosed with a spinal tumor. The outlook was bleak and her prognosis was grim. She was given a 20% chance to survive. The news …show more content…
My grades during high school rebounded significantly. I went from failing classes to earning straight A’s. It all started from a visit to my mother in the hospital. She had heard from my father that I wasn’t doing well in my classes and they were worried for me. She hoped that talking to me would change that. When we were alone in the hospital room my mother grabbed my ear like she always did when I did something wrong and pulled me over to her side. While smiling as I was wincing in pain she explained to me how high school was just a stepping stone to set me up for the future and pleaded with me to try to do well and I promised her that I would. I did keep my promise starting my junior year as towards the end of the year my hard work was noticed and my teachers recommended me to double my math courses, take Honors English, and AP biology the following year. Even when things were extremely stressful at home, I tried to maintain a strong commitment to academics. Despite my maturity, it was difficult to focus at times and my grades during my earlier years of high school reflected that. However, I truly believe that my academic performance towards my junior and senior year was influenced my …show more content…
Almost over night I was forced to grow into an adult and learn to problem solve, manage time and become a leader. As my mother coalesced from a major surgery, I took the responsibility of overseeing aspects of her physical therapy. With my dad working long hours and my mom in pain, I became a leader. I provided my mom encouragement and took an active role in her recovery. I worked closely with her therapists and developed an in depth knowledge of the human body (and just how fragile we all are). Even though I was presented with an overwhelming challenge, I took this opportunity to learn a great deal about physical therapy and suddenly a necessity turned into a