Personal Essay: My Community College Experience

Through high school my grades weren’t the best. I enjoyed challenging classes, but they were a lot of work. Between the work load and problems at home, I didn’t keep up well. By spring of my senior year I realized my hopes of leaving the small town I lived in weren’t going to happen. A friend who worked at the local community college contacted me about attending classes in the fall. After a failed attempt at joining the military, I decided to attend community college. Today, I’m glad that I had to stay. The last three years have taught me many things about surviving and who I want to be.
Surviving isn’t something people really want to think about. Most people want that American dream. They want to live, not just exist. I’ve spent most of my

Though I lived near family, it was a hard experience. Everything I learned growing up, all of the struggles, became assets. Supporting myself became my fully time job. Fitting school in wasn’t an option. But, I still had extra time. So, I volunteered with a local adult education program called Sound Learning. They asked me to help teach English to Spanish speakers. My Spanish skills needed to be taken out and dusted off, so I agreed. It never crossed my mind that I could get something more out of it. Walking into that classroom was the beginning of my journey to become a teacher. The class was mostly Guatemalan men who spoke broken English. I was surprised to see how short they were! Oh but they could brighten my day like nothing else. I loved teaching them. The burden of not understanding the primary language around them was immense. I discovered the impact I got the privilege of making on their lives at the end of my first quarter as a volunteer. The end of the quarter was celebrated by a party and ceremony to congratulate the students’ hard work. I waited expecting the certificates to be handed out first. I was surprised when the coordinator asked me to come up. I walked to the front, waiting. She presented me with a thank you card from my students. I began to tear up as I read some of their beautiful English sentences. It was filled with their gratitude over the simplest things that I never thought twice