Hi, my name’s Donovan. I’m 17 years old and graduated this year with honors. I was raised with Christian values in mind, and attended a Methodist school. I was raised in the Christian faith yet I find myself, as with some of my friends who were raised in the same conditions, we seem to be growing farther away from our upbringing as we age. I find myself simply not understanding as time goes by, a complete polar opposite from the song ‘Farther Along’.
“Set,” Bang! The gun goes off and I quickly shoot ahead of the rest of the field. My strides long and quick as I sprint for the track. I can’t hear anyone behind me, I must be a good 10 meters in front of everyone else. I run around the track and continue to sprint across the field back to the crowd of parents, friends, and girls soccer players who were forced to attend this last cross country meet of the season.
Have you ever wondered what struggles adults have had as a child? What experiences have shaped them to become who they are? These struggles can range from traumatic experiences to moral experiences. A traumatic experience can range from someone dying to getting bullied daily in school. These struggles will shape a person which will shape them when they are older.
“I think part of maturity is knowing who you are.” (Rob Lowe) Various events that happen can mark your life tremendously. They can help you mature in many different ways coming from your background or culture. Many people believe that transitioning to an adult can take time.
It is a beautiful moment when you have complete clarity of what you want to be when you grow up. I have always had an interest in pregnancy and infants. I was always watching birthing shows on tv when I was a young but I never really thought anything of it. Until I was about 16 I had no idea what I was going to be and then it hit me.
My thematic pathway consists of three classes: Introduction to Music, Introduction to Sociology, and Digital System. The first two classes were taken in John Jay College and the last one was taken in my first semester at Buffalo University. These classes come together to qualify my global pathway under the topic of Design and the Build Environment. Nevertheless, I am still not sure how they assimilated into this topic to develop our critical thinking skill and analytical skill to approaches the problem solving as how it descripted on the website. Furthermore, it really gives me a tough time to make these classes echoed each other.
“Ok, you wait here,” I told Hailey. I hurriedly climbed the stairs to grab my coat so I could walk her to school. Hailey can never run up the stairs. Everyone of them is different height from the last, making it impossible to properly judge how high to lift your foot. Either the stair is too high and she stumbles forward with her foot falling beneath where she was expecting it to stop, or she kicks the step lip with her socked foot.
Abby’s illness thrust me from childhood, and I gained the realization I have the ability to face difficult challenges and to persevere. Developing into adulthood isn 't turning a certain age or landing a certain job; it’s learning to treasure the good and cope with the bad. Being an adult is knowing terrible things happen to wonderful people, and it’s no ones fault. Growing up is realizing that your parents can’t shield you from everything bad in the world, but they can hold your hand when the going gets tough.
ECO completely omitted my main reason for taking a full time course. I was working merely as an "assistant" and had no professional growth. I clearly remember stating that, "there were no new assignments or projects for me" and I wasn't working well as he stated and respected ECO failed to interpret it in its true meaning. My career got stuck at a point and I was restricted to basic duties and sometimes I was made fun for having no new dimensions in career, emotionally and mentally I started to suffer because of this. As time passed, I realized my true potential is being wasted and in order to save my chances of a flourishing career, my professional confidence and professional and self respect.
Although graduating early means I will have more work than usual, I am perfectly fine with that. I can put in the work and the dedication to do what I need to do to finish early. By graduating early, I can start college early and get a little head start on things. Graduating early will push me to take risk that I’ve never taken. Entering the adult world will help me realize of what I am capable
The morning of March 28, 1997 is the day I became an adult. I was standing in front of the Polish equivalent to the Department of Motor Vehicles feeling defeated. My mother had been killed in a horrific hit and run 14 hours earlier. In the midst of coming to terms with what happened, I remembered that I scheduled my driver’s license test for April 1st. That day would now be the day I was going to bury my mom.
Growing up, I would talk to anyone who would listen, rambling on even in the way toddlers do. I would talk to waiters or waitresses at restaurants, cashiers, anyone. My outgoingness obviously worried my parents because they thought I would get kidnapped. They even put a lock up higher on our front door so I would not be able to open the door to a stranger and get stolen. But as I grew up I became more and more shy and introverted.
Looking over myself as a teen I would define myself as being a procrastinating slacker who never wanted to do anything. I went from an all A student in elementary to a kid who made C’s, D’s, and F’s in my first 2 and a half years in high school. As I look back on my past I regret my outlook on life as a teen with no goals set until I joined marching band and my school’s debate team. Going into my freshman year I was joining the “Mighty Hawk Band” and I had no idea how this would change my outlook towards life. I remember before my first audition to obtain a marching spot that morning I thought to myself “It is just marching band.
What has made me who I am? Well growing up I had no friends. I would go to school and just pray not to have a bad day. For me a good day was a day I didn’t have any outburst.
In our life, there are periods of challenges that we must face, but the real challenge is how we grow and learn from overcoming them. Being naive children, we believed that life was simplistic and effortless. Well, we were wrong, we can only yearn for life to be easy. Growing up, we continue to face countless hurdles that only get bigger and bigger. My life, in particular, has been filled with numerous up and downs.
