The Importance Of My Educational Goals

"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots." Coming from a first generation immigrant family to the US has greatly affected the way I was raised and my view of cultural differences. Not only has it helped shape me as a person, but it presented with me many opportunities and just as many challenges in pursuing my educational goals. Growing up in a bilingual family has presented me with many opportunities that have helped shaped me in pursuit of my educational goals. First off, being able to speak two languages has been greatly helpful. Growing up, I attended Ukrainian school every Saturday at a nearby church. Here, taught by teachers who had more discretion in how they punished kids, …show more content…
During volunteering, I am able to cater to students whose first languages are not English and have trouble understanding topics learned in class. Despite having been presented with many opportunities, I have also had many challenges in pursuing my educational goals. The biggest challenge I have had is peer pressure from fellow Ukrainian friends. Many of my friends have dropped out of school and gone out to do manual labor. Whenever I do happen to run into them, they taunt me about going to school and brag about the money they are making now. Even my Ukrainian friends who are still planning on continuing their education, wasted their time and resources in high school, and are ill-suited to going into 4 year institutions and are planning on going into trade school or lower tier schools. Because the Ukrainian community here in the Seattle area is so close knit, many kids grow up without even considering going to college. Rumors, such as having to repay your college debt for the rest of your life or off plumbers making more money than college grads, spread like wildfire among the youth. There were times when I saw one of my friends driving a new car that I wondered if I was doing the right thing. There were times that I pondered if I should do be even applying into a four year institute. But, having my parents behind me and encouraging me has further reinforced my decision to continue to pursue my educational goals. My dad, despite having a degree back in Ukraine, works a grueling job in a CNC shop. Although these jobs may pay higher initially, in the long run, going to school leads to a more fulfilling and better career. I believe that running start gave me the little boost of motivation to further my education in college as well. This led to me attending Green River College, which I really appreciated because the classes are smaller than