We recently invited first-generation college students from across Florida to share their experiences on how they overcame barriers to make it to college. ENLACE FLORIDA is pleased to share a few of the stories with you. It is our hope that this collection of essays will provoke a serious statewide conversation that will lead to solutions improving our PreK-20 system.

Jessica

University of Florida

When my first grade teacher told our class “we could be anything we wanted to

be,” I guess that didn’t include college which would require her to notify us of the fine

print which would probably read as follows: “offer may be limited to only students from

those schools who adequately prepare their students, void wherever students cannot

afford to pay tuition, and offer lasts only as long as government supplies of progressive education legislation exist.” For some, however, the store that sells this college education

doesn’t exist in their neighborhood or sells classes and degrees at prices they can’t afford to go there for. For others such as myself, the concept of a store alone was a luxury and the idea of getting there was shoved behind financial stresses, work woes, second-hand stress from parents, and school responsibilities. It was definitely a struggle to get to the

University of Florida and it continues to be a struggle to stay here.

My childhood was about as rocky as Sylvester Stallone. I never had those first day sneakers we felt were as necessary as a pencil for the first day of school and since my parents didn’t have a car I was definitely not one of the students greeted by long awaiting parents in some school’s packed bus circle. I had the charisma of a popular girl, the off- brand dress code of the class reject, and the mystery of the poor girl I was. I was the girl who got off the bus blocks away from the hotel I lived in and walked wearily in hopes that nobody would notice that I always walked away from the apartment complex I claimed to have lived in. Life for me was all about pretending, my mother struggled in an unproductive and destructive marriage while provider was probably the only job that gave her a position so my brother made keeping up appearances a profession we were

highly skilled at. Between middle school and high school on three different occasions our family lived in a room of someone else’s house, moved to seven different apartments, and

once lived in our car. It wasn’t easy hiding the fact that some mornings we would have to

get ready in the complex pool bathroom because the water was cut off, or we’d have to

go to a neighbors house to see our homework after the lights were cut off, or even that

sometimes we would be without our rent-to-own furniture after payments fell behind. We

couldn’t hide the fact that our house phone was cut off for three months at a time when

cell phones were not yet deemed the “new house phone.” It was hard to do school when

just doing everyday life was difficult. While others printed beautifully typed and

computer created images on seven dollar poster boards, I cut old shoe boxes apart and

created poster boards out of them with tape while magazines my mom found at work

were great ways to avoid a hand-drawn project. Money doesn’t seem that important until

you’re left without it and you realize just how much of a difference it makes. My senior

year I worked 40 hours a week, got two jobs in the summer, and did odd jobs to earn enough money to help keep my family wearily afloat long enough for me to graduate and go on to college. Financial issues didn’t leave just because of a diploma, actually they became more complicated. I was set to come to the University of Florida Summer B semester, however, apparently my “test scores were too high” to be accepted on scholarship. I decided to come anyway despite the fact that the day I was supposed to move up I had nothing but what I could borrow from the apartment. By blessing a check came that day from a family member who gave me enough to buy food and some necessary dorm materials before I left, however, I came here with no comforter, meal plan, and obviously little financial knowledge. If I had known that scholarships often

have very specific ways they must be applied, that one could be evicted from a dorm, and

that money undeniably overrides potential I would have made it my mission to get every

scholarship possible while I was in high school. There’s nothing like getting an eviction letter in a college dorm or being unregistered for all of your classes and risking losing credit for classes whose tuition weren’t paid despite the presence of more than enough money in my account because a scholarship didn’t specifically state the funds could be directed to the summer semester. The issues became even more daunting fall semester when neither my financial aid nor my scholarships would be released because their release requires a student to be registered for classes I couldn’t afford because I owed money from classes I took summer semester that red tape kept from being paid. As I’ve learned, college is a financial investment you have to be financially prepared for and unfortunately a 4.8 GPA and an AP scholar with honors is no more preferred than a 2.3

GPA average student when it comes to paying tuition. Opportunity is a business man and

I wish I would’ve known just how much it was to buy his stock before I came to college empty handed. Had the weather man forecasted how I’d weather my first college semester I would’ve known to make sure I was financially secure because I survived only because economic struggle was a class I’d repeated over and over throughout my childhood. I don’t want to just survive I’d love to thrive. Getting a college education is like driving a car, it’s wonderful to drive when your car is in good condition, however when tow truck drivers have your license plate on a list and the engine isn’t working well your driving experience may not be so wonderful.

If I was given the opportunity to speak to a Florida legislator, I would advise him/her to require that colleges/universities participate more in high school system

requirements. It seems that many schools focus so hard on FCAT they can’t extend their

vision to extend to the needs of students after high school. Seniors get lazy their senior years because most have already passed the FCAT and that seems to be the only point of importance for schools slave to its stipulations. In order to bring the focus back to higher education, colleges/universities should work with high schools to develop requirements that polish students enough to make them shine on their applications and show their

brilliance as college freshman. There are rare times in life you can get benefits from a

two-sided story, but in this case you can. Students will be better prepared to excel in

college, while legislators and universities benefit monetarily from a more qualified student body who they can easily retain long enough to shape into economically contributing members of society. If I had known then what I know now and if legislators

would learn now what they’ll be forced to learn later maybe we both wouldn’t be worrying so much about the state of our education.

Rosenny

Florida International University

The Need to Succeed

I honestly believe that no matter how bright the sun may be in the sky, there is

always a dark thunder storm behind it. During my senior year of high school, my entire

life was turned upside down. After my mother had been diagnosed with diabetes, I would

awake at strange hours in the night to check up on her. However, this night was different.

Upon entering my mother’s room I could feel something was amiss. After calling her name a few times she had awaken but could not respond and continued to hold her chest

area. At this moment I realized that she was verbally unresponsive and was experiencing

low breathing levels. After calling the paramedics, I had awakened my 13 year old sister

because I was afraid to leave my mother by herself. Within 10 minutes, the Emergency

Medical Technician’s arrived, I immediately informed them that she was a diabetic and

they proceeded to check her sugar level. They soon realized that her glucose level was extremely low and they immediately provided her with cranberry juice to bring up her sugar level. Fortunately she gradually became verbally responsive. My mother began to complain about chest pain and asked to be transported to the hospital. While the paramedics were loading her into the ambulance, my father arrived home from work and accompanied my mother to the hospital.

After dropping my three siblings to school and going to school myself, I realize that this morning experience was just the beginning of my adventure. During school I made a

few phone calls to make sure that someone would be available to pick my siblings up

from school. Later that afternoon I was informed about the accident which my father was

involved in. On his way to pick up my siblings from school, he was struck by a car that

ran the red light. Honestly how much bad news can a girl handle in just one day? He was

rushed to hospital where doctors had to remove the shattered glass that pierced his body

so that his left kidney could stop bleeding. After being admitted to Jackson Memorial

Hospital the doctors ran a few tests and realized that my mother’s gallbladder had to be

removed. For the next few days I had to be as discreet as possible when explaining to my

siblings why my parents were not home. For every day that my siblings and I spent

without our parents, we could not be separated. Even morning was a marathon for me.

After dropping my seven and five year old siblings to their respective classes, I had to wait until they were not watching me to slip away; every afternoon they would always complain that I left them. Within a week, my father was released but my mother was being held under observation because her sugar level was inconsistent. During this time I went to school and pretended as if my life was fine. I never complained or cried but homework became extremely challenging because my siblings followed me like mosquitoes.

Senior year was supposed to be exciting. No matter how many times I heard those before me complain how this year would be filled with arduous assignment and life changing decisions, but I was ready. One thing that I did not expect to happen was the complete destruction in my family structure. I had come to accept that my mother was a diabetic and every day of her life was a battle for survival, but I was not prepared for such a melt

down. Being a person who refuses to let difficulties take control of my life, I accepted the

cards that life had dealt to me and became strong. While my friends used their nights to

party, I used mine to study for the Standardize Assessment Test (SAT). For days at a time

I was a walking corpse. Playing mom, dad, student and older sister was much harder then

I thought. Cooking and cleaning was the easy part; but making sure that my siblings and my homework assignments were done, was not that simple. Although, my parents were not by my side my other obligations had to be fulfilled. Senior year was passing by the minute as were the deadlines, which were required of the senior class. As days without my parents turned into weeks; my “A’s” turned into “C’s” and then my “C’s” slowly turned into “F’s.” I did not realize how much damage a few missed assignments could possible do to my GPA. When this happened I realize I had to inform my teachers of my family situation or I everything I worked for would be lost. When my mom finally came home, you could see the relief on the faces of my siblings. Just like children, they returned to there old habits of running around and being crazy, but I knew life would not be the same. The doctors had increased her insulin dosage and prescribed more medication to help control her diabetes and small scars had now replaced my father’s wounds. Although, I had to take the SAT and ACT twice to make the scores that I needed, but after this ordeal there is no barriers that I can not overcome.

For many first generation students, including myself, I find it difficult to know what exactly the right thing to do is. Being the oldest child, of immigrant parents, my mother and father have always tired to instill the importance of education within my life and my siblings. Always proclaiming that without an education success, luxury, and whatever

your heart desires is nothing but a dream, but with the proper education everything is possible. Nonetheless, all I have is my parent’s words of encouragement. Unlike the

Wizard of Oz, I did not have a yellow brick road to follow or red shoes that I can click together and say “there’s no place like home,” and hope that everything is okay.

Believing in myself, going by guidelines; that is provided for my profession; asking for advice and having faith is all I have to help get one step closer to becoming a

Congressional Aid.

After my college graduation, hopefully all the internships that I have committed myself to completing will be helpful in opening doors to governmental positions. I have always had a passion for voicing my opinions, on issues that serve as disadvantages to anyone.

Being apart of the Legislative branch makes society what it is today. Creating and amending and being apart of a check and balance makes are country run smoothly. Even though, I may not be that person who stands before the media and verbalizes the need for change, but I would proudly be apart of any organization that fights for the right of those who have been treated unjust fully.

In the short time that I have been apart of the University system, I feel that high school is a very important factor in helping me excel when it comes to upper division education.

One thing that I would have done differently is focusing more on the Standardize

Assessment Test (SAT) and the American College Test (ACT). Not until I attended college did I understand how important these tests were. Not only does it provide admission to upper division education but it is the equivalence to the College Level

Academic Skills Test (CLAST). Furthermore, I wish I had a better understanding of the

word “credits.” In high school “C’s” were cool. It was enough to get by in a class and it

didn’t hurt your grade point average (GPA) if you earned three. However, in college a

“C” can affect your GPA as much as an “F” can, especially if you earning three at a time.

If I had the opportunity to meet with a Florida Legislator I would beg of him or her to change Florida’s University budget cuts. It’s a shame to say but approximately

$143 million dollars has been cut from Florida 11 state universities (Ray). With such a large budget cut or any amount cut from a university will cause admission offices to turn away students who have worked their entire lives to make it to this point. For many students college is the door to success. However, when this door is locked or the security guard at the door tells you that you can not enter, how are you suppose to feel? Even though, advisors encourage students to attend community colleges for two years and then transfer to universities; if they are not accepted their first time, but with budget cuts effecting university admissions there is a big possibility that transfer students or students already attending the university can not pay their tuition. As a student attending private, public or home school, you’re always told to do your best when completing assignments or participating in school activities, so you can be successful. However, how is a student suppose to feel when they have worked to their fullest potential and followed the guidelines only to find out that the system had yet another trick up their sleeves. With no choice many universities are forced to increase their tuition rates and/or cut certain programs (Ray). This entire ordeal is devastating. Florida is among if not the state with the highest amount of penitentiaries. Instead of spending all this money on rebuilding or

building new prison why not find ways to make sure that once in-mates are release, they become valuable citizens to society. Although, you may feel that Florida’s university budget cuts are not affecting you; or your child is attending school at a private or out of state institution, however, what if university budget cuts were felt nation wide; where higher education is not something you can reach for but only dream about.

Kayla

Florida State University

Withstanding All

“You can’t do it”, “You will never make it”, and “You are wasting your time”

were phrases that had become the norm for me throughout my life. Others assumed that

my aspiration to attend Florida State University, or any college for that matter was

unattainable for a person “like me.” A person who was raised in a single parent home

with a mother struggling to make minimum wage, a person who falls in the minority

category, and a person who would be the first individual in her family to attend college or

even graduate high school. Due to this constant negativity, maintaining optimism

became the first barrier in my journey to obtain my goals. It was difficult to ignore the

cynical opinions of others that did not go unnoticed on almost a daily basis and uphold

my determination of one day “making it”.

As I grew older though, I began to understand the reasons those people felt the

way they did. I realized that in reality the chances of me being able to attend school were

slim due to the financial incapability of my family. Upon realization of the road block I

immediately obtained an after school job in order to save for college. Balancing a 27 hour

work week along with piles of schoolwork was a difficult task and posed as the next

obstacle for me to overcome. I t served as an obstacle because there were countless times

in which I simply wanted a break; I wanted to be like the other teenagers who were able

to shop in the mall instead of working in it but I had to remember that doing this as well as maintaining a high GPA in order to qualify for scholarships is the only way I could attend college so there was no choice regarding whether to stick it out or not.

In addition to overcoming the obstacle of maintaining hope and faith in the face of complete hopelessness and possessing the financial means to attend college the obstacle of being truly happy with who I am and what I have arose upon acceptance into Florida

State University through the CARE program during the beginning of my freshman year.

Arriving to a campus in which I did not see many others “like me” in the classroom, in the cafeteria or simply walking down the road made me envious of those who I assumed did not have to face the obstacles I faced. It looked as if they did not have a care in the world in regards of being put down and struggling with financial matters. Each day it was as if I had to see everything I was not, everything I did not have, and everything I craved to be. Finally I came to the realization that it does not matter what one does not have, he/she should be grateful for the things they have such as being able to attend Florida

State University , receiving financial aid and having the opportunity to establish a better life for my family and I.

My high school years as well as the beginning of my freshman year could have been better if I knew that it was not wise to compare oneself to others but to love, accept and be proud of oneself as well as where one comes from. Coming to this realization would not have been possible without the obstacles I have faced so for that reason I appreciate the hardships for allowing me to become the strong, proud, and most of all happy Florida

State University college student. I am aware that there are many other people in Florida facing the same difficulties I had to face so if I had the opportunity to suggest an idea regarding improvements for the Florida school system I would propose to continue to grant those less fortunate with federal aid and to continue to fund more programs like the

CARE program so other people “like me” can “make it” also.

Ashley

Florida A&M University

A wise person once said that there are three kinds of people in this world, those that make things happen, those that watch things happen and those that do not know what is happening. What happens when a child with the potential to make things happen is raised in an environment where nothing is happening and the people in that environment do not seem to care? What becomes of that person? Does that person have to forgo their dreams and aspirations and settle for the obvious? Or, is it possible for that person to find the strength to chase the unknown on a path to make things happen for themselves?

Greetings, I am Ashley Butterfield and I make things happen. The following is a mere fraction of the hardships I faced in my pursuit of higher education. Some of the barriers I had to overcome were being born into a family that did not value education, my lack of knowledge about the process one has to go through to be considered for entry into college and how unprepared I was for college once I got here.

The quest for higher education has been a daunting and difficult journey. Since birth the odds of me even considering college were not in my favor. I am the last born of my parent’s five children, the second to finish high school, and the first to go to college. I was born to a mother that as a young lady never aspired to pursue higher education, and an immigrant father with little understanding about America’s education system.

Education was never a focal point in our household. I went to school because that is what

kids do; I stayed in school because that was where all my friends were. I maintained

decent grades so that I could participate in extracurricular activities. It was not until my

senior year of high school when I tagged along with my best friend and her family on a

college tour that I got a taste of what college was like. That experience opened my mind

to thoughts beyond the walls of high school, and beyond an environment where things

never happen and apathy about education was the norm. At that moment I became fueled

with hope and had a new dream, a dream of being planted in an environment rich in possibility and flourishing with people from many different backgrounds colliding to create an educated community of young adults on the brink of greatness. From that experience I decided that the family heirloom that I wanted start and pass on was education.

As though looking beyond my environment and deciding to make college my reality was not difficult enough, I had no knowledge about the process one needed to undergo to become eligible for acceptance into a university. I was unaware of the required tests needed for determining eligibility for entrance into college, the forms I needed to fill out, how to find the right school, how to apply to a school, how much school would cost, or how to fill out the Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA), nor did I fully understand what the FASFA was. Suddenly my dream of going to college seemed as farfetched as winning big playing the lottery. Luckily, I had the winning numbers in my best friend and her parents, the same friend that I had tagged along with during her college tour. Both my friend’s parents had gone to college and knew the process very well. Everything my friend’s parents told her to do I would do as well.

Without a direct reference to draw from it took time and countless moments of

frustration, but with a little patience and determination I maneuvered my way into an

accredited university, completed the FASFA, and was awarded a Bright Futures

scholarship, in addition to receiving a federal grant.

Equipped with my golden ticket to possibilities I entered the doors of higher

education and was greeted by fees, fast pace teaching styles, and no support. I had no

ideas that I would need to purchase five hundred dollars worth of books each semester,

that there were additional fees I had to pay, such as dorm and lab fees, and worst, all

these fees needed to be paid for before the first week of classes or there would be

additional late fees. To help pay for the portion of tuition that Bright Futures does not

cover, as well as living and other expenses, I have had to take out student loans, work

apart time jobs, and apply for food assistance. I currently have two part-time jobs to

cover my expenses in addition to going to school full time. Another surprise waiting for me behind the golden gate of higher learning was getting hurled into a classroom were

teachers move at a fast paste and expect everyone to be on the same level, despite the

different backgrounds everyone came from. It was extremely difficult for me not to

compare myself with my cohorts that had come from college preparatory schools and

seemed at ease with the advanced lessons and the fast pace teaching styles, especially

since I knew that the professor would not grade me on my individual effort, but on my

performance compared to the rest of the class. I had trouble adjusting to college; I had to

learn how to study, how to write a college level paper, and how to speak in a college level

tone. I finished my first semester with a 2.7 grade point average and my grade point

average did not deviate far from that for the next three semesters. Today I have a 3.2

grade point average and I am determined to graduate summa cum laude honors.

Looking back at my barriers and obstacles of being born into a family that did not value education, lacking knowledge about the process one has to go through to be considered for entry into college, and how unprepared I was for college once I got here, I can say that I am proud of myself and thankful that I went through those hardships.

Knowing all that I know now, I can serve as a reference of change and possibility for

someone else, and I would not change my experience for all the riches in the world.

Instead, my goals now and after I graduate is to help those who are underprivileged seek

and find the road to education. My only hope is that new legislation will be put into place

to help those like me, who overcame the barriers to education stay in school with more

financial assistance. If given the opportunity to speak with a Florida legislator I would

advise him or her to level the playing field and allow those who battled against

disadvantages in social status and educational opportunities and made it to college be

given the necessary materials needed to stay and be successful in college. We, the

innocence of an unequal society need aide for books and housing, as well as more

legislation requiring high schools serving underprivileged communities to help those

students through the application process for getting into school and readiness program to

help students adjust to college courses.

Jacquese

Florida State University

There is a religious statement that says “the Lord would not put more on you than you can bear.” With this statement in mind the obstacles that I faced to get to college and the during the duration of my present enrollment in college may not amount to the person next to me but it held extreme significance in my life.

My mother was diagnosed with anemia and had fibroids in her reproductive area during my eleventh grade year of high school. During this same year I transferred from a magnet school to the local public school closer to home due to my mother’s sickness.

There were days when my mother did not have enough energy to get up and go to work.

Due to this my mother took off from work to attend to her sickness. She was not able to conduct her daily activities as a teacher. At home, I would have to take on the daily responsibilities and make sure that her diet was high in iron to increase her energy level.

One day while I was at school my grandmother came by the house to visit my mother but there was no answer from my mother. My grandmother grew scared and used her key to our home and found my mother in the living room bleeding from her reproductive area. With that notion my grandmother called for the ambulance and my mother was rushed to the hospital. The doctor told my mother that she needed to get the fibroids removed as soon as possible or she would have occasional situations like this one occurring again. At this time my mother did not have the money to get the surgery done because she was out of work.

At the beginning of my senior year my mother’s boyfriend paid for my mother to get the surgery done. After the surgery was done the doctor said that the surgery went

well but shortly after his observations, my mother began to bleed excessively causing her

to grow weaker. An emergency blood transfusion was administered to my mother and I

gave my blood to save my mother. During the time my mother was in the hospital I

moved our things into my grandparents house. Every morning before school my

grandfather would take me by the hospital to see my mother before school. I remember I

would go to school in so much pain because of my mother being in the hospital and

college was not in my mind at that moment. I did not want to go to school to far a way

from home due to the current issues arising at home.

After three months of my mother’s surgery my mother agreed to move in with her

boyfriend in his home. He promised that he would take care of us and that we would not

have to worry about anything. My mom kept our original home for a back up. I helped

move my mother’s thing into his home but I continued to stay with my grandparents. I

would come over during the week after school to spend time with my mom and then I

would go to my grandparents house. One day when I was over there my mom and her boyfriend got into an argument about her hospital bills and the bills we had for our house.

He did not want to take care of her anymore and threatened to sue for every penny he

offered to her. One thing he kept on saying was it would take my mother years to repay

him and that she would not amount to anything. He would call her out of her name and

say that I was nothing as well. That same day, I called my grandparents and my aunts to

help me move my mother out of his home and into our house.

Shortly after this turn of events I was looking for a job to help pay for the bills

and was applying to local colleges. One day mother sat me down and told me that I could

apply to colleges that were farther away from home. I obeyed and applied to the C.A.R.E.

Summer Bridge program at Florida State University and was accepted.

Now that I am in college, I have been faced with serious financial issues and personal problems beyond my mother. I am the glue to our family. My grandparents, aunts, and cousins come to me to help them through their problems and to pray with them through it all. When I left to go to college everyone would call me and ask for my advise or to pray. This began to take a toll on me and I was considering moving back home and going to a local school. During the course of my graduate schooling I also plan to work as a crime scene investigator at the local police station. My mother was still out of work and was making some serious sacrifices for me to have extra money for laundry, housing during the fall and spring, and for emergencies.

Financially my mother is still not stable and is still undergoing some medical problems till this day. She has had a series of tests on her breasts after she felt an unusual knot in her breasts. It is really hard for me to not be there for my family in ways that I could if I was home. It hurts to come the realization that my family has to solve their problems themselves and the end result may cause them to fall apart.

As a result I grew depressed and helpless during my second semester of my first year of college. I became ill and slowly I was not doing well in my classes which has caused me to fall out of my major. Though this semester I sat down and thought about how I could change my college experience. With this experience and feeling like a failure, meeting with my advisor on a biweekly basis has also helped me to overcome these obstacles. I began to organize myself in every way possible by keeping calendars and agendas in order to stay ahead. I have taught myself how to balance the issues at home and in college by writing down in a diary the issues I need to assist now and those

that I can tend to later. This would help me to effectively obtain my bachelor’s degree and move to New York or a near by area to attend graduate school at John Jay College of

Criminal Justice to help keep my family together. At this graduate school I plan to obtain a master’s degree in the area of forensic science.

I feel like if the Florida legislator should have first year students attend sessions with their advisor to better guide them through the college experience. Also having programs such as the C.A.R.E. Program at Florida State University would be a good thing for those who have experienced similar obstacles to be funded in other colleges and universities. This would give many students an opportunity to not only play sports in order to make a better life but to also give them the confidence mentally that there is a way for them to achieve in life.

La’Kendra

Florida A&M University

The month of December is supposed to be a month full of joy and gratification. A time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. the time to light the menorahs or a Kinara for those who do not celebrate Christmas. Not bury your best friend. On December 18th I had to put my father to rest after he past from a massive heart attack at the age of forty. That is just something that was not expected to happen right before Christmas. I guess I should back track to the day it all happened. I had come home for school that day and was not in the mood to be bothered. I was getting ready to graduate from high school and pursue the next four years at a university. The weekend before my father had took me to take my

SATs at Hillsborough Community College then we went for cookies at my favorite bakery in Tampa. It was kind of a daddy and me day. I had fun chilling with my roll dawg that is what I called him because he was just that. We went to all the concerts together and he came to every game I danced at rain or shine. He would be there in the front row with his video recorder, taping the same routine every Friday night. Watch top model with me on Wednesdays or tape them for me when I had to work on those nights.

When we return from our daddy and me day he took my mother out to dinner and movie.

Well that Monday he was home no biggie right, well he had some vacation days that my mother did not know about she usually does their vacation days together so that they came have the house to themselves while my sisters and I are at school. That Monday he had done some domestic household chores and had dinner made for us when we got home. Tuesday he went to bible study with us and stayed to the end without complaining.

He hugged everyone that night that he may have not seen in church on Sunday. That

Wednesday I had came in from school with an attitude and did not really want to be bothered. I had had a long day at school and to top it all off I had to go to work that evening. I walked in the house and went straight to my room. That was a big no, no in my household. Walking in the house and not speaking was like cussing in front of your parent. That is just something that does not fly in that house. So I headed right to my bedroom and laid in bed, as so as my head hit the pillow my dad walked in my room fussing. “Girl you know better, what is wrong with you…have you lost your mind?” I spoke and took me a little nap before getting up for work. When I got up he called me into the living room and apologized for fussing at me and told me to have a good day at work. As I walked out the door he told me that he loved me, I walked away mot saying anything back. At work I usually keep my cell phone in my vest pocket just in case something happens, plus my mama and them would text me telling me to bring home some groceries or something that is needed for the house. But that Wednesday my phone rang off the hook. Back to back with phone calls, usually they would just leave a message and let it go. Then the phone to Walgreens rung, “Thank you for calling your neighborhood Walgreens, this is Kendra how may I help you?” “Kendra this is Ms.

Michelle, your neighbor you need to leave work and come home now.” At first I thought it was a big joke. I asked why and I was told to not ask questions just come home. I told the manager on duty that I had to clock out that it was an emergency and I had to leave.

As I was walking to my car I started to check the voice messages that were left on my phone. One was from my middle sister she was crying in the phone “Kendra pick up the phone dad is dying, please pick up the phone.” The second call was from my baby sister, at this point she was screaming in the phone” Kendra please come home now, we really

need you.” I did not know what to do to my mind was racing so fast. Sitting at the red

light I began to bang my head on the stirring wheel yelling and crying. I remember

looking over to my left and on older Spanish lady was signaling for me to calm down. So

many things were running through my head. Where were they, what had happened, how

did it happen, was anyone else hurt. The ten minute drive seemed like an hour. When I

arrived in the circle I saw a fire truck and ambulance and all of my neighbors standing

out in front of my yard. I could not even get in the driveway good before one of my other

neighbors jumped in my car and put the emergency brake on. To be honest I do not

remember even cutting to car off or putting it into park. When I got out Ms. Michelle

came up to me and told me to be strong for my little sisters and not to worry. Still at this

point I was still clueless as to what was going on. My sisters came to me apologizing and holding me saying that they were sorry and did not know what else to do. I still do not know what had happened. When I finally made it into my house I ha d learned that my father had had a heart attack in the kitchen. The house was in disarray. Dinner was on the table were someone was sitting and in the den the television was on and another plate on the floor out there. There was a wet spot on the floor and the kitchen was not clean. I was told that my mother and him was on their way to the hospital in the ambulance. As soon as I heard that I was ready to go. Ms. Cindy one of my other neighbors said that I may want to grab my mom a jacket because she had on a shirt but no bra. One of the other neighbors drove my sisters and I to the hospital, they said that it was not safe for me to be on the road. When we arrived to the hospital we was directed to a room. All I could do was cry, I have watched a lot of ER and I know when they send you in the chapel room that there was no good news to follow. Shortly after entering the room I show my mother

crying and banging her fist on the table. All I wanted to do was hold her I saw my dad’s mom and dad a few chairs away crying and holding each other. Across from them was my mom’s mom, everyone in the room was crying no one spoke. I slid to the floor and cried my heart out. A minister came in the room and prayed over us. Then a doctor came in and made the announcement, “Sorry Mrs. Caruthers, but we did everything we could but nothing worked.” At that moment the whole room went crazy. He asked if we would like to see the dad before he was sent away. As I walked in the room where my father laid, it was very hard to look him in the face. So many things I did not get a chance to say. How could I have left the house with an attitude, the fact that I walked away without even telling him I loved him killed me even more. Part of me died, but being the oldest I had to be strong. If my mom or sisters saw me breaking down they would know that the worst is yet to come. I was always the strong one in the family and my dad and I was a lot closer to each another than my other sisters. When we got back home my whole world was in shambles, so many people wanting to stay to make sure we were alright. I had called on of my classmates to let them know that I may not be in school for a while and to please get my work that I was going to miss. She told me not to worry about it and to just take my time. The next morning I got up and went to school. Weird right, I know but our house was so sad and depressing that I needed some kind of escape. The ride to school was quiet my middle sister and I just held hands and did not speak. Usual in the morning we amped, we would talk about boys and the dance team that we were on. This morning was a different day our lives were about to change. As we got out of the car I told her to be strong and that I loved her very much. I said, “Let’s go in like nothing happen.” We held hands as we walked up to the campus, usual we go bout our ways like it is nothing.

When we made it to my hallway were my first period class was I broke. I could not even

make it to first period good and I cracked. I stood at the door and begin to pour my poor heart out. The teacher was so confused; she did not know what was going on. I could not even speak to say what had happened. Luckily the classmate that I had called the night

before was about to walk into the class. All she could say was why, she was at lost as to why I came to school. She told the teacher that my father had pasted the night before. The teacher begged me to go home but that was out of the question I needed a place to get away. She sent me to the office to talk to my consular which was my consular form grade school so she knew my family and I really well. They called my sister down and we sat there for the most part of the day. They called my mom and asked her what had happen and to let her know that we were down in the office. That was a lost cause because my mom was just in bad shape as I was. News hit the school so quick it was kind of weird.

By the time I went to get lunch so many people were giving me their condolence. I was a well know student because I was very involved in extracurricular actives. I went into the school daycare center to have my lunch in quiet and that was my next class after lunch.

The instructor met me at the tears in her eye red face and all. I remember her telling me that she loved me. The children in the daycare was too funny, they questioned me left to right because I looked so sad and on top of that I was the teacher for the week. I did not have it in me to teach one of them asked why I was so sad and I told him that my daddy went away. He patted me on my back and said, “Kendra, he will come back don’t worry.”

All I could do was smile because their minds are so pure and he would have not understood. The days to follow I stay home. I decided that my mom needed me more than

I thought; she too lost her best friend. At nights I would lay in bed with her and to hear

her cry herself to sleep killed me. At that point I made it my business to be the strong one in the family. My mother did not get out of bed for days, if it was not for the funeral she may not have gotten out of bed got the rest of that year. I buried my best friend on

December 18, 2004. I went back to school a month later only to take my exams that I had missed. Going to college was not my top priority, staying home and taking care of my mom and younger sisters were. They needed me, my mom was not working and somebody had to get the bills paid and keep food on the table. My mother was not able to do those things for a while and I never put pressure on her to do them. So I decided that I was going to put school off for about a year then go in. one day my mom came out of her room screaming and yelling, “Baby rattler, baby rattler!” I did not know what was going on. Somehow someone filled out my application to Florida A&M University, I do not know who or when that did it but I was accepted. I did not know what to say or do, I was lost. Part of me was scared and part of me was elated, but I really did not want to leave my family. My mother and I had a long talk and I and we both came to the conclusion that this is what I needed go out and better myself as a person so here I am my third year at A&M and it was very hard for me. My first year was my worst; I had four mental breakdowns where I wanted to give up because I could not stay focus. I cried at nights missing my dad and feeling alone. All I wanted was to be home with my mom and sisters. My grades were slipping and I was falling behind, all I did was worry about what was going on back home. My baby sister was cutting up and giving my mom a hard time, showing out in school and all. I guess that was her way of coping. I tried my best to stay on top of my schooling but it was really breaking me down. I would go to the counseling service that the university offered and speak with one of the counselor there. I think it

really help me with my healing process, to talk to someone and cry without worrying about being strong helped me a lot. When I finish my undergraduate here, I want to move back home and attend medical school at South Florida. Yes, it has been almost over four plus years but we still are struggling and even though my mother does not acknowledge the struggle, it is there. She has not yet protested to me moving back and I know that with two incomes my sisters will have the opportunity to attend the college or university of their chose without any problems and that is what I want. To see them happy and to have the opportunity that I had.

Chiquida

Hillsborough Community College

For as long as I could remember I carried with me the memory of my parents telling me that they wanted me to have the best education. This was very important to

them because they were not fortunate enough to go to college. I wanted to both make

their dreams come true, but even more I knew that I needed a college degree for my

career of choice – Nursing. Even before junior high I began making plans to attend

college in order to earn that degree and make a difference in the world. My family suffers

from various serious illnesses, namely diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer.

Consequently, I have experience the loss of family members from a very young age. The one the affected me the most was the passing of my grandmother. I vowed from that day that I would become a nurse so that I could be a part of the solution for such ailments.

Little did I know that attaining my goal would take so long and present so many challenges. I started college right after high school; however, I have had to stop on numerous occasions because of what I consider to be impossible situations. I was a young bride who also started a family immediately after getting married. This proved to be the biggest obstacle in achieving a college degree. At first my new and also young husband agreed that we would make the necessary sacrifices, but this support was very short- lived. After our first child was born, he was not willing to stay with the baby while I attended school. He complained often, about almost everything including my absence from home and not spending time with him. This affected my performance in school and before long I decided to postpone the college degree for a more convenient time.

That decision marked my way to a long uphill battle in returning to school. While

I worked to save the money, there were two more babies born. This kept me very busy and I felt that there was never a best time to resume. In addition to that, I was often stressed from working and caring for the children that the thought of trying to keep up with my studies was frightening, so I waited for the “right time”. This was only the beginning of the barriers that I faced with regard to attending college. Meeting my financial obligation to the school was another challenge that was extremely difficult for me. Since we had recently started a new family there was not enough funds for me to pay for college, so school was again delayed until I was able to start again.

I have now returned to school with the plan of first becoming a Medical

Technologist, but ultimately I want to become a Pathologist. I have developed a love for this field and I find it to be very interesting. Being able to conduct test and research plays a key role in the discovery of diseases. My contributions will be useful in helping patients live long healthier lives. As I mentioned earlier, I have always wanted to be a part of the solutions, and this is one way I believe that I will be a great asset. In my current position as a Phlebotomist, I encounter many individuals who are suffering from different ailments. It is my goal to be able to not only assist with the cure for some of these diseases, but I want to be a part of the prevention process as well.

If I could change anything about my life today, I would definitely complete my education before getting married and starting a family. I absolutely love my children and

I would not trade them for the world, but I know that I would give so much more to them if I was done with my education first. However, I am proud to be back in school because it serves as a teaching tool to my children. Despite obstacles and challenges, do not give up on your dreams or goals. It may take some hard work and perseverance but it is worth

it in the end.

There are several areas that need to be changed in the education system, but more notably

I would address the high and growing cost of text books and supplies. Each new year the text books are revised and the cost seems to be only increasing. In most cases the changes are minute or they would not affect much in the way of learning. There should be some kind of regulation to govern that process, so it is done in a way that is more beneficial to the students. This is one topic that I would discuss with the Florida legislator if I were given the opportunity.

Sara

University of Florida

Down the Narrow Road

I had a hard time believing in myself growing up. It wasn’t because I didn’t think

I was smart, beautiful or talented—everyone confirmed that in me. My parents started

telling me how I was going to go to college before I even finished Elementary School.

However, my soul could never rest assure that I was created to be something great. The

biggest obstacle I faced in coming to the University of Florida was believing I could

survive on my own.

I didn’t have much training in what was required to get accepted to a university.

My parents never went to college, my older sister went to a Christian college that

accepted everyone who applied, and my older brother went to a community college. I had

to prepare to leave my family after less than a year after we were displaced from our

home because of hurricane Charlie. I was the first child in my family to plunge into this

new idea of attending a university and I was terrified. Did I mention that I didn’t know

how to cook?

I’m now finishing up my third year at UF and I’m still embracing the full college

experience. I’m still being challenged every day to believe that I’m here because I’m

meant to be something great. I decided not to get involved in campus activities since I’m

on campus for class and work. Instead, I decided to invest in the community and started

volunteering in the youth group at my church. On top of my academics and a part-time

job, I’m currently mentoring 12-15 high school sophomore girls who attend various high

schools in Gainesville. This isn’t the kind of mentoring where you go somewhere one day

a week and help younger students with their homework. I’m their life mentor and it’s a

24/7 commitment.

I am here to be something great, and it’s starting with these girls. There are times when I don’t understand why I still need to pursue an advertising degree. I know I’m alive to build the emotional, mental and spiritual foundation in these girls’ lives. They need someone to tell them they were made to be something great. They need someone to tell them that college is one of the best opportunities down this narrow road of life. They need someone to believe in them and that someone is me. I’m staying in college to earn a

degree for my career in a few years, but most of all I’m staying in college to be an

example for my girls.

After college, I’m planning to stay in Gainesville one extra year to finish my commitment in mentoring my girls until they graduate high school. I know it’s a crazy sacrifice, but I whole-heartedly believe in them. I want to see them all graduate and help

them make that big step to college. During that year, I’ll also continue to work part-time and begin pursuing a career with Integrity Media. Integrity Media is a communications company based in Mobile, Alabama that produces events and distributes Christian music and films in the United States and 160 other countries. If everything goes smoothly, in the summer of 2010, I will be moving to Mobile to work as a Production Coordinator or

Production Manager.

As part of the production team, my degree in advertising will come to great use in promoting their events and artists. I realize the job in itself isn’t as prestigious as it sounds, but the effect will be unparalleled. Music is the biggest influence on this young generation. I will hopefully get the opportunity to positively influence this generation by

promoting and introducing this generation to positive music.

With a school of over 50,000 students and faculty, I’ve had the opportunity to

meet a lot of people these last three years. I think it was last semester when I realized

how vital networking is. If I knew that my freshmen year, I think I would’ve embraced a

lot more new friendships instead of trying to hold on to old friendships from high school.

I’ve been blessed to attend a university where students from all across the globe attend with me. More than an extra business card in my wallet, I’ve probably missed out on getting to know a lot of people and taking their experiences to help me achieve my career

goals. I still have one more full year here and I am definitely taking the time to get to

know different people and their desired career paths.

I recently was made aware of major cuts in the budgets for several Florida

universities. As a result of these budget cuts, most universities are unable to accept as

many freshmen and transfer students as they have in the past. If I was given an opportunity to speak with a Florida Legislator, I would advise him/her to make transfer students priority for getting accepted. Most transfer students in Florida attend a

community college for two years purposely intending to transfer to a major university. It

seems more plausible to me for the universities to accept students who have already

started to invest in their college future versus students who haven’t even started. More

transfer students should be admitted compared to incoming freshmen. The overflow

freshmen can attend the universities with the least amount of transfer students or a

community college.

Dominique

Florida State University

Growing up wasn’t the easiest situation for me. I am one of the six adopted children of my parents. Not to include the kids they already have. Biologically it’s just me and my brother. Growing up I always felt so alone in this world. The family I grew up with wasn’t rich. We were the average middle-class family with one working parent and eight kids. We lived in a suburban part of Brandon in a two story house, so everyone thought we had money. But that was far from the truth. We were just making it by the grace of GOD. And even though we had money problems my parents never let us know how bad it really was. Not only did my parents have eight younger kids they had four grown children they had to see about. Some days things were alright, but others we struggled to make the light bill or water bill. My parents tried there best to still give us the childhood we deserved. We went to Disney World and camping. Everything we did was as one big happy family. When we grew up and branched out into our own things like cheerleading, dance, basketball, football, wrestling, singing lessons, and theatre they still made sure they could make it possible for us to do all that we wanted to. My mother is the type who was too proud to ask for help and my father believed that he was our superman. Anything that needed fixing he was on it. No need to call extra help. We never understood why they were like that until we got older. When we all became of age to start thinking about college my parents wanted nothing but the best for us. In my house there were no options. We had to go to college! It didn’t matter where we went as long as we went and applied our selves. But they didn’t have the money to send us all. Starting from the oldest sibling who went to a private college the next was three years behind and

ended going to community college because she didn’t apply for any scholarships for a university. Out of all the kids in my family I was the only foster child who was blessed with a Take Stock in Children scholarship that was awarded to me by the Hillsborough

Education Foundation when I was only in the second grade. If I stayed in school and made good grades and stayed out of trouble I would have two years of a community college and two years of a state university paid for.

I though it had it made. I didn’t understand all the other costs of college at that time. Before it was even time for me to go to college my brother and two sisters were in school. So I needed to have some other source of means for financial support. So I applied for grants and I received financial aid. I was pretty set with still having almost a grand left over to pocket. My first summer at Florida State was a good one. I was out the house and I loved all the freedom I had. I could do things that I couldn’t do so freely at home. I started some bad habits. Clubbing all the time and drinking and smoking. Then I feel really sick. I had given my self a chronic bronchitis infection that didn’t cure easily.

July 2006 I spent most my days on heavy medication and throwing up blood and making sure I took my breathing treatments so that my lungs wouldn’t expand and almost break my ribs again. I was too embarrassed to tell any body how I got it. But there was this boy

I was dating that I thought really cared. He took care of me when I didn’t have school.

Little did I know that wasn’t the only thing going on with my body, later on in the summer I found out I was almost two months pregnant? The doctor’s I went to for my infection didn’t even tell me. Not only was I scared about the entire experience but I was miles away from help and love and support from my family. Not to mention many of them were hardly speaking to me because of the baby. So not only did I have to focus on

my classes but I had to find a doctor to help me out and I had to seek out pregnancy

classes to guide me through the nine months. The only supportive person I had by my

side was my roommate at the time. For the first seven months of my pregnancy she went

to my appointments with me, took care of me when I had morning sickness. That is when

I found out to that I had an STD also. They guy that I thought loved me enough to stay

with me through all this had tainted me. I battled almost three months with it. Then I was

finally cured. Once my son was born I thought things would change. I was a new person!

I was a mother, a role model to my beautiful baby boy. I had to change my life

around. I had to clean up my act. So I stopped drinking and smoking and vowed I’d

tighten up in my classes. So I went back to school. I moved four hours away from my son who I had gotten used to holding all day every day and night. I took it a lot harder than I thought I would. I feel into a deep post-partum depression on and off. I missed him so much that that was all I could think about. My grades slipped. And I ended up on probation at the end of Fall 2007. But after being home for winter break I was able to adjust to the distance. So I returned to Florida State in the Spring 2008 and was determined to get off of probation. This current semester. I figured nothing else could break me. Until, my biological sister who I haven’t seen since 1993 found me. Meeting my sister wasn’t the problem. I knew that following it I was going to eventually find my biological mother who I have never met. I have only heard terrible things about her. And over spring break it happened…my mother contacted my sister and told her to tell me she wants to meet me. So I looked her up on the internet and found a criminal sheet long as a television marathon. I also found out that she wants to meet us now because she is dying of HIV. My biological father died sometime early this year. All my fears came

back…and the nightmares I used to have a child returned. I have been afraid to sleep at night. So currently I am trying to stay focus but I have this going on in the back of my mind. But I am trying to decide what to do so that I can have a calmer piece of mind. So that I can hurry up and get out of college become a journalist and live the life with my son that I have always wanted to. If I knew this is where I’d be now I would’ve never started smoking or drinking. Cause really that’s what lead to everything else that has happened. I don’t regret me son but I would have preferred having him once my life was the way I wanted it to be. I am a Presidential Classroom member and I was blessed with the opportunity to fly to Washington, D.C. and speak out in a Media and Democracy seminar in behalf of Project Upward Bound in 2006.

Shonna

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

I am the first in my family to attend college in pursuit of a degree. Statistics and the odds predict that a teen mother is more likely to visit the welfare office than a college campus. I beat those odds, because I have supportive parents. They didn’t disown me or kick me out of the house. Instead, forgiveness was the bond that allowed our lives to continue. While I became the mother of one, I graduated in the Top 20 of my 1998 high school class in Gadsden County. The area is mostly populated by minorities, stricken with poverty and drugs. With a label as such, people seem to stop caring about issues that plague the community. But yes, there are still a lot of good people there. I am one of them. With my future degree in Sociology and Criminal Justice I hope to become an administrative force in dealing with juvenile offenders and disadvantaged youth. I don’t have enough fingers to count the classmates, family, cousins, and friends who became subject to the criminal justice system. Criminologists have multiple theories about why crime exists, but let’s take that energy and focus on prevention. I’m no expert, but the over crowded prisons consisting of non-violent offenders should be enough evidence.

Once I finished high school, I knew that I had two options. Either I was going to get a job or enroll into college. Minimum wage would never get me close to the

American Dream, so college was the next best choice. Youth who may think the choice doesn’t exist for them turn to the American streets to satisfy a longing for success or their definition of survival. I mentioned minimum wage. A lot of people work hard for less pay and I started out in that category as well. At the time it wasn’t about the money because my parents were allowing me to live with them. The money I worked for along with

financial aid provided child care for my son and whatever else we needed. The pitfall was my son’s father not providing physical nor financial support. Black men need to become more black fathers. If it were not for financial aid, I have no idea of how I could pay for college. Even though I grew up in a two income household, I had three other siblings as well. My parent’s money went to bills, living paycheck to paycheck.

Balancing life as a mom, full to part-time student, and a full-time job serving

Florida’s coastal communities all can be stressful. I pay all bills alone, and every need my son have is attended to by me. We actually do our homework together. Another obstacle is finding care for him while I attend school after work. It hasn’t been easy over the years but I persevered. The same attitude is what got me back into school at FAMU. I wasn’t satisfied with the financial woes or administrative processing but I decided to stick it through after not being able to attend a semester. I even had to pay $857 to address an overpayment by the University. These challenges were discouraging but provided real life skills to approach and solve a problem. I am very proud to be a Rattler.

In this spirit, I wish I would have known the things that I know now. It would have been helpful to have a guidance counselor in high school to advise me about entering college, scholarships and other academic awards. Adults often tell students to go for the degree that will produce the highest salary. They should be telling students to go after their passions and the degree will only solidify it. For my sake, college is only to be a 4 year experience. Well, I’ve taken much longer than that due to circumstances over the years. But I’d rather take one class, rather than no classes at all. I’m getting closer to my dream, so in the end it was all worth it. It’s Florida legislature responsibility to ensure all students fall under the same program of education.

Standardized tests are committing a hard blow to the kids now. The kids are

pushing harder than ever to strive for excellence but some are experiencing a double

standard. I remember Gadsden County schools not having the same programs or curricula

offered in Leon County. How can kids make it in higher education when skills are

already missed? It doesn’t take a political up-roar to see our children and society is falling behind. The higher education system should be affordable and accessible to all graduating seniors and anyone who has the desire to attend college. Government should

provide help to Florida colleges and universities if experiencing troubles. How can

prisons open faster then keeping current educational institutions alive? Florida can do a

better job, and with these hopes we can lead the nation in a desirable momentum to

change America one student, one household at a time. Thank you for the opportunity.

Channél

Florida State University

A Never-Ending Journey to Success

When I look back upon my past, I realize that I have come a long way and it took

the hardships in my life for me to get here. I am a strong young woman who strives for

the best, allowing my pain and suffering to serve as the backbone of my success. When I

was only four years old I suffered the death of my father, which was the start of a long

and rocky road. After my father’s death my mother abandoned my siblings and I, leaving

us to live with my paternal grandmother. Living with my grandmother was terrible,

considering the fact that she verbally, physically, and emotionally abused us. I was that

little girl with all the faith in my mother; I used to tell my grandmother everyday that my

mother was coming back to get us and that we would no longer have to live in that place

she called home. She would respond by telling me that my mother was never coming

back or that my mother never wanted me in the first place, she would also walk us to the

local crack houses in search for my mother; most of the time we found her but she didn’t

want us to see her in that predicament. My grandmother’s tactics still didn’t kill my faith

and when I learned that other family members would open their homes to us, I moved

from family member to family member until I decided to stay with my grand-aunt. Living with my grand-aunt was much better than living with my grandmother, but I was still waiting for my mother. She would come by the house every now and then, getting my hopes up, but it was always a false alarm because she would just leave again. She promised me she was coming back to take all of us but she never upheld that promise. By the time I reached the age of twelve my mother died of AIDS and I struggled with it,

even today, that little girl in me never died and she’s waiting to be reunited with her

mother. Not long after my mother’s death our maternal side of the family came into our

lives and my eldest sister and I was adopted by my maternal aunt.

Living with my aunt seemed like the greatest thing in the beginning, I was content

with everything, but “good intentions don’t always have good outcomes.” It all started

when we got evicted from the first home, we went from living with family, to church

members, to living in a hotel for 3 months. My aunt had financial problems that we were

unaware of and I think we moved about 6 or 7 times within a one year time span. When I

got my first job working at my high school, I would give my aunt a little money just to

help out, and then she started taking advantage of me by making it mandatory. I never got allowance from the social security checks she got for us, so when I got a job I expected to be able to keep everything considering the fact that I was paying for most of my school activities. Living with my aunt was just a huge financial rollercoaster and after the 1st eviction there was never any stability. My aunt never really supported me in anything so when it came time for me to go to college she was not involved in the process but I had no idea how I was going to pay for school and I didn’t find out about scholarships until my senior year. I would be in the college advisor’s office almost every day up until the graduation day.

If I knew then, what I know now I would have began to apply for scholarships in middle school and trying to get involved in the many activities that provided college preparation. I would have dedicated more time to thinking about my future and going through the process of choosing a college. I would have better prepared for the college tests and took them as many times as I could to obtain the highest possible score.

Building strong organization skills would have helped me with keeping up with

assignment due dates and extracurricular activities. Being involved in sports in high

school would have prepared me, so that I could fulfill my desire to be active in teams on

campus.

The quality of a college education should be greatly increased to ensure that

students are well prepared for their professional careers. Instead of having universities

such as Florida State cut back on faculty, the availability of summer school, and even

have big budget cuts I would advise a Florida legislature to find possible ways to provide

extra funding to Florida’s colleges and universities. I would want to know if there were

ways that the cost of tuition could stay at a low without students having to sacrifice extracurricular activities and many other benefits provided on campus. Many college

students graduate and don’t find jobs or careers within their major, therefore programs

that provide internships and job placement after college should be significantly

supported. I have proven statistics wrong, and have come a long way to get here and I

will continue to do everything in my power to be successful; one day I will be starting

and supporting programs that benefit students, like myself, who have knocked down

barriers to get a college education and be successful.

Sonya

University of South Florida

I have been through so many more obstacles prior to USF but the pain, struggles, and stress does not stop at the University of South Florida. My first semester at USF, I stayed with a friend that I went to school with at St. Petersburg College. During

Christmas break I went home to Louisiana and tried to enroll at Louisiana State

University because I knew in December I was not going to have a place to live; besides the enrollment did not turn out to great because I am a senior and after this summer I will only need 12 more credit hours and I will finish with my B.A of Arts & Science; they were making it real difficult for me as far as transferring my credits, so I really did not know what I was about to do. I was not going to have anywhere to live in Tampa so I was so stress over Christmas break. Finally, someone called me and told me that I could come and stay with them and another roommate so I decided to take her up on her offer; I don’t have my own room are anything I sleep on the coach; that was fine with me I have to finish school by any means necessary because I have two kids little beautiful girls to take care. I am a Psychology major and I also plan on going to graduate school after I have worked a year and study for the GRE. I am planning on getting my master’s through the school o f education to became a School Psychologist, which their job requires them to find better techniques for the teachers to use to teach the kids, finds ways to deal with the special needs children as far as mainstreaming, dealing with learning disorders, parenting training, and techniques to help deal with the gifted children; that’s a little of what my job will be consisted of once I receive a doctrine degree.

The biggest obstacles is supporting and motivate myself when I get depress,

stress, upset about a test grade, and other obstacles that are sent my way. I do not like to

call my grandfather all the time with my problems because he is very old and he also has

my oldest daughter, who he is trying to raise, with a very serious heart condition, so

basically that means I have to deal with these issues myself . My grandfather and a hand

full others try and help me from time to time but really my grandfather is all I have

because his wife and his son both died a month apart in December of 1998 and January of

1999, which happens to also be my grandmother and my daddy. Honestly, sometimes I

might not have any food to eat up here but that is fine because God always makes a way

out of no way. However, my grandfather try’s to send me money sometimes but I have to

keep in mind that he is sick and Social Security is not that great anymore, so I have to

manage on my own sometimes. I really don’t feel sorry for myself because my parents

died but because I needed them here for support, attention and love, I also felt like those three components equals a higher achiever. I have realized that this is life and there will be many more obstacles that I have to face, but I have learned from experience different mechanisms to just deal with the obstacles I go through. I have attended three different colleges and if I would have applied myself like I am doing now then my college experience would have been a little better for me.

Florida’s higher education system in my opinion is strong in most areas.

However, every college I have attended, it seems to have the same problem; transferring my credits. For example, I came to USF with 90 credits so I was already classified as a senior. At my previous colleges I only enrolled in classes that were transferable towards my degree in psychology. According to USF, one of their rules as a transfer student is that any classes for the psychology department must be upper-level classes. I would just

want the Florida legislator to change the rule for transfer student having to repeat these classes just because they are not upper-level. Basically, I am just learning the same thing over again; I don’t feel it is fair because I worked just as hard to maintain a good grade in

Abnormal Psychology at the junior college the same way I plan on doing here at USF. I really don’t understand what more do I need to learn about the same class that covers the same material. However, all that does for me, is make me have to be here longer just taking the same classes over again.

Juliana

Florida International University

THE ENLIGHTMENT OF EDUCATION

“We’re moving to the U.S” my mother said. Six months later I arrived to Miami, dressed for cold weather (though it was June), and knowing how to say “Hello, my name is Juliana.” And thus the voyage through my education started. No one said the education system was radically different; besides of the language barrier I had to accommodate to honors or AP? I used to take Mathematics. Now it was between Calculus, Calculus honors or Advance Placement? And what is why binders? Picking classes? And having a separate school for middle and high school?

Promptly I learned the language and hence that blockade vanished, though never completely. Since I was 15, I got used to the change and started blending with the rest of my classmates. Senior year arrived in the midst of another confusion: How do you apply to college? Essays? SAT? money? I thought our parents had to pay for education and you needed one exam score and an interview to get in. That was it. Yet, America surprises you. I was caught off guard. I didn’t understand what was happening. I finally got an advisor to council me through the process, yet I did it too late. Deadlines for scholarships and early admissions had already passed. What to do? Was I going to sit in my abyss and drown in my confusion? No. I found out about FIU, which was one of the schools whose deadline I had not missed, and applied. I got in. The money issue became relevant since I had forgotten to ask my mother about it. No, she could not help. How to pay?

Obstacles seem an excuse to run sometimes. Yet, for me, education has always stayed a top priority. Despite the confusion and disillusion of change, I manage to get

into a good school and pay for it. I was awarded a 75% scholarship from Bright Futures. I

got a job and now I work to pay for the rest. Today, after four years, I still struggle

sometimes with the language; though, ironically enough, I am majoring in English and

Political Science. Every day I learn about something new in the education system; it

never stops amazing me. College is sometimes a struggle because it requires money and

time. Two things we all wish we had more of. I live 40 minutes away from school and have to work after class, hence my sleep time has been reduced to a few hours. Despite gas prices rising and coffee not waking me up in the morning, I would never drop school:

I adore learning. I truly believe knowledge is the one thing that leads to truth. And I will pursue that truth even through a bumpy road.

Tomorrow, I will wake to find success. This path is leading to the confinement of my goals and desires. I am going to be a successful poet and playwright. I will travel to countries like mine (Colombia) and help to fight equality. One of the reasons I’m also majoring in Political Science is because it will help me help others. I do not plan to save the world. Though I wish I could. I only plan to do what I’m capable of doing: write and

give. I appreciate the world’s goodness for I know how privileged I am. Education in my

country, as in many others, is for the privileged, “the selected elite”. Henceforth it is with

great pleasure that tomorrow I will continue to fight so anyone with the desire to attain an

education.

Stacy

University of Florida

I Cannot and Will Not let the World Pass me By

Since the age of ten I have always dreamed of going to college and becoming a doctor. It was my ambition to make my family proud of me. As a little kid I would dress up in my white bathrobe and steal my daddy’s clip board to “doctor” on my grandmother.

I would play the role of both the nurse and the doctor. It seemed I had life all planned out.

I would graduate high school, go to college and later open my own private practice; and when my parents and grandparents were too old to take care of themselves I would have a house ready for them to live in. This plan was perfect in the eyes of a ten year old. I grew up with a divided family and from my perspective if I could get them together somehow my life would be great and this was the way I was going to do it. Little did I know God had other plans for me, and that I was to take a completely different path to get to where I am today.

In 2002 my grandmother passed of breast cancer. It was so hard for me to have the person whom I was close to and loved to be taken away from me. She was the only person who knew and loved me for who I was. My companion and my friend was gone. I no longer had anyone to spill my heart to or anyone who understood where I was coming from. What hurt the most is that I did not fully understand the degree of her sickness until it was too late. I fault myself for a long time because I felt as if I should have known what to do for her, how to save her. She was my heart and something so dear you don’t just let go of it without a fight. There was no fight for me; I didn’t even understand what cancer was. I felt so helpless. I knew my grandmother would have wanted me to finish school

and go on to become something great, and that’s exactly what I went on to do.

At that time I lived with both my grandmother and father and occasionally saw

my mother when my dad allowed it. Mostly my grandmother took care of me because my

dad was an alcoholic who suffered from a mild case of depression. Although he had this

problem he was always my hero. I strived for perfection in his eyesight. My dad was a

strong man who pushed me to do the best that I could in every situation. I believe that I

am as strong of a woman now because he taught me that “it’s not okay to sit down and cry, you have to get up and you have to keep going or the world will pass you by.”

Unfortunately, my father was extreme in how he taught me this. Our relationship began to deteriorate and it seemed as if nothing I did was right for him. I started making straight

A’s and was involved in six leadership clubs to make him proud but it was never enough.

Things started to get out of control and I decided to move in with my mother.

Unfortunately, during my senior year of high school right before Spring Break, my mother passed unexpectedly. I had just moved back into the house with her because of problems with my father. It was a shock to everyone including myself. Her cause of

death was a septic sore which was the result of untreated diabetes. She was always in and

out of the hospital because of weight problems, and no one had ever diagnosed her as a

diabetic. It left me devastated. My grades started to drop from straight A’s to C’s and

D’s. I was struggling to catch up not only in school but in life. I found myself lost and

fighting to scratch the surface of life for air. Once again I was left helpless, and I began to

fell that life was hopeless. Luckily for me I had friends, staff, and counselors at my high

school who knew me on a personal level. They reminded me of my goals, how far I had

come, and all of the obstacles I had overcome in life. This in itself ignited my passion to

continue on to college to pursue a career in the Medical realm. I vowed that when I

became a doctor I would be thorough and connect with every one of my patients in order

to prevent this from happening to any one else. June 1st of 2007 I graduated from

Newberry High school in the top five percent of my class. That summer I made a rough

transition from high school to the University of Florida.

My first semester at UF was difficult but I made it through. The second semester

was even more difficult and I had to withdraw from all four of my classes. I struggled

with depression and I withdrew from my friends because life seemed so hard. I wanted to

cope a deal with my grief all by myself. I went from being held in high esteem and

personally knowing my principle, teachers, and staff to in my mind, a “nobody” who

continually felt swallowed and invisible among the thousands. I no longer had the person who could save me from it all, my mother; it was hard because I could not relate to my

friends and them to me because they had never gone through it. I felt pain everyday

because another person was gone and I did nothing to save her. Although I was going

through this heartache I could not help but think “I’ve got to do something, I can’t sit

here and cry or the world will pass me by”. I am currently seeing a counselor and making

A’s and B’s in my five college courses. My faith, family, friends, and my counselor have

helped me to cope with my mothers lost. They have all given me the strength to persevere

in my times of trouble. I have been shown how far I have come in life and I am not

willing to have it taken away without a fight.

I have been receiving Federal Financial Aid for college. I rely solely on this to

live, eat, pay for books, classes, and other expenses. But, because my mother is not here

to fill out my Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) forms, my father is the only one who can.

Although he refuses to fill out the forms for me and I realize that after the summer semester I may not be able to continue school for a little while; I look at this and say “this too shall pass”. All of my obstacles and challenges have been tackled thus far. I can actually look back in my life and for once know that my mother and grandmother would be proud of how far I have come. Even though I have changed my major from health sciences to event management, I still feel as if I can impact others lives and help them in some way. I plan to finish here at the University of Florida and move out of state to continue to pursue my major of event management with an internship or in graduate school. I don’t know where life will take me in the next year or so but I do know that I have been molded into a strong woman who does not give up and is ready for whatever life throws my way.

Vanessa

Florida State University

Think of eight people living in a one bedroom house with no light, no water and

sometimes no food, that use to be my life as a child my mother a single parent struggle to

provide for me and my siblings. Working everyday for twenty-four hours, we never saw her but only in our dreams. I’m not asking for your sympathy, I’m just telling you the

things that I had to go through to get were I am today. I can remember one night when I

was home and our lights were cut off, I had to walk down the street to my friends house

to take a shower. That was the day I knew I had to do something to make things better

not only for me, but my family. That day I promised myself and my mother that I would become someone successful and make it through whatever God threw my way . We were not always what you would consider “poor.” Once in my life we were doing good. My mom was around, we had a new stepfather, we were financial stable, had lights, water and even a good cooked meal every now and then. Then that all went down the drain when the love of my mother’s life , my stepfather was shot and left to die on our driveway right in front of my nine year old eyes. After that, you can say that we were cursed. Evicted out of five houses, time and time I had to tell my friends “Were just moving because our place was too small”, trying to cover up our financial needs.

School, school, school that was my only way to get my family out of their misery.

My mom did not have an education, my sisters went off to college, got an education and forgot about me and my siblings. We got no phone calls from them; only when they needed money from my mother that she didn’t have. My mom was a type of person that gave and gave no matter what. If she didn’t have it she was going to get it some way,

some how. Everyday I went school and worked hard; harder then any kid. I was in AP,

honors classes, sat in the front row, and I maintain a 4.2. I did this all for me and my

family. Not one day did my mom ask to see my report card. I could have just failed, and

make all F’s, but I didn’t because I wanted to make something out of myself. An I did all

that while juggling an after school job, taking care of my nephews when their mother

went to jail, made sure my brother stayed out of trouble, and helped my mom with the

bills. I told you God would throw something’s in my way but I got through them and I

will continue to do so.

Things got better, everything was fine when my mom had a good paying job. My

sister was out taking care of her kids, we had been staying in our house for three years

until our lights got cut off, after that I knew the curse was back to haunt us again. That

was my senior year in high school. I was working hard in school and at work so that I

could pay for all the senior things such as a cap and gown. But when the day came to buy

it, I had no money because I gave it to my mother for the bills. I remember this day like

it was yesterday. My teacher, Mrs. Barrett ,came up to me and asked me what was wrong, and I jus busted out crying, told her that I was broke , and that my mom didn’t

have any money. We have been living without lights for a week and I might not be able

to walk for graduation. Out of the grace of her heart, she helped me get assistance from

the church service to pay for our lights so I did not have to use the money I made, so I

paid for my graduation things. That was another hurdle that I had to jump. I graduated at

the top of my class, and was about to start my journey to success at Florida State

University.

I just had one more hurdle to jump and that was to do good in college and make it

to medical school, it was kind of hard adjusting at first but I am making it through.

Sometimes I just want to give up, but I think about my mom and siblings back home counting on me to make it. The only thing I fear now is the thought of my mother not being here when I see my success through. You might ask why I say that. The day she

brought me to FSU she was complaining about some chest pains but she said she was alright, a few days later she fainted at her job. She couldn’t see, talk, or feel anything,

this wasn’t the first time this occurred. When I got the news, I cried and cried and pray to

God she would be alright; and she was, it was a mini stroke. She got it from working a

lot, not getting enough sleep, and eating improperly. Everyday I am scared that she wont

be at the finish line to cheer me on, but only God knows. But everything is getting better

now. Just a few months ago, my mom was staying in her car. If I would to tell anyone

this, they wouldn’t believe me; but she was. Now she has a house, a new car, and my

sister and nieces and nephews from Haiti came here and stays with her.

Now I am at Florida State University, and I think about how my family is doing

everyday. I call and make sure things are okay. Sometimes they are and sometimes there

not. I just continue to pray that the Lord will continue watch over us. I continue to make

sacrifices here at FSU so that I do not have to burden my mother with financial needs. If I

need something, I find different ways to get it so that I don’t have to ask her because she

already has a big chip on her shoulder. Yes, many things are going to be thrown your

way. It is up to you to let it hold you back or pull you forward. For me, it has pulled and

continues to pull me further. I try to go to class and make good grades. Its not easy, but if

I want to become a successful OB/GYN and get into medical school, particularly

University of California Los Angeles, I have to work hard. If that is what it takes, that is

what I am willing to do.

Rennette

University of South Florida

Senior year of high school is remembered by many. Homecoming, prom, and graduation are most memorable in our lives. Senior year acceptance letters arrive from colleges; students are beginning to step into the real world. I received acceptance letters from several colleges but unknown to anyone of my peers I would not be attending college come fall. I graduated top five percent in my class, was crowned Prom and

Homecoming Queen, was awarded Future Business Leader of 2004, volunteer of the year and was Student Council and Student Government officer, but all these accomplishments meant nothing because of one problem.

The problem was that fact that I had been in the USA since the age of three, but was still considered an illegal immigrant. I did not see the big deal, until I tried to go to college. Coming from a poor migrant family, all hopes and aspirations laid on my shoulders to achieve something in life that no one in my family has ever had the chance to, which was an education. My mom and absentee father did not receive an education.

My goal in life was to become a successful pharmacist and take care of my family. I realized that without legal papers in the USA my education and goals would suffer greatly. My mother tried to pay out of pocket for my education until everything was legally resolved. That was just an empty promise, because on her $8.15 an hour job, paying for college would never happen, she did not even have enough credit to take out a loan for a semester.

I did not want to give up on my education, with the $608 I saved up for buying a car, I paid for two classes at Palm Beach Community College. During my time at PBCC,

I finally received my legal resident card to stay in America, so I begin to plan on attending a University. At that time my brother was arrested and my mom became sick and could not work two jobs anymore. I had to work two jobs. My grades suffered tremendously but I knew my family needed me. I dropped out of college until I had an opportunity again and received my Associates and decided to attend University of South

Florida. I planned to attend in summer 2006, but that November my mother was diagnosed with cancer. This was so hard to deal with, and I took over her responsibilities. I delayed college again.

I wanted to give up on college, the money that I attempted to save for college was now depleted supporting the family. But through prayer I finally made it to USF. While in college now it is still very hard, because back home there are still a lot of family issues that need to be resolved. My mother lost her job and has been unemployed for the last year because of a back injury and my financial Aid was reduced so now I’m working a full time job so that I can still send money back home to help the family and support myself in school. This job plus going to school “over full time” is making life stressful and sometimes unbearable.

I believe in the power of positive thinking. I tell myself everyday, “it’s a rainy season but soon the sun will shine through” this is what keeps me going and knowing that that one day I will be somebody and I will not let my children go through this is my push to complete my education . At USF I’m majoring in Public Relations and after graduation, I plan to gain more experience and obtain my masters so that in five years I will start my own PR firm in Florida or Georgia.

Edward

University of Florida

As a young man beginning high school is where my story truly begins. I happened

to be a very naïve young man in a one income single parent home, not knowing his

father, or that in a short matter of time life can change for the absolute worse. Not being

aware that there was truly a horrible side to life outside of my high school utopia.

Although I knew the side of not being able to afford a number of things, I never knew

that it would come to growing up and becoming a man much earlier than my peers.

In my freshman year of high school, I was a normal teenager. I played football, basketball, had fun with friends, and made good grades in school. The second semester

of my sophomore year in high school is where the road got a bit bumpy. The road

became rough during a church league basketball practice. At the time I was working at

McDonald’s and had a little bit of income for myself, and during this practice my mother comes to me and asks, “Could I please borrow $60 buy groceries?” In my mind I was asking, “Why is she not asking my sister? She works a lot more than me, and she makes more than me per hour.” I realized then that this would not be the only time that this would occur. This happened a couple of more times, but in the mean time I switched jobs to work at Publix Supermarkets because of a better work environment and I would have the chance to make more money which I needed because I now had a car, and needed money for gas among other things.

Going into my junior year in high school, I would have never thought I would have to deal with a lot of emotional and psychological barriers that could either deter my mind from my goal of going to college, or make me completely give up on all of my

goals in general. The first obstacle was actually a comment made by one of my first girlfriend’s mother and she commented, “Ed will be just like his father, and not take care of his kids.” This is something I pondered and continue to ponder thinking when I do have children; I am going to be a great father because I know how it feels to not have one around. For a while the comment had me thinking that I would become nothing more than what my father had been to me, just a person that I had heard of on occasion, but for all of the wrong reasons.

Further into the year, I noticed that there was a slip in the financial side of the household because we stopped going grocery shopping regularly, and I realized that I was searching harder and harder to find food for myself. I still had my job at Publix so I could afford to put enough gas in my car to go from home to school and work, but I realized that I was eating nothing for breakfast, whatever I could afford for lunch, and whatever I could find for dinner. I proceeded to ask my mother, “Where is all of the money going?” She replied to me, “To pay bills.” I believed it then because I knew my mother was not a high school graduate, and that she worked in shoe repair which did not pay much in this day and time. I also knew this could not be true because the telephone and the cable television were both not in service. I really could not figure out what was going wrong. I am feeding myself with what little money I have and trying to make due with our financial struggles while still working, going to school, and playing sports. I saw myself slowly turning into a man and an independent, but I did not want it to come about in this way. Including paying for myself to take the SAT twice with the little money I had.

My summer before my senior year I realized that I was doing more and more of

buying the groceries than anyone in the house. I had now switched jobs and was now

working at a golf course doing maintenance full time just for the summer. Along with

buying groceries which I knew would help my mother out, I noticed that the same things

were being turned off (i.e. cable and telephone services). In addition to this, I noticed

that my mother was starting to go out more at night. She told me that she needed to

“clear her head” because she was stressed. This went on for a great deal of time before I

started suspecting that something was going on, but I could not prove it.

One great thing that happened during senior year was the birth of my niece by my sister who is now a single parent. Despite that, my senior year is when things really went downhill. There were many late nights of studying for AP classes, filling out scholarships, thinking about problems, and trying to find a way to pay for college. In addition to the continuing financial trouble, I was starting to hear that my mother has not been just “clearing her head” at night, but more of that she is experimenting with drugs.

In my mind, I deny these allegations because my mom would never do anything like that, giving her the benefit of the doubt. I was starting to become suspicious because even though my mom was still coming to all of my basketball games, she was not always home when I returned home from the game and was starting to come home later and later each time. At the same time it is time to start submitting college applications, and I did not have the money to do so. I ended up having to borrow the money to pay for my college applications and I am very thankful that those individuals let me do so, because otherwise I would not be sitting where I am today at the University of Florida.

I was accepted in January to the University of Florida in January of 2007, and even ended up getting another job as a camp counselor at a local elementary school

which paid monthly. While talking to my uncle, who happens to be my mentor, father

figure, and instructor for finances, he told me that I might want to start building my credit

so by the time I finished college I would have a good foundation and know the value of

good credit. So I applied and was approved for a student credit card, and coincidentally I

needed tires for my car around the same time. My mother promised me that if I bought

the tires with my credit card, that she would pay me back in full and I would be able to pay my credit card balance off. One week went by, she didn’t have it. Two weeks went by, she didn’t have it. Three weeks went by, and she still didn’t have it. Then for my new job, I found out that I had to be fingerprinted which would $65 dollars, which I did not have, and did not know where to get it from. My supervisor actually let me borrow the money until my first pay check came. To add to all of the problems going on, the tuition deposit for college was due which was another $200 dollars. My uncle agreed to let me borrow the money for my tuition deposit until my first paycheck from my job came, so that was taken care of. My mother seemed to be getting worse but I still could not figure out what was going on, and could not pinpoint where to start looking.

Payday came from my job, in which $200 was already going to my uncle and $65 to my boss, then I had to pay the minimum payment on my credit card which was another

$20 and put gas in my car which was another $15. When all of it was said and done, for the rest of month, for food and other necessities, I had a total of $8 to live off of. During

the day, I started calling my uncle and my aunt on a daily basis to ask if they had food to

spare me for lunch and the search continued around dinnertime.

On a better note for the year, I ended up obtaining many scholarships to pay for

college which included one from the Southern Scholarship Foundation, USA Funds

Access, and the Sam Walton Award. I was very happy to find a way to pay for college,

but I was still stressing about my current situation. After graduating with honors from

Lawton Chiles High School, I continued into the summer working as a camp counselor,

and the job was holding up well when one day my mother comes to my job and asks to

speak with me. She tells me that the mortgage has to be paid immediately or our home

and the property it sat on would go into foreclosure proceedings. She said the payment

was $325 and I didn’t get paid until the next week. I got off from work early and

scrambled to try to find the money only to come up short once again. I confronted her

about it, and she told me another believable story, but I had had enough at this point, so I

inquired further and she tells me that she has been experimenting with drugs, but was

trying to stop.

Moving away from home was a scary feeling not because of what might happen

to me, but not knowing what was going to happen back home. Classes were going well; I

was making new friends, going out and meeting new people, and liking the new experience. On the other side of things, my sister tells me that she was terminated at her job and that she needed help. I did my best to help support her and my niece in their time of need, and to make sure they have what they needed to survive. Also, my mother tells me that there is a warrant for her arrest, and that she is trying to get it straightened out but it is a difficult situation. At this point, I was starting to go home throughout the week just to check on my mom and make sure my sister and niece were still alright, and waking up the next day at 6 a.m. to get back to Gainesville for class. So one night I get a phone call from my sister telling me that my mother was stopped by an officer for outdated license plates, but was arrested for the outstanding warrant. The problem was when I found out

how much the bond was to release her; I did not have nearly enough money to pay it. It felt as if I was in a long nightmare that I was trying to get out of, but when I pinched myself to wake up, I realized it was reality. My aunt and uncle ended up getting her out on the condition that she attended counseling for her addiction.

I had a plan also, to make sure that this would never happen again. My mother agreed to let me handle her finances and manage them on her behalf. I now make sure all of the bills get paid and on time. I have written a strict budget for her that allows her to save and do small things that she wants to do with her money such as go out to eat. She has now been clean for 6 months with the help of Derrick Steele and the fellowship of

Christian Heritage in Tallahassee, Florida. My sister also has found another job and is able to support herself and my niece. From time to time, they do need help, and I am more than happy to step in and do what I can for them because at the end of the day all we have is each other.

As of now, my problems are very limited, I truly cannot complain. I have my mother and my sister back. Staying on top of thing is very hard with the amount of assignments that I am given which include reading. Even though I have a heavy work load, I know in the end it will only make it a better person.

If I knew then what I know now, surprisingly I would not change it for the world.

The reason that I say this is that it made me the man I am today. It taught me to value things, and I believe I have learned life lessons that many will not learn for years. It also taught me to deal with adversity, and realize when things happen now that they could be much worse. From managing money to supporting a family I know I can make a way to do it. I am not saying I know everything because I surely do not, but I have the

knowledge from my experiences and how to handle adversity when it does arise.

My goals right now are to just do the best that I can in college, whether it be

helping others with my same problem or in the classroom. In the future I aspire to be a

pharmaceutical sales representative and to continue to be a family man. Other than that, I

just want to be a better person for my sake and the others around me, and make sure my

family lives the best that they can.

If I ever had a chance to speak with a Florida legislator about Florida’s higher

education system, I would advise them to change their view on financial aid and not cut

funding and other need based funding such as Bright Futures because they may not realize how much it means to students who are not fortunate enough to have both parents at least, and for those to be paid well at their jobs. Not everyone is in the “middle class”

and can afford a higher education for their children. Not everyone gets paid like they do, and can afford to have the certain things that they may take for granted. Also remember that there are some things you cannot understand about many situations, so therefore you

cannot know how to change or help them.

Shayna

Florida State University

My Struggle

I am quite sure everyone has had some obstacles, trials and circumstances to

overcome. Believe me I am a person surrounded by all three. Growing up for me was

very hard and difficult, but I managed to get through all of my struggles. The very first

day I was born, I was given away to my grandmother because my mother knew she was

unable and not capable of taking good care of me. My mother was heavy on drugs and

deep into the street life. She passed away when I was nine years old in the third grade to

the horrible disease known as HIV.

Even though I was very young the pain hit me as it would’ve hit anyone else who

understood the meaning of death. Although we never developed the mother daughter

relationship I miss her very badly as the days go by. I just wish we had a chance to walk in the park together or even just take a picture together. I often use to get jealous

whenever I saw a mother and daughter laughing and just enjoying one another, because

that is something I never had a chance to do. The only thing I can do now is just imagine

and think of the what ifs. I tell everyone I come across to cherish your mother and do not

take anything for granted. I never really got a chance to know exactly who my father is.

The only thing I know about him is that he is in prison for drugs, robbery and who knows

what else. My mother never told me exactly who he is. If I could just go back in time and

have a normal life with my mother and father I would. I’d give anything just to go

through that experience.

I’m just thankful my grandmother was around and willing to take me into her care

and care for me. If it wasn’t for her, I have no idea where I would have ended up at.

Maybe in an orphanage or adopted by some total strangers. I just recently lost her also on

March 6, 2008. That was another tragic day for me because she was all I had as a parent

figure. She is in a better place now and is no longer suffering. By knowing that, help give

me the strength to move forward and try to let it go. She raised me in a tiny apartment in

Immokalee all by herself even though she was disabled. She made ends meet and made sure I had everything I needed and some of the things I wanted. I am very happy she got a chance to see me graduate and make it to college. That is all she ever talked about to me as a child. “( I want you to graduate, be the first one out the family to attend college and make me the happiest grandmother alive)” I know she was very proud of me.

I am also very proud of myself for making it to Florida State University because not everyone makes it to a university. Although I have had several circumstances that stood in my way along the way I never gave up or even thought about it. My educational goals are to graduate from Florida State and pursue my dreams of becoming a Social

Worker/Lawyer. Those have always been my goals since I could remember. It would be a great feeling knowing that I am the first out of my entire family to graduate high school, attend college and succeed! I striving for the best so I can be able to say I made something of that lost nine year old child without parents to guide her.

Gabriela

University of Florida

30,000 feet in the air and 90 miles from a new beginning, seven pairs of eyes

caught one last gaze of their past. Once recognizable, it was now just a scattered ruin of

what used to be. Her voice, self described as one of masked confidence, conveyed the

words that still resonate in me to this day. “Take a look at her one last time; take her in as

how she used to be-- because we will never come back here again.” My grandmother

always told me my families escape from Cuba was a tough one. A family of seven, their

plea to leave the country was rejected four times, their estate, built by the hands of a

generation of Tome men, was stripped of their possession, and my grandfathers brother

was executed for speaking out against the government.

In Cuba, at the peak of the revolution, if you were skilled and considered of value

to the country you were not permitted to leave. My grandfather was a doctor and my

grandmother a lawyer- skill and value in its truest form. It is not that she had turned her

back on her country that she had uttered these words, but because a place where she once

fought for the value of freedom and the warrant of liberty was no longer in existence.

This place-this place where one could not speak their mind, could not pursue their

happiness freely, could not practice their own beliefs, this place was not the Cuba she had

once called her home. From then on my freedom was not something I took lightly.

Something that most people do not see as special I consider my most prized possession. I

was always fascinated with her tales. The way her hazel eyes, the color I imagined the

waves of the beaches she still tells of to be, traveled to a different land and took me with them with every story inspired me. I never forgot those principles she spoke of and unlike

the other kids in school I had a hunger that motivated me from deep within. Part of it was because I knew how easily everything could be taken way. Another part, the part that sparked my motivation to make my life different, knew what it was to struggle. I was sick of the in and out visits from random men looking for money owed by my father. A man who I would go without seeing for month’s and month’s except for the random visit, which consisted of an afternoon outing to the nearest bar and patches of slurred words between five rounds of Dewar’s and waters. I wanted more than a string of one bedroom apartments and bare tree’s on Christmas mornings, and I knew it was up to me to change my life. From then on I had a drive and competitiveness that was unstoppable. I have always felt the constant need to work and better myself, whether it was folding boxes and answering phones at a pizza place or pulling double waitressing shifts on vacations home from school to make ends meet- my work ethic is undeniable.

The first to go to college in my immediate family, I have never let barriers or disadvantage stand in my way. Be it acting, design, or writing I feel the need to express myself and explore new territories. My grandmother always called it “teniendo angel,” having something rare that makes some want it more than others. I know what it is like to be at the bottom. I know the labels people put on a Hispanic girl from a shifty neighborhood and the barriers I have broken and will continue to have to break, and I refuse to neither recognize any of it as an obstacle nor let it define me. Above all I am compelled to make an argument. An argument for myself, for those that can’t and for those of whom that right has been taken away from. I want this American dream more than most. I understand freedom deeper than those who hear it through lapses of consciousness during fourth-period history class, and I refuse to go anywhere but up.

More than anything I believe these traits will be the key to my success as a law student. I will never be that person that sits back and takes it. While others may remain silent, I will grab hold of what this country offers us—freedom and I will educate myself in order to be a resource for those who have not had the privileges I have been given.

Jessica

Florida State University

There is no point in over exaggerating my life story because everyone does that

when we have these types of stories to tell. They try to make there lives seem so bad,

although they sometimes are, when that is not the purpose of writing these responses. I do not want anyone to feel sorry for me because that is unnecessary. Yes, my parents passed away when I was just an adolescent and life has been hard for me ever since, but there are millions of other children who have it worse than I did. The point in writing this essay is not to inform you about the all the negative things that happened in my life; it is to demonstrate how the obstacles in my life made me progress and become a stronger a better individual and enter Florida State University with high hopes and dreams!

My family situation is nowhere near perfect; but whose situation is? When both of my parents passed away, my oldest sister (my oldest sibling) was nineteen years old and I was twelve. She dropped out of college to work full time to support my other sister, my young brother, and me. Life was not easy for us at all. With no other relatives living in the United States, it was hard surviving while all of the bills were left in my sister’s hands. My financial need has risen far beyond what I expected but we stayed strong and worked in order to maintain survival. When my father died, life was okay because we survived off our mother’s income; but after she passed, I knew I had to remain strong!

In my opinion, having my parents deceased meant no money for college. I was discouraged to apply because I felt like there was no need in wasting my time. I knew that going to college was not going to be cheap, so I had to figure out some way to get there. My academics were all I had. Maintaining straight A’s was (and still is) a goal of

mine because I knew colleges valued academics. However, how far was I going to get on

just academics?

Since my parents have passed away, I have gained more responsibility. I worked my twelfth grade year because I felt like I owed it to my oldest sister to help her out with the bills. Working allowed me to build my character. I hear high school students say,

“what do I need to work for; I have my parents.” You see, they are looking at life the wrong way. I see working as an experience to enhance my life in the later years. Even if my parents were still alive, there was no point in leaching off them when I could have worked on my own to gain the experience of being an adult.

Education was always a value to my parents, so it was a goal of mine to value my studies. You would think my academics would have plummeted after my mother passed, but I actually became a straight A student right after she passed away. I knew that going to a post secondary institution was a goal of hers she wanted me to reach so I made sure that was a goal of mine also.

Miami Central Senior High, my high school, made me learn that there were pessimistic people in the world. My high school has been a D school for a long time and some of the teachers and other faculty members would tell me, “Schools are not going to accept you based on your academics when you go to such a low quality school.” I believed these adults. They would constantly tell me this and it actually registered in my mind. However, I thought about how hard I worked to better myself after my mother passed. I thought about my parents. I thought about how hard they worked to get me this far and I knew I could not give up! I learned that individuals would always try to put you down. You just have to be confident enough in yourself and know that you can and will

succeed in life.

I always go back to Miami Central Senior High School, during every school break, with My Florida State attire on and walk with my head up high! A faculty member once asked me, “Why do you have on that outfit?” I said to her, “O, it is because I made it to Florida State based on just my academics.” So you see, everyone has there story to tell. Yes, there have been times when I was in college and I did not have enough to give my sister for the rent. Yes, there have been times when I wondered how I received a meal everyday, and yes, there has even been a time when I asked my counselor to adopt me because I did not want to go through the punishment of not having parents anymore.

However, I do not regret anything I have been through. Working and growing up faster than I have wanted or planned has made me a better and stronger person. I have built a stronger character because I know how it feels to solve problems that you perceived had no solutions. I know what it is to go through problems and I know how it feels to struggle in college. However, going through these experiences makes me excel in college even more. Dilemmas that I face make working toward my future, Screenwriting career more worthwhile. It is my dream to go to New York and become a successful Screenwriter and

I will see it accomplished. It is my goal to be more financially stable and I will see that accomplished also. If I received the chance to speak to a Florida Legislator about the higher education system, I would advise them to not be biased against students that come from less prestigious high schools because they will be overseeing great students. Yes, our property taxes are lower in these areas, which cause our schools to be funded less, but we have much to offer although our schools causes you not to see it. Do not provide us incentives because you think we may need it. Provide us financial help because you see

we deserve it.

I have conquered knowing that not having parents is not the end of the world. I have made it to college and I will succeed now that I am here. Yes, I may go through my problems here and there in college, and cannot call my parents for aid, but I just see these problems as life lessons bettering my character. If I knew in high school that Universities did not turn down students based on their “school’s reputation,” I could have had many more opportunities in life. I would have not listened to those pessimistic people at school.

I would not have been so pessimistic, about myself, if I would have known earlier not to

listen to what other people had to say. My college experience would have been better if I

would have known these simple things sooner because school would not seem so

challenging to me. I would have walked into Florida State more prepared and optimistic

because I would have known that they accepted my academics and me for whom I am

and not because I was a girl from a D school “who just got lucky.” Even today, people

ask me, “so how do you do it; how do you survive with no parents?” Well, I just tell

them, “Life would not be as sweet if it were not for the hardships that came before it,

which you knew you overcame!”

Amanda

University of South Florida

Growing up in a single family home is an obstacle all in its self. My mom had four of her own kids. She also adopted my three cousins before I was born. That made seven children in the house hold. We didn’t always have what we wanted but my mother made sure we had what we needed. We struggled to make ends meet. I can remember times where I would see my mom counting change just so she could feed us. My mom also had my uncle living with us who is mentally ill. Alto of times I wouldn’t study because I would see the time that my mom was having with my uncle, so I knew that I had to help her. I did the best that I could do in high school.

When I graduated I first attended a university in Tallahassee, Fl. My mom did what she could do to send me off to school. I stay in Tallahassee for six months, until things started to get difficult on the bills. I came home after the fall semester. I didn’t let that stop me. I enrolled at Saint Petersburg college majoring in mass communications. It was easier at home because instead of paying the school, the school paid me. I graduated from saint Petersburg college in July of 2007 with my AA degree.

I now attend The University of South Florida in Tampa, fl majoring in

Communication, with a concentration in interpersonal and Organizational

Communicaton. Thanks to financial aid I am able to further my education. I have an apartment off of campus. Not to long ago I was informed by my mother that bills are getting tight again and if I cant find a job soon that I will have to move back home in the fall. I really don’t want to do that this time because the school doesn’t offer the courses that I need to take on the saint Petersburg campus. So I am hoping that I will have a job

very soon, so that I wont be such a burden on my mom. When I am so close to graduating. If all goes to plan I will be graduating next spring.

After graduating from The University of South Florida, If it is possible I hope to attend graduate school, to get my master’s in communications. I would even stay home while in graduate school if the campus had the classes. I’m not sure of what I really want to do with the degree right now but I do know that I want to do something with entertainment.

Jonathan

Florida State University

I grew up in Quincy, Fl, a small town in Northern Florida, which was infamous for

being on the “critically low” FCAT list for a number of years. The constant news articles

and broadcasts highlighting our lack of achievements crushed the morale of my

classmates and me. Achieving the possible seemed to be close to impossible. However,

with constant studying and preparation, my classmates and I managed to pull ourselves

up from the low end of the list.

I carried the same anxiety I felt when preparing for the FCAT with me when the

time came for me to begin the application process for college. First there were the

daunting practice SATs and ACTs. Then there were the applications themselves. And

then there was the time where the most stress resided: waiting on an answer. In

retrospect, I didn't have a reason to worry as much as I did. I was an honor student, had

scored fairly well on both the SAT and ACT, and would be graduating in the top ten percent of my class. However, the achievements we made as students were battered with the constant reminders of how we missed the mark in the past.

I eventually received acceptance letters to all of the colleges that I applied to, enrolled, and began to work my way towards December of 2008, my projected graduation date. I chose to double-major in African American Studies and English

Creative Writing. The road, however, was long, hard, and unexpected. I was diagnosed with severe obsessive-compulsive disorder (for which I was treated and now have under control), saw my grades plummet, sought counseling for severe depression, and clawed

my way up from a critically low grade point average to be considered a somewhat prime

candidate for law school.

If I had the luxury of advising my younger self with the bit of wisdom I have

acquired over the last four years, I would simply say enjoy the moment, but be

progressive in the moment as well. I went through my freshman, sophomore, and junior

years of college with my breath held, never stopping to see what I had accomplished as a

man of African descent, and how I had avoided becoming a stereotype and statistic.

Most of the time, I felt as if I had not done enough with my life, and that I was lagging behind compared to my other peers. However, it was not until I voiced these concerns to

a caring professor, who in turn told me to look how I far I had come despite the things I

had gone through, that my perspective changed.

If given the opportunity to speak with a Florida legislator, I would advise him or

her to implement programs aimed towards at-risk youth and students from lower socio-

economic statuses that show how attainable a chance to go to college really is. Another

suggestion I would offer is to develop a think tank specifically for the cause of

constructing a program that targets high school students who may not have performed the best academically, but still aspire to attend a college or university. Past grades, most times, predict how a student will perform in future academics, but can also prove to be a hindrance to those whose grades suffered from various reasons such as family problems, stress, and health-related issues, or anything that will prevent an aspiring scholar from exceeding his or her potential.

Yakara

HCC-Ybor City

I am a 31 year-old female with two children. I was 17 when I became pregnant with my oldest daughter, Alycia. After I graduated from high school in 1994, I enrolled at the International Academy of Merchandising and Design, now called the International

Academy of Design and Technology in Tampa, FL. I started in June of 1994 and soon had to stop because it was time for me to give birth. Once I gave birth that was it for schooling, I never went back. When Alycia became older, I decided that I wanted to go back to school. Once I made that decision, I ended up pregnant again with my youngest daughter, Alesandra. Unfortunately, going back to school was no longer a priority.

In the process of having two children I married a wonderful man by the name of

Hector. Hector is hard working and dedicated to achieving his goals. One of his goals was to own his own business and be able to take care of his immediate family here and his mother and grandmother back in Honduras. I must admit that he has reached all of his goals. He is a successful business owner and does what needs to be done to take care of his family whether it is here or in Honduras.

Things were going really well for my husband and me. We have our own business, and finances do not seem to be a problem. I know that if I need something or if the girls need something, obtaining those items would not be a problem. My husband,

Hector, always tells me that I do not need to go to school or asks me what do you need to go to school for. I always listened. Not because what he was saying was true, because it was not, but because I had everything I needed or wanted.

Suddenly, on October 26, 2006, my world came crashing down. My husband was

picked up by Immigration and Custom Agents at the Port of Tampa. I received a call that

my husband was going to be removed (deported) from the country. At that moment I had

so many emotions, I did not know if I was dead or alive. We have so many questions as to why my husband and father to my children is being removed. I mean after all the U.S. government knew he was here and he had a valid EAD (work permit). At that instance, I became both mommy and papi.

We still have our business, and things are going as well as expected since the housing industry has slowed down greatly but, I must truly thank God because we still have work. I can still get the things that I need for myself and my kids, but I have had a rude awakening also. Playing mommy, papi, and boss is not that easy. I have become the official, “Wonder Woman”!

Since the incident with my husband, it has really made me evaluate myself. With my new perspective on life, I realized that I really wanted to go back to school and further my education. First, I wanted to show my two daughters that they did not need to depend on a man for anything, and secondly this is something that I want to do for myself. The process of me enrolling has been slow because of the situation with my husband, but it something I must make a priority.

Although I am grown, my goal is still to become a criminal investigator for the sheriffs’ or police departments. Maybe even work for the Florida Department of Law

Enforcement or the U.S. Marshall’s Office. I plan to pursue a degree in Criminal Justice.

When I finish with my Associate of Science degree in Criminal Justice I plan on continuing my education hopefully at the University of South Florida to get a Bachelor’s

Degree in Criminal Justice.

I thought I wanted to be an interior decorator when I was younger, but in my heart it was not what I wanted. I was just trying to follow my friends. In a way, having my oldest was a blessing in disguise because it prevented me from following a career path that my heart was not truly in. My heart and my passion are in becoming a criminal investigator.

Despite being a teen mom, then having my second child, and finally my husband being removed from the U.S., these obstacles have not set me completely back. Instead of letting these obstacles keep me down, I have opted to keep my head up, stay strong for not only myself but for my family, and focus on making my dreams and goals a reality.

My obstacles may have been a setback in the past, but they have made me the person who

I am today.

Anonymous

Florida State University

Peeking around the kitchen I witnessed my step dad hit my mother like she was a

punching bag. Broken glass covered the floor. I stood there helplessly as he beat my

mother is drunken fury. In a moment of redemption I opened the kitchen drawer and

grabbed the biggest knife I could see in the darkness. I stormed around the corner and attempted to save my mother. Right as I came up behind him my mother screamed for me to stop. All I heard were her loud cries as he flung my tiny, ten-year old body to the floor.

He then stormed out of the house in rage, slamming the door so hard that it rattled my heart. My mother lay about 10 feet away from me, she was crouched on the floor sobbing and murmuring what sounded like prayers. I would often wake up in the middle of the night to shouting matches. Words of hate and anger were often thrown around my home, which had become a 24 hour boxing ring. Violence had come into my life and ripped apart the seams of my heart. Thus, with the thread of hurt, oppression was sewn.

Adolescence is supposed to be a time to enjoy the excitement of life as you

prepare to undergo the transformation from childhood to adulthood. Yet, my adolescence

years were spent supporting a household and keeping together a family that was on the

verge of falling apart.

While I was in middle school, the maiming disease HIV claimed my mother, thus

causing even more pandemonium in family. I was forced to fill the void duties my mother

could no longer fill due to her battles with HIV. I had to cook, clean, take care of a

younger sister, take care of my adult mother, write out bills and balance my mothers

checkbook, all while I struggled to maintain decent grades. At this point in my life I

could have given up, yet I refused to become a victim of circumstance. I would not become another statistic.

After overcoming the horrible pains of a desolate childhood, the two-edged monster hurt had struck again, this time taking the most valuable thing in my life: my mother. This painful event only caused me to strive even harder for success. I refused to let tragedies in my life weigh me down. Instead, I have turned my tragedies into triumphant testimonies. A couple of years before the death of my mother I lost my best friend: my grandfather. Furthermore, as a young child I was forced to experience the hardships of sexual abuse. Moreover, I have faced many obstacles that have molded and shaped me into a resilient individual, who shall continue to persevere despite obscurity.

Once my mother passed away I felt alone. I did not have a relationship with my father and I no longer had my mother. I knew I had to go to college if I wanted to leave behind the tough life I had been forced to live. As a result, I worked continuously throughout my high school years to maintain excellent grades. I enrolled in the dual enrollment program through my high school and graduated high school as a college sophomore, which in turn enabled me to gain acceptance to Florida State University. I am the first person in my family to attend college, because where I come from college is a distant dream that very few people go on to attain. However, it has been a constant struggle to remain in school. During my freshmen and sophomore year at Florida State

University I was denied financial aid and I was forced to work full-time in order to support myself. For fear of having to withdraw from school I got an additional job and kept applying to the University for a Dependency Override. (A dependency override is financial aid granted to self-sufficient students who can prove extraneous situations) I

was denied a Dependency Override three times, but I knew if I did not receive financial assistance I would be forced to leave, so I applied again and I was finally awarded a

Dependency Override. I’m so grateful for the financial assistance I have gained on behalf of the Florida State University, it has allowed me to continue my education and I am now in my third year of college.

Upon graduating, my goals are to enroll in the Teach for American program, so that I can give young children something I myself never experienced as a child: the reason to hope. I would like to teach children in inner-city schools because, I came from an inner-city school and I know the difficulty of trying to stay encouraged when every year your school is receiving a failing school grade. After graduation, I have also set a goal to adopt my younger sister, because she has been burdened and ignored since the death of our mother. My sister is the reason I wake up each day: because one day I want to provide her with the home we never had.

If given the opportunity to speak with a Florida legislator I would advise him/her to change the budgets that have been dramatically affecting Florida’s higher education system. I’m not sure if legislators realize that “with one stroke of the pen” many students’ lives have been ruined. Many students cannot afford to remain in school with the prices for education increasing but the means to pay for education decreasing. Furthermore, as a result of budget cuts some programs and majors have been cut, library hours have decreased, class sizes have increased and there has been a hold on admission into many major Universities in Florida. I would explain to the legislator my passion behind this issue and let him/her know that I have written a past letter to the legislator that was never responded to. I would ask the legislator to please understand education is the most

important thing one can have the opportunity to receive and with the budget cuts less and less people are receiving this grand opportunity. Henry Steele Commager once said,

“Change does not necessarily assure progress, but progress implacably requires change.

Education is essential to change, for education creates both new wants and the ability to satisfy them.” Which makes me wonder how can change ever come if education no longer a top priority and less people are given the opportunity to receive education?

Monique

University of Florida

In life overcoming obstacles and challenges is what makes reaching your goals fill

you with excitement and a sense of accomplishment. I believe that having obstacles and

challenges is not what makes people extraordinary or special, but the ways in which they

work to overcome these barriers. I believe that is what has helped me to become the

young woman that I am today.

An obstacle that I brought entirely upon myself with the intention of using it as a

tool to make it to my top college choice was obtaining my International Baccalaureate

(IB) diploma. Whatever the way, I always knew I was going to attend college whether it

was community college, vocational/trade school, or a four year university; the major obstacle was working to get accepted to my number one choice, the University of Florida

(UF). I knew an IB diploma would help me get there, but it was strenuous work. The IB program is an advanced and rigorous high school program that thoroughly prepares you for not only college but many other real world issues. What made the program difficult were its course schedule, demanding teachers, academic and extra-curricular requirements, and the balancing act I had to do to handle everything. Whether you liked it or not this program forcefully caused you to become the epitome of a well-rounded student. Not only were there academic demands, but also creative, service, and active demands. Service demands went above and beyond the mediocre requirements of traditional high school programs and made you delve deeper into yourself to gain and learn from the experience; and the creative demands were easy for some but harder to express for myself. Yet, I made up for this in the active realm, where I excelled in

athletics. Consequently, all of these demands place great stress on me, often times draining me of energy and making it difficult to do what was required of me. There were many nights when I would get home late from a practice or game, shower, eat, and then have a few hours of work to do for an upcoming class. To add further frustration, this problem trickled down into my free time when I surely expected to be free of school issues and rest, but attendance in this program demanded much time from your weekend, holidays, and any free time you may have thought you had. There were many weekends when I would have to get up early and go do hours for a service project, and then spend the rest of the day working with a study group for a project or test. Or there were the holidays when all I wanted was to spend time with friends and family, but had to schedule time for papers or something similar. Unsurprisingly, each year in the program meant more demands, academically and extra-curricular related, that I had to respond to and less sleep that I would be rewarded with. Nevertheless, I always found a way to move through the papers, homework, exams, community service activities, athletics, exhaustion, and sleepless nights to get what I wanted from the program: great experiences that shaped life values and my IB diploma.

Another obstacle that is extremely personal, that I have had to overcome was living in a single parent home, who would be the sole financial provider of my college education. It always made the question of how I was going to pay for college a daunting one. Presently, the cost of attending college seems to be ever increasing with regard to payments of books, meals, housing, and money for personal items, but the income of many professional careers is not rising simultaneously. This is felt stronger when there is only one parent in your life to help you pay for school. This often made me wonder how

it would affect me going to my top choice and not somewhere else, and caused for so many questions to fill my mind, which is more than any high school student should have to deal with. The main question running through both mine and my mom’s mind was even though some funds were saved, how would we pay the difference without placing a burden on my shoulders that would stay with me for years to come. This was an issue, because my mother had to take out loans while she was in college, and the years of payment afterward were a tiresome hassle that she desperately wanted to keep out of my life. Yet, even though this was such a great issue it was nothing that either one of us was going to let keep me out of the school that I wanted to go to.

With much hard work and dedication I was able to attend UF, but obstacles continue to nudge me off of my track to stay in school. One problem that continues to hassle me is receiving help from my parents to pay for things as costs continue to rise, but incomes of educational professionals do not. However, there is one main personal obstacle that affects my schooling, and that is the emotional and mental distress that is caused by questioning your sexual orientation. Dealing with something like this is not a topic that can just be bottled and placed on a shelf; it has to be let open to breathe.

Consequently, it has caused great emotional and mental distress to the point of harming myself and considering worse, which affected my focus and work in courses, and has brought forward thoughts of possible semester withdrawal. Obviously all of this running through my mind is going to affect my academic conduct, but I have sought help and am now receiving the necessary assistance, both academically and socially to get through this time and still be successful. This issue in my life has taught me of the resources I can utilize and how they will lead me towards helpful and understanding individuals.

As you may be able to see by now I am not one to let this obstacle course called life derail me from what I wish to accomplish, and I have many future goals that I know are within my grasp. After I receive my undergraduate degree I plan to go to grad school to obtain both my Master’s of Science and Ph.D. I will study to receive degrees in sports medicine with a specialization in exercise physiology, biomechanics, or something similar. While studying towards my master’s I will be using my personal training certification, that I plan on receiving by mid 2009, to gain knowledge of the field and specialization I want to pursue and use it as a real world experience to utilize the knowledge I have. I want to work for a high-end elite fitness center where I can sharpen my skills and intricately learn the complexities of the sector of the fitness industry I want to go into. I also want to learn other aspects of fitness by getting my strength and conditioning specialist certification. I will use this along with the knowledge and skills I gained from personal training to work with college, professional, and elite athletes. But what is most important to me is that all of this knowledge and experience will lead me towards my ultimate career goal of owning an elite fitness center and wellness spa.

Yet, it is what I do right now that is going to determine when and how I accomplish my goals, but there are things that I would do differently because of what I now know to make my college experience better. One major thing would be to have started practicing effective study skills from the on-set of my college experience.

Throughout my pre-college educational career I have never really had to study. If I had developed more effective study skills sooner it would had made a lot of my days in the library easier than they were, and would have been easier than trying to develop study skills now.

Another key piece of knowledge for me has been that meeting new people makes college all the more an enjoyable experience. I would have gone about making these connections differently by deciding to get involved in activities and organizations sooner.

From this I would have decided to just go to events even if I had to go by myself, which helps to form stronger independence, a key trait once you are on your own. It also helps to meet new people. Knowing this now has brought me to the ultimate realization that sometimes you have to leave what you got in high school back in high school, and that includes some friends and all drama. If I had known that then I would have gone about making new connections in a completely different way to make my college experience more peaceful and enjoyable.

Finally, if I was given an opportunity to speak with a Florida Legislature what I would advise them to change in Florida’s higher education system is to better help more parents pay for their child’s education. I know I am not the only student with this grievance, but it is extremely difficult to pay for school when its cost increases faster than someone’s income. So I would advise for a plan that would cause for a child’s educational cost to grow with some linear relevance to their parent’s income.

Yet, ultimately you cannot let this or any other obstacle in life get in the way of your dreams. Obstacles are a part of life, do not let them derail you from what you want, work past and through them using them as motivation. That is how I feel about obstacles, and I have had to overcome a few to make it to one of my ultimate destinations – attending college at the University of Florida.

Ashley

University of South Florida

While I was attending my senior year in high school I was trying to discover a way for me to attend the university of my choice. I thought about how I was going to find money in order to pay my way through college. In order to begin the process I decided to go to my guidance counselor and ask for some guidance. The advice that I was given was to apply to numerous amounts of scholarships to increase my chances of being a recipient. So I wrote essay after essay and waited for a response. Later, I received notice that I was eligible to receive the scholarship from the Hillsborough

Alliance of Black School Educators and that I was invited to attend a meeting where the

winner would be announced. When I arrived the night of the meeting my nerves felt as if

they were rattling around inside my body with the possibility of snapping at any moment.

At the meeting there were a few hundred students from high schools all over

Hillsborough county. All the students from my high school sat together and could not

wait until the committee members announced the recipient of the scholarship that we

were hoping to receive.

Finally, the members announced that they were going to reveal the winner of the

scholarship. I recollect that I thought there were a lot of people and told myself that if I

did not receive the scholarship it would be alright and I would have to find another way

to receive funds for college. Then the announcer spoke about the winner and it sounded

as if he was talking about me. At that moment I was at the edge of my seat and when he

called the name I could not believe that it was me. So many emotions were running

through my body. I was shocked, proud, shy, and ecstatic simultaneously. I walked up

to receive my scholarship with my head held high while my family and peers supported me with their cheers. Now I actually had a chance to pay for college. After that night it just seemed as if everything was going my way. Later on I received a Bright Futures scholarship and grants and graduated high school with honors. I was ready and going to attend the University of South Florida.

When I started college I was excited and everything was going well. Then one year so many things just started to crumble. From October of 2005 to November of 2006

I suffered from depression. In result, I could not focus on any of my studies for the fall

2005, spring 2006, and fall 2006 semesters and did very poorly in my classes. I attempted multiple times to focus on my school work, but the depression kept holding me back. The reason why I did not take time off from school is because at the time I was concerned with not letting my family know about my situation. I actually believed that I could put aside my depression on my own and complete my assignments. Well, I was completely wrong and learned the hard way. When you are suffering from depression you most likely will not be able to make the proper choices in life.

A little while after I was placed on academic probation, then I was academically dismissed from the university and my financial aid was cancelled. The reason why I was finally dismissed from the university is because I was somehow accidentally enrolled for the summer 2007. I was not even aware that I was enrolled so I did not attend the classes. I was supposed to be just enrolled for the fall 2007 term. Since I did not attend the classes I failed every course, which decreased my g.p.a even more. When I discovered that I was enrolled for the summer it was the week before the fall semester of

2007 began. I thought that it was a simple mistake and went to the Office of Registrar to

see if I could just be withdrawn and have the courses taken off my transcript. While I

was there I was told that I have to petition to be readmitted into the university, to have

my financial aid reinstated, and to have the courses removed from my transcript. After

sending my petition in I was notified, the end of the first week of school, that everything

was approved and I was finally able to register for classes. Now I am trying to boost my

g.p.a as high as possible.

Thinking that everything was fine and that nothing was going to go wrong I was

hit with another challenge. I received an eviction notice in February of 2008 and did not

know where I was going to live. Fortunately, I have a phenomenal friend and she invited

me into her home for as long as I needed. After some weeks I was blessed with my own

apartment. I am struggling to pay bills, however I am blessed and very appreciative that I am alive and have a place to live.

On another note, after college I want to attend a graduate program and receive my masters in Anthropology. Additionally, I want to continue to pursue my interest in photography and obtain a degree in this field. After obtaining these degrees I want to travel all over the world and view various cultures, their living conditions, and lifestyles.

During my journey I will be writing and capturing as much as possible of the cultures with my camera. I want everyone to accept or at least tolerate one another. People need to learn about other cultures besides their own. Maybe by doing this people would not judge others because of their “race”, beliefs, and /or sexual orientation (I put race in quotations because there is no specific definition of race; it is culturally constructed).

Instead they would do what the honorable Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said: “judge by the content of their character”. If we teach our children to love one another, not to hate then

we can make a tremendous difference in the world. I know that every single human being has battled with their own stereotypes at one time. You may have had a thought about a particular group of people and then said, “How could I have possibly created a horrible thought?” You can change that, however, it will take some time. During our childhood and adolescent years our thirsty little brains soaked up information whether it was positive or negative. We have to begin the fight with the world within ourselves.

We cannot get others to believe what we are preaching if we do not believe or practice it ourselves. That just causes more conflict among people.

In retrospect, if I knew what I know now when I was going through depression I would have received help to eradicate the illness as soon as I recognized the symptoms.

However, I do not regret anything that I have done in life because it developed the person that I am today. All the challenges that I went through and overcame resulted in me being a stronger person and believing that I can get through anything that I desire.

Lastly, if I was given an opportunity to speak with a Florida legislator I would advise that he or she stop departments such as Africana Studies and Women Studies from being eliminated. These two as well as other departments are crucial to our society. I feel as if the government does not care about the African diaspora and women. These two groups are an enormous amount of the world’s population. Why are these two departments considered insignificant? If there is going to be a budget cut in education it should not involve eliminating departments. Doing so affects students, faculty, and staff.

Davia

Florida State University

“College is for Smart People”

“Davia, if you don’t go to college, you’re going to be another black statistic trying

to make it in this tedious life. We as a people keep saying that “the man” is trying to keep us down when it is ourselves who tear us down in the fullness thereof. You become the difference and that drastic change. Go to college and be somebody, be that doctor or that Pediatrician that you’ve desired to be. Always remember that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.”

These words were spoken from my dear mother as I walked into my dorm at

Florida State University. She is a single parent and it has been that way for as long as I can remember. As for my dad, he has been gone for a while and the way he left, still replays in my mind. I am more than happy to share this information with anyone; the more I share, the less of a chance I have of doing something crazy. My dad attempted to kill my mom back when I was in the eighth grade. She had given birth to my baby brother five days prior and he showed up in the middle of the night, only to disturb our sleep. While my aunt, her ten day old baby boy, and my brother (the eldest of three) slept in their rooms, my dad and mom were arguing.

To make a long and depressing story short, he slapped her and she grabbed a blender and knocked him in the head with it. I thought he knocked her out with something because I heard the sharing of words and the sound of shattering. As blood flashed before my eyes, I grabbed my baby brother and brought him to my aunt. I then called the police because this was an act of selfish domestic violence. The cops arrived, I

wrote a statement, and then they took my dad to jail. He didn’t stay there as long as I

wanted him to though. Oh yeah, the gun was hidden behind the house by my

grandfather.

After that night, I told my mom that if she lets my dad back into her life, I would

run away and I was so serious. She didn’t take any chances with her life; she got a

divorce within that year. The worst year of my adolescent life was filled with fighting in

school, skipping class on occasion, and disrespecting my teachers. I didn’t let it interfere

with my education though, I owned a 4.0 grade point average for that year which at the

last marking period, dropped to a 3.5. The more I felt angry at my dad for wrecking my

family, the more I read books, played my trombone, did my homework, and passed my

test/quizzes.

I figured, as a teenager, I had to support my family. My baby brother needed

diapers but money didn’t and never will grow on trees so my eldest brother and I got

jobs. Whatever it was that mom needed, she got it. We received child support but that

wasn’t enough for the mortgage and bills. Our dad didn’t even try to give us extra money

like for our birthdays or for Christmas. He said the child support check should cover that.

High-school was a time where some people find their high-school sweethearts,

while others dropout or commit suicide. My only intention was to make it into a four-

year university. As a student a Florida State, I’m compelled to succeed. I have found

myself letting go of friendships because misery loves company. It was so hard to trust

people, which was my biggest challenge and still is because you can see a man’s face but you cannot grasp the intent of his heart. People have talked about me constantly and called me names only because I would not conform to their mischievous ways.

If I knew then what I know now, I would practice more SAT and ACT questions to make better scores on those tests, I would read more to have passed the Reading FCAT on the first try, I would not have became Drum Major or joined the Band Program so I could work more hours at Universal Studios to support my family, I would have taken more AP classes so I could pass the AP exams and obtain college credits, and I would have started and kept money in my savings account so I could still have money now.

These are not regrets nor mistakes but mere experiences that I can still pull from my subconscious memory when I am in need of a reminder as to why I chose to attend college.

After college, I would like to have obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biology to then proceed to medical school to become a Pediatrician. I plan to buy land in a lot in

Orlando, FL to open my own Pediatric office. It will be called “Pediagrow, where the kids go.” Or I could become the world’s next best Child Psychologist; I will be a happier person if I am constantly working with children. I enjoy their company and all they want is someone to play with and talk to. When they get a “boo boo”, they just want to be well taken care of. There are many children in my circle of life and I would trust them more than people I have met while in college.

Florida’s higher education system has many flaws that can be improved. Starting with the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test; it serves a right to be in the school system but is often implemented at the wrong time. I have a friend who came from

Vietnam as a senior and she was forced to take the FCAT test according to Florida’s

Standardized Testing; she was here on a Visa which expired after graduation.

Unfortunately, she did not graduate because she failed both parts of the FCAT test. As

tears fell from her cheeks, I was sad to hear her tell me that she failed because she is such

a sweet and smart young woman. But FCAT does not look at how sweet you are, you

either pass or fail. That is why third graders who fail it and are retained lose hope and are in fear of retaking it. The same goes for freshman in high-school, they take the test and most fail, those of which are put into remedial Reading, Math, English, or Science

classes. Then when they get to the tenth grade and fail it again and teachers,

administrators, principals, parents, and other students often wonder why they decide to or

have strong feelings of dropping out of school.

Other issues such as school locations and school budgets are other concerns of

mine. I attended Apopka high-school as a freshman and I was apart of the Medical

Magnet Program. Unsuspectingly, the school district stopped funding in the bussing

department for the program so I could not attend that school anymore. I then enrolled

into West Orange High School. I attended this high-school for my tenth grade year but

was rezoned due to the traffic in both schools. A new school, Ocoee High School, was

formed and I was forced to attend. Thankfully, I graduated from this school but it did not

have to be so. I thought that I would go to one set high-school but I had to attend three in

all. That was annoying only because the district could not make up its mind as to where

to put the students in Apopka, Winter Garden, and Ocoee, FL. As for the budget, they

spent ample time funding the start of new schools without considering the fact that new

schools bring forth more crime, violence, and headaches for those who are striving for

better lives. I wish that the public had a say so as to what the school money was spent on.

Why does this school get a football stadium but this one does not? Hmm, I do not know,

maybe it is the same reason why one school has a wide variety of class selections such as

AP and Dual Enrollment while others definitely do not.

Lee

Florida State University

If I knew then, what I know now

I was accepted to Florida State University through the assistance of the Center for

Academic Retention and Enhancement program, or C.A.R.E., which contributed in an

excellent orientation of the university, and assistance to further academic standards, with

supportive resources such as mentors, tutors, and labs for first generation college

students. I entered the program with one goal; to excel academically in English

Literature, and stay away from the scene that college was most often associated with.

However, I failed to see that I needed the resources that the program had to offer, to make

my college experience much more meaningful and academically stronger.

My independence and stubbornness to rely on myself prevented me from asking

for help when I needed the support. I became ill during my freshman year from stress but

believed I could handle it; staying in my dorm room with recurring symptoms of past

health problems related to stress, and severing anyone that reached out to help. If I talked

to someone before things went out of hand, or if I asked someone to help me get to the

health center, I might have had a chance to continue my education at Florida State

University without receiving an Academic Dismissal. By the time C.A.R.E found that I

was slipping academically, there was nothing they could do but give me an alternate

route. If I went to the health center and received an examination to put on record, I may

have received eligibility for withdrawal. If I went to professors or asked mentors for

assistance in withdrawing, a process I did not realize was an option, I would have had a

way of avoiding such an incident. My experience with my error, however, helped me

encounter a new found motivation and determination to get back on my feet to undo my

flawed decisions. Fortunately, I finished my Associates in Arts at Tallahassee

Community College in good academic standing and returned to Florida State University a

year and half later.

During my period of “comeback” at the T.C.C, I got involved in church

ministries, by joining the college band, the adult choir as a violinist, serving the elderly at nursing homes, and also getting involved with the sign language group, as well as the dance ministry. Through the experience, I realized how important it was to get involved in the community and on campus to enhance my college experience both academically and also individually. The community college helped me form a strong bond between professors especially in the English department and Humanities department. The professors cared and believed in my capability and encouraged me every step of the way, many of whom I still keep in contact because they made themselves available to assist me in future endeavors.

Currently, I am a Junior at Florida State University, involved in student organizations called Caring and Helping In Community Service and the vice president of

Students Working for Educational Equality Today. I work at Gilchrist Elementary School as an Instructional Aide, assisting the English for Speakers of Other Languages, or

E.S.O.L. teacher manage the classroom and tutor individual students. I have defined which route I want to take academically, by majoring in the Creative Writing program and a minor in Education. Fortunately, I was recently accepted into the International

Programs to learn in the study center in London, England, where I will be immersed in the culture and historical literature. In my immediate future, I plan on graduating from the

university next year and challenge myself by joining the Teach for America Corp where I

will also earn a Masters in the Art of Teaching during the time. One of my ambitions is

also plan to go to Law School and continue my educational career afterward. However, I have become the strong individual who believes in the community and educating the community because I have gone through these experiences.

I do not necessarily believe I’d need to change my past success and errors beginning my college career, but I do believe that in getting involved and utilizing the

resources provided by the university and the community earlier, I would have spared

myself the difficult and trying times. College experiences whether they were good or bad

helped me grow; not only academically but as an individual in the community. I have

grown in the way of thinking, decision-making, and the ability to make a difference in an

individual’s life starting with my immediate surroundings, because I experienced a

difference through my community of program staff, professors, classmates,

organizations, elderly and church friends. The importance of surrounding the self with

influential people in giving and receiving in a positive way is one of the most valuable

lessons I learned, that I wish I knew when I first came to Florida State University.

Linda

University of Florida

My name is Linda and this is my story. I am an American born Chinese. My

mother was born in Shanghai, China. She immigrated to America to give birth in search

of a better life for me. Not long after she married my father, she had me. When my

mother got tested for pregnancy, the doctors told her due to my rapid heart rate that I’d be

a boy, however, when I was born, I was a girl. In Asian culture, it’s a traditional belief

that having boys in the family is more beneficial than having girls. In China, due to this

belief and the one child policy, many girls are killed or abandoned for the boys. From the

moment I was born, my father was disappointed in me. Needless to say, my father’s hope

of having a male successor was shattered. From then on, he held ridiculously high

expectations for me and when I didn’t meet them, he’d beat me and complain about how

I should’ve been a boy instead. Ever since I was little, I was scared of my father and held

a deep grudge with him. In America, there’s a saying “Daddy’s Little Girl”, and I would

watch as fathers spoiled their daughters and treated them like princesses, whereas my

father never treated me nicely. I remember one occasion especially well. During my

middle school years, I came home late once because I wanted to hang out with some

friends. My father was furious and pulled out his belt ready to hit me. At that time, my

grandmother stood in front of me and ended up getting hit on her ankle on my behalf. To

this day, she still has a bruise there. Then in my sophomore year of high school, my

father left us and went to China to do business. He left my mother here to support the family. Seeing how hard my mother had to work to make ends meet really pushed me to

study even harder so I could one day give her and my grandmother a better life. Despite

my father’s demeaning words and actions, I had my mother’s support and love. I went through schooling successfully; I was never at the top of my class but I still had very high grades. I have an extremely close relationship with my mother. We’re more like best friends than mother and daughter. I have my father to thank for that.

I am the first in my family to attend a college or university. I applied for

Florida State University and University of Florida and got accepted into both. I chose the

University of Florida because I wanted to major in Public Relations and the University of

Florida had more attractive College of Communications. I chose this major because after

I graduate, I want to work overseas for an American company. I’d like to represent my company and become involved in foreign business relations. I can speak Chinese,

Shanghainese, and English fluently so I have no problem translating on behalf of my company and I know Shanghai well enough to be able to show people around. I have a passion for talking to people and getting to know different cultures and traditions so I think this field of work fits me the best. When I first entered the University of Florida, I realized that though the Asian population here is relatively high, the school was predominantly white. I did not know anyone here so I chose to live in the dorms first semester. I wanted to get involved on campus so I joined many Asian student organizations. I also joined an Asian interest sorority, Kappa Phi Lambda. Soon, I began seeing the negative stereotypes that came with being Greek and especially, an Asian

Greek. A lot of my old high school friends laughed at me and said things like “Oh you’re just trying to be white” and “Sororities are just a waste of time and it’s just partying.” On the contrary, sororities are a great way to network and get involved in community service projects. My sorority prides itself in cultural diversity and promoting Asian Awareness,

mainly for women empowerment. Now, I not only know people all around campus, if I ever needed help in school or just a helping hand, I have a group of amazing sisters there to support me. The stereotypes didn’t end there though. Being Asian at the University of

Florida is like a given for some people. Many people have said “Oh you got accepted because you’re Asian. You’re supposed to be smart.” I find that quite offensive. I am not just smart, I work hard to get good grades and excel in my classes. People would always ask me for help studying or answers to a test expecting me to just do it for them because my knowledge is “natural” because I’m “Asian.”

Something I would have done differently to make my college experience better is studying harder for me, not for trying to live up to other’s standards and society’s stereotypes. I always wanted to be the best but for my mother’s pride, to make her proud.

Now, I’ve realized that what I learn and how I do in school is for me and only me. Only I have control of my life and I should work towards my goal for my own pride. If I had an opportunity to talk to a Florida legislator, I’d ask him or her to add more minority related classes in the curriculum. Or perhaps change the list of majors to include more options on

Asian Studies. On the University of Florida campus, almost all minorities have a historical building. The only exception is Asian Americans. When we asked the school to provide funding to build one, we were denied. Thus, I joined the newly formed organization called the Building Dreams Foundation. Our goal is to raise money to build the Asian American Institute on our own. I would ask for some government support as far as presenting Asians with more options for classes and historical museums or institutes.

It’s my dream to seeing the foundation of the Asian American Institute established by the time I graduate.

Royce

University of South Florida

In life we are faced with many obstacles that from a distance may seem

impossible. However, with determination, hard work and support from our loved ones and teachers we manage to overcome these obstacles and once achieved, look forward to

our next challenge. This is definitely the case in my life where a major obstacle for me

was to graduate high school. Throughout my high school years, there were times when I

cried, times when I struggled and unfortunately, times when I have fallen but with a

strong will and thirst for success I have managed to break through those setbacks and

come out victorious, a victory signified in the white cap and gown I wore when I walked

across that stage and received my diploma. As I shook my principal’s hand I couldn’t

help but get excited as I thought about the next step in my educational career - college. At that moment a smile found its way upon my face as my heart was filled with anticipation.

I was finally ready to begin attending the University of South Florida, participating in the college experience that would eventually determine my future.

Fully aware of the many challenges that lie before me in the next four years, it was the end result of crossing that stage with my degree that motivated me to persevere through the many obstacles retarding my progression through school. A major force holding me back occurred in my sophomore year where I was contemplating changing my major because I wasn’t sure a career in architecture was for me. This period of frustration proved to be a very trying one as I didn’t know what to change my major to.

Throughout my life there were many situations where control was not in my hands but when the one area I was sure was thoroughly planned out fell flat, uncertainty caused me

to panic. To help ease my worries I began career counseling and took several interest

evaluations before eventually deciding to switch my major to business management.

Contributing to my dilemma was the fact that my father didn’t agree with me majoring in

architecture in the first place. His plan was for me to major in a science which would lead

to a career in medicine. However, when I decided to major in architecture he resented me for that decision making success in that field that much harder due to the lack of support.

Thus, when I decided to switch to business management his disapproval grew causing me

to doubt myself and my major. I had to learn that what I chose to major in was my

decision to make alone and that I must believe in myself against all odds. It took me a

while to accept this and as of today I am proud to say that I am doing extremely well in

the College of business and have future plans of continuing my education in grad school

and plan to someday owning my own chain of luxurious hotels equipped with a full

service spa, movie theatre, top of the line restaurants and amenities that motivated me to

keep on. To prove my commitment to business, I have joined the Project Thrust

Corporate Mentor Program and SISTUHS Inc creating social and professional networks.

I have attended several seminars and workshops such as Email etiquette, resume and

interview dos and don’ts, etc. that aid in my professional development and much more. I

also have plans of joining a business fraternity.

My plans of success didn’t end there as the words of a great leader rang in my

head, “Higher Education is not for those who are here for self-advancement. No, Higher

Education is reserved for those who will return to their communities and improve

conditions.” These words feed my belief that everyone has something to contribute to

society, and I am confident my contribution involves serving as a motivator and enabler

to the youth who have plans of attending college and someday improving their lifestyles.

My plans include developing and implementing several Young Women Centers, offering

an array of outreach programs including but not limited to mentoring programs,

employment programs, leadership programs, health and fitness seminars, abstinence

programs, tutoring programs, and much more. Within these centers I plan to create

scholarship programs encouraging young women and men to seek a higher education,

helping them to maintain stability and independence.

As a young child my mom has prepared for my future as well as the future of my

siblings. It has always been a goal of hers to see that all her kids have the opportunity to

take advantage of getting a higher education and graduating from a university, a goal she

has not yet been able to attain. I believe by completing my degree in my chosen field it

will not only achieve the goal she has set for me but will also motivate her to continue her

education and fulfill her dream of becoming a pharmacist researching a cure for cancer, a

disease that has claimed many of our loved ones including her mother, my grandmother,

whom I am named after. Achieving these goals will help my family tremendously

because it will raise the bar of expectations for future generations, more directly referring

to my younger brother who I currently serve as a positive role model to.

As a current student and future graduate of the University of South Florida, I

believe, “In a world filled with many complex challenges and opportunities I will be

more than good, I will be exceptional” in Excellence, Leadership, Service and Truth!

The next time I walk across that stage I will be receiving a degree that not only signifies

the end of one challenge but will also mark the beginning of my professional career- the

next challenge in my life.

Jessica

University of Florida

Looking back at the years of my young existence, I see a past full of obstacles and independent self-renewal. Over the years I have learned that those that do want to go to a school of higher education will pull all their resources in order to reach their ultimate goal. Ever since I can remember, I have always placed great importance and dedication in everything I have done; I guess I have that competitive gene in me. Growing up my parents were always there for me, I can remember their faces as I performed my first solo; and they stared in disbelief practically at the verge of tears when I received my first award for best student of the year, as well as when they found out their little girl had been accepted into the gifted program. These were all short instances of joyful events in my life, some that I’m until this day very proud of. Unfortunately, my life has not been a set of pleasant events, yet it has prepared me for the unexpected. An abrupt change of events toppled the main foundations of my young life; the news that my parents were getting a divorce was a stab to the heart, leaving me weakened and vulnerable. My family at the time was the illustration of a dysfunctional family; there were the constant arguments and the disintegration of my inner self. For a young girl who was going through this you would have expected her school work to be at stake, but it was an opportunity to shine amid emotional catastrophe. For a couple of months I fell in to a state of despondency, in need of a helping hand; I was given counseling. School had become my emotional safe haven, since coming home meant having to find my mother mistaking me for someone else. I alone had to deal with her; the one person I could depend on was suddenly now dependant on me. It was as if the roles had switched and I was now her parent and she

was my child. My mother had taken a toll for the worse after the divorce; her mental health was at risk and it was what worried me the most. She had been diagnosed with a mild case of bipolar/ schizophrenia and each situation I found myself in had no intention of resolution. My mother was the light that guided my path. Now, after her recuperation, her sacrifices are reflected as she struggles to maintain double shift jobs by waking up at

4 am to earn sufficient money and I fully appreciate and see the effort she is putting. Her resilience and perseverance inspire me to remain firm in life despite the circumstances.

As a young Latina who has lived in a small well united community for nineteen years which many amusingly call Hialeah “agua, fango, y factoria”, in other words “water, mud, and factories”, I have never attended a private school and no I am not considered part of that social group which you would call the “elite”. My experiences have molded me into an ambitious, empowered, Latina and have served as means to propel my dreams.

I am eager to share my thoughts and aspirations with those who are willing to listen.

The realization of my true desires to pursue more of what the world has to offer led me to the University of Florida. After being denied from UF my senior year in high school I was determined to make it in somehow, with the support of my principal, counselors, and teachers who knew me very well I appealed the university of Florida’s decision. I was admitted that same year for the fall, the term of my choice. With this I learned that perseverance can get you far in life, not only did I make it in to the highest ranked university in the state of Florida, but I was also awarded a scholarship that pays for my whole education. There’s a yearning to do something great with my life, to show my mother the impact she’s had on me, and most importantly to help this society progress. I am an individual who has multiple interest and talents, one who beneath the stereotypical

views has risen well above that standard of success which many have for us Latinos who

live here in this melting pot, the United States. I have focused in school, shown great dedication to my school work, commitment to my clubs, and have demonstrated true

leadership qualities through out my past four years in high school and now my freshman

year in college. With a GPA of 4.6 and a ranking of #53 out of a large class of 917

students, it placed me in the top 6% of the 2007 graduating class. Now I have a starting

GPA of 3.3, majoring in political science. With numerous memberships to clubs ranging

from elected Student government senator at UF to actively participating in cultural

groups, I try to manage my time as best as possible. I am committed as well as absorbed

in these clubs for I enjoy actively participating hoping to make an impact upon this new

city I find myself living in.

My goals for the next four years are to help improve an impoverished sector of

Cartagena, Colombia by actively participating with Children Beyond our Borders

(service group that travels there every summer to aid), study abroad in Europe to gain a

better perspective of life outside the U.S and learn about other cultures, graduate with

honors from UF with my bachelors in political science and psychology, and last but not

least have the opportunity to get in to the law school of my choice to further enrich my

education in public policy.

Florida legislators continue budget cuts on state schools and may approve the proposal to

create a Florida College system to oversee Community colleges, to turn them in to four

year institutions. If this becomes a realization I can see many problems arising in the

future, which will undeniably affect me and the quality of education I receive. If funding

were available for state schools, they wouldn’t have to cut down on the amount of

students they can accept. The problem is still there and we’re falling short, it’s seems unreasonable now though to think that there will be enough money to support this new bill as well. We must find a different way to give students a proper education at the school of their choice because they earned it, they should not be rejected because of lack funds.

As first generation American in my family, willing to obtain a higher education, I look to my past as a mirror of my strength and determination. I enter this contest with the hope of winning this scholarship in order to pay for my summer classes which my current income cannot afford, whether I receive it or not I thank you for letting me voice my thoughts and experiences.

Yary

University of Florida

Just like any hard-working high school student, I dreamed of being able to continue my education after high school at a well recognized college. Thanks to my hard

work and dedication I was accepted to three universities in Florida and finally decided to

attend the University of Florida (UF). Unfortunately the process to get there was not that simple; being the first person in my family to go to college made the transition more complicated. Luckily, I had great teachers during high school that helped guide me through this hard process. Moreover, I am a person that does not give up easily; I was willing to do whatever necessary to continue my education.

I had always heard people speaking about the application process and the stresses of the SATs and ACTs but I did not have any idea of how hard it was really going to be.

Just taking these standardized tests and applying to all the universities presented an economic problem to my family, but with the support of my parents and my own work I was able to pay all the fees necessary and begin my journey to finding the right school.

Even though I was accepted in three universities, one of the most important factors was financial aid. I decided to attend UF even though it was not my first choice; originally, I wanted to attend another school but because it was private, the costs were outrageous and impossible to be met. Although I was going to receive state and federal financial aid, I did not believe it was going to be enough. Therefore I began to search for any scholarship that I met the requirements for. After writing essay after essay and filling out many applications, the day that I was so anxiously waiting for finally came, the award

ceremony at my high school that took place at the end of my senior year. I think that was

one of the most joyful and proud days of my entire life; I heard my name called one time

after another for awards from my teachers and more importantly for all the scholarships I received. I thank all those programs day after day because I do not know where I would be at this moment without their help and support. Fortunately I was able to overcome all the barriers I was faced on going to college but it was not an easy task.

Currently at the university I have been able to work through the barriers of living on my own, having to balance my personal life with my school work, and maintaining a stable economic status. I plan to maintain good grades and any other possible requirements to continue receiving financial aid and get a job if necessary. My education and career are the most important things in my life at this moment and I will do whatever is necessary to stay at UF. If I was able to overcome past obstacles to get to college, I am not going to let go of this opportunity easily. I am sure that if one sets one’s heart to something and work hard enough it will be able to overcome any difficulties presented.

After graduating as a Health Science major, I plan to attend medical school. My lifelong goal is to become a recognized neonatologist. For as long as I can remember, I have had this idea instilled in my brain. Since I was very young, I have loved to work with children and unlike many people, I am extremely patient with them. I believe these primary characteristics will allow me to excel in this profession. Another key aspect is that although this is a well-paying job, I am not in it for the money but for personal gratification; I like to help others who are in need, especially the young ones who sometimes have no way of communicating their pain and suffering. I want to help as many children as possible during my lifetime and I am willing to prepare myself well

enough to get there.

Although making it to college was a long and hard process there is nothing I would change about what I did especially after experiencing everything I have lived so far. I look back upon all my hard work and it is truly satisfying to know that I did this for myself. I needed some guiding once in a while but I worked hard and made it through this process, not only being accepted in more than one school but also receiving many scholarships based on my academic merit and personal achievements. I have no regrets of how I made it to college; it was an unforgettable experience and I learned many trustworthy things that will accompany me for the rest of my life. I will continue to work hard to overcome any barriers.

If I was able to speak to a Florida legislator, I would first congratulate him on all the help the state provides students financially. Many students complain about the Bright

Futures Scholarship program and financial aid but the truth is it is an excellent program that is not available in other states. I have personal knowledge of this because I came from another state in which this type of help is not so readily available, so being able to have this opportunity is really a privilege and it should not be taken for granted. Truly, I do not know where I would be without this program and the financial aid Florida has provided for me. I would encourage the legislator to continue with this program because it has truly helped countless students. The only issue I would like to touch upon with a legislator would be the recent budget cuts. Schools, professors, and students across the state are going to suffer with these budget cuts. Professors have lost their jobs, high school students have been rejected from various schools, not because they are not qualified but because the schools do not have enough money to provide for them, and

schools may lower the education standards due to all these obstacles. College students are the future and budget cuts are only going to affect Florida’s workforce in the future.

We need to promote programs such as Bright Futures and encourage students to further their education after high school, not limit them because of financial issues. I do not think it is a smart decision to cut funds for universities that are preparing the workers of tomorrow.

Ultimately, the college experience right from the application process is one that is unforgettable. It seems to be harder for some more than others but with hard work and dedication anything is possible. Speaking first hand as the first person in my family to go to college, it is very difficult and one must overcome many hardships but no one should be discouraged. When one has the heart and mind set to something such as furthering education and pursuing a goal like becoming a doctor is for me, one can accomplish anything.

Juliana

University of South Florida

My Life

There are many obstacles that I had to face in order to make it to college. To

better understand my background I will start with my family. Before I was five everything seemed fine. My father was an attorney and my mother was a stay at home mom. Then, things changed drastically. My father lost his law license. I was only five so

I really don't remember how it was before then, when we had money. My dad was a very poor child. My grandmother had him at sixteen and his father was not around. He was determined to succeed in life. But he got greedy and he could never have enough money once he started making it. My dad had a little money left and we were fine for a while.

Then, when I was seven we lost our house and everything. Our church put us up in a hotel for a month and then said they could not afford it anymore. From there we moved; my mom, dad, brother, three dogs and me to a motel. While this was going on I still managed to get A's in all my classes and did not let my surroundings distract me or make me give up. We stayed there until my mom and dad had enough money to get to florida.

My brother and I stayed with our grandmother in Tennessee for two weeks while my mother and father were in Florida looking for a place for us to live. I am sure you are wondering, why Florida? Well the whole town knew about my father losing his license and it was hard to escape it. We had been to Disney world once before and he liked

Florida so he decided thats where we should go. My parents eventually found a place and when I was eleven years old I moved to Florida. For three years my dad worked here in

Florida and barely made ends meet. My mother did not work because she stayed at home

with us and does not have a degree. She was in nursing school here, actually at USF, but her father got lung cancer and she chose to go home because she did not know how long he had. He died about six months after she came home so I am glad she made that decision, although it has made my life and hers and my brothers alot harder. Three years

after we were here, Sept.22, 2002 to be exact, my father passed away. My mom was left with seven cents in the bank account and no job. Lucky friends and neighbors gave us food and my mother got a job. My father had no life insurance because he had grandma siezures, quite often, since he was fourteen years old and he did not make enough money to be able to afford insurance.

My mom has been struggling since then and is still struggling today. If I did not have financial aid I would not be able to go to school. I struggle to this day to stay in school. I still live at home in order to help my mom pay the bills. It is very hard to handle everything mentally. I really wanted to join a sorority but I can't afford it. It is hard to not want to give up and just quite but I know it will be worth it in the end. It is also challenging because even with me helping we can barely make ends meet. I look around and see all the people on campus with nice cars that there parents bought them and sorority girls and can't help but think how easy they have it. They have know idea what the world is really like and how much you have to work to succeed. It mentally takes a tole on me, also. I see how hard my moms life is and all I want to do is make it easier. I want her to be happy again. Once I graduate from school I want to work in the legal field.

Starting out I will probally be a police officer and work my way up to a private investigator. I know I will succeed in reaching my goals no matter what obstacles come my way. I have learned through my struggles how to handle trying times and will be able

to take the good with the bad. I just want to be able to take care of my family and reach my goals. I know the sky is the limit for me despite my circumstances.

One thing I would have done differently to make my college experience better

was try and work more hours so I could join a sorority. I think I am missing out on

making friendships that last a lifetime because I just go to work and school. I have no time or money for it. If I could speak with a Florida legislator I would advise him to make it clearer on what aid is out there. It is hard to find aid by yourself and I think it should be told to every child in high school. I would also advise him/her to let more people like me have a way to tell my story so that people will know that no matter what your circumstances are that you can recieve help with achieving your goals. This scholarship would mean the world to me because without scholarships there would be no way for me to go to college and reach my goals.

Devonia

Florida State University

Growing up, I was always taught that education is the best thing known to man.

Luckily, I did not have parents that told me I could not do anything with my life even if I

tried my hardest. I had very optimistic parents who believed in everything I did. Coming

from a big family, and being the first to attend a four year university is something I will

cherish forever. Everyone is waiting to see what’s next, and what I will eventually do

with my life. There is pressure involved, but all that pressure turns into something I like t

call motivation. Upon entering college the greatest obstacles that I faced was just getting

accepted into a great university. The name of college did not matter at all, what really

mattered was getting accepted into one of them to ensure that I further my education.

Once I received the acceptance letter, I knew that the journey had begun and my future

depends on what I make of my college experience. Therefore, everything that I attempt is

done with a positive and very optimistic attitude.

While in college, I have witnessed that there are many distractions, especially

when there is a party invite every weekend. Through a process of trying to turn the

negative things into positive things, I try not to make anything become a barrier for me in

college. The process of getting into college at one point of my high school career was

very nerve wrecking especially because of the fact that I procrastinated and almost erased

the biggest dream of my life. Therefore, while in college I refuse to allow something to

hinder my college experience. Life throws any and everything at you, and if there is a

way in which I can get rid of a present barrier in my life, then it will be considered done.

“All things are possible through Christ.” After completing college with a degree in

business finance or business management with a minor in Chinese or Psychology, I plan

on becoming an entrepreneur. This has been a long dream for me as I was highly influenced by the path that my grandmother took. I describe myself as an over achiever because I like to do things to the best of my ability/

In high school, I was not too sure if there was ever a chance of me getting accepted into college, I highly doubted myself. Scholarships and other college necessities

and preparations were my least thought. I never felt like I was good enough to achieve

anything. However, after getting accepted into Florida State University through the

Center for Academic Retention & Enhancement, also known as the care program, I

started believing into myself a little more. It brought back the motivation into my life.

Knowing about the different college opportunities in college would have been better for

me, because while knowing what’s available gives off more motivation. Upon hearing

about the CARE program at Florida State University, I immediately applied for it because

then I knew I had a good chance of making it to college.

If I was ever given a chance to speak with a Florida legislator about Florida

higher education process, the most important point I would have to make would be the

preparation of high school graduates for the college experience, especially in Florida

where the FCAT is a necessity. This point is important because whenever a number of students fail the FCAT, then everyone suffers because everyone is being taught the same material even those who have already taken and passed the FCAT. It is not fair for the assign students to continue learning FCAT work when they could have used their time to practice for the SAT or the ACT. This defeats the purpose of a preparation for college,

which as a result; college freshmen have a hard time in college.

Krista

Florida International University

Right of Passage: My Struggle to Succeed

In middle school, life was easy; at least that is how I see it today. Back then my younger self probably would not agree, because I did not know what the future had in store for me.

I was born in Chicago, Illinois, but before I could even talk, I was whisked away to Florida. I do not recall most of my life as a child but I knew that my family did not have the best of things but we were very fortunate. We lived on an air force base in

Homestead and the time we spent there was full of great memories. Soon after my younger sister was born, things started to fall apart. As a child, I did not understand what was happening but we moved from our lovely home and warm, welcoming neighborhood into a small run-down apartment. I remember the tears that I shed over losing my friends and favorite swing set. But I was able to adapt to my new living situation. My mother appeared to be distraught over losing her house to then having to pay rent to a landlord. I had seen roaches before but never the ones that flew into the air after you tried to spray them with Raid. There were so many roaches that would crawl or fly all over the place but as time past, I ignored them. I remember that despite our new living arrangement my sister and I managed to be happy. I made new friends and spent hours at a time outside playing among the clotheslines and broken bottles in the grass. One particular day, while

I was playing outside with my friends, I badly cut my ankle on a piece of broken glass that was hidden beneath the dirt. The experience humbled me and the diminished scar left behind reminded me of the lectures my mother gave to me about wearing kneepads for

outside activities. I used to be so embarrassed because she would not let me play until I

had on my kneepads, now I understand.

Another thing my mother was always strict about was our education since she

never finished college and neither did my father. Education was extremely important in

our household; I was always reminded that I needed to make something of my life and

had no choice but to go to college. She used to read to me every night even before I was

born and my nana was a teacher so she made sure I knew how to read and write before I

got into second grade. Back then, I wanted to be a teacher, just like my grandmother and

instead of playing with toys, I imagined that I was a teacher in a classroom and my

students were stuffed animals.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew nearly destroyed our apartment and we were forced to

move out. Our new home was much better but it did not belong to us. I was now entering

the second grade and had to attend a new school where I knew no one. I was never a

straight-A student but I tried my hardest to be one. I was always classified as the “good student” by most of my classmates who did not take their education as seriously. I remember that most of them cheated on tests while I studied everyday only to make a C or B on the spelling test. I was young then, and I cheated on a spelling test only to be caught. My teacher saw a lot of potential in me and instead of disciplining me; she

transferred me to an advanced class. It was hard leaving my old friends behind and for

awhile I did not have close friends. During this time in my life, not a day went by where

my parents did not argue. I believe that during most of that period, I was unhappy

because I wished that they would get along. They separated while I was in the fourth

grade but the reason why was not given. I was young but I figured it was because they

argued all the time. In class, it was discouraging that everyone appeared to be at a higher

level then I was at. I had to work ten times harder then other students in the class and

ended up barely passing one teacher’s English class. My nana told me not to give up and

I did extremely well the rest of the time I spent in elementary school. I won many honor

awards and even won accreditation for a story I wrote for the Dare Program against drug

use. My parent’s separation did not affect me as badly as I thought it would because I

knew other people with divorced parents who were happier with separate families. I figured that I would get twice the presents during holidays which was not the case.

Instead I learned about the devastating reason why my mother was forced to separate

from my father. I remember the day as though it was yesterday, I was happy and my mother decided to treat my sister and I to dinner at our favorite restaurant, Red Lobster, and then she took us to the park. It was a beautiful day and I was in good spirits because I was about to graduate elementary school. My mother let my sister play in the jungle gym while I skated around. Then took me aside to talk to me, for some unknown reason, I knew it was bad news: perhaps it was my mother’s awkwardness or the serious expression on her face, the same expression she had when I found out my grandfather died. Despite her attempts to usher me over, I tried my best to dodge the situation by

skating some more, but I gave up and went over to her. I don’t remember what she said or

her tone in saying it, but the gust of the conversation was that my father was on drugs

which is why they were no longer together. The reason why we were forced to leave our

lovely home on the airbase was because of his drug use. I was devastated; it was a major

blow to my heart, especially after I just won an honor for writing about why drugs were

bad. I felt like it was a stab in the back for all of my hard work. I had so many questions I

wanted answered but I was too young to comprehend what was happening. That was the day my life changed.

I remember the beautiful bike my father gave to me and the night it mysteriously disappeared. My sister and I pretended to be detectives and tried to solve who might have stolen it. I can recall hearing speculations from my mother that it had to be my father who took it. I was old enough to know what drugs did to a person, it turned them into monsters. One night while I was in middle school, my father tried to break into our home.

I remember my mother’s scared, yet shocked voice cry, “What are you doing here,” as my father climbed through one of the windows. I saw the expression on their faces and I was frightened. I do not believe I ever told him that I saw him creep into our home to this very day. I never told him that the next few nights, I slept with a knife under my pillow in fear that some horror movie would become my reality. But time healed my wounds.

Since then, there have been many moments in my life that have defined who I am today. Since that moment, my determination to do better has been on a high pedestal with everything else below it. Getting accepted into a prestigious high school, Mast Academy was a great accomplishment. I had to wake up at 5 am while other high school students in my neighborhood woke up at 7 or 8. I took two buses and rode the Metrorail back and forth everyday just to get to and from school. It was all worth the heartache and tears to be able to attend a school that was surrounded by water and across the street from a beach. Graduating from that prestigious high school was another major accomplishment in my life.

One major flaw in the school system was the FCAT. It first came out my last year of middle school and everything I learned since then was said to be wrong. Teachers were

made to get rid of their old way of teaching and incorporate the new system geared

towards the FCAT. Essays I wrote using the knowledge I received throughout those few

years, were wrong because they were not in the format for FCAT. If I could talk to a

Florida legislator, I would talk to them about the FCAT and how it has destroyed our

higher education learning system. The idea of failing students, who do not pass the test, is

a bit extreme. I had friends who did not pass the test or were close to not passing it.

Speaking from first hand experience, I almost did not pass. I did really well on the

writing portion of the test but for the math portion, I did not pass by three points. My best

friend did not pass by one measly point. I love to learn, but at that moment I felt like I was a complete failure. I feared that one test would ruin all of the hard work, despite all of my honors and awards and that I would have worked so hard for nothing. Thankfully, I passed the second time and was allowed to go into the next grade but that memory of the

FCAT remained with me. I would advise a Florida legislator that they should incorporate a better system regarding the FCAT and that everyone should be given the opportunity to succeed. Success should not be determined by one test. Provide students who fail the

FCAT with help, tutors or willing teachers who can help improve their test scores.

To get to where I am today, a junior in college, I had many obstacles. Just to name

a few, I dealt with a dysfunctional family, feeling misunderstood, broken friendships and

heartaches, and living in poverty. There were moments where my family had to relay on

the government to keep food on the table. I experienced gang violence although I was not

directly affected by it. A man was killed outside my backyard. I remember hearing the

gun shots while I was playing in my room with my sister. I wanted to get away from the

neighborhood so bad, I thought about leaving Florida. Despite everything I experienced

in my youth, I felt blessed. Whenever things were bad, I always knew that it could be

worse. Everyday is a struggle; there have been moments where a small part of me wanted

to quit school, but looking back to the struggles I have faced to make it this far, I continue

to pursue my dreams. Now my mother tries to rush me to finish college, so that I can help

her buy a house of our own. After watching a political speech where it was mentioned

that biomedical engineering was going to have a career outlook that was going to be

huge, I decided that I would pursue it as a major. I made the declaration to my nana and

she told me that it was a good idea. My first year of college, my grades were good and I knew what I wanted to be a biomedical engineer, despite other people saying that they

could not picture me pursuing that. I understood how they felt and knew that I really was

not passionate about that as a career. I was never really good at math but I did extremely

well in English and all my other courses. Math was never my favorite subject and in my

determination to make my family proud, I failed myself. Instead of pursuing something I

was good at and passionate about, I chose something I thought I wanted to do. I went

from doing well in school, to failing. I see students who party every other night but

manage to do better on tests then I do. Despite it all, I am not a quitter and my

determination pushes me on. I know that I will succeed and make my family proud of me.

Time and time again, I think back to what if I did something differently. If I could turn

back the clock, I would pursue writing and perhaps become a lawyer. I would not hold on

to a dream that really was not my reality. I would have done better in high school, and

worked twenty times harder then I did. Maybe it was a lack of motivation that has

brought me to this point but each day I wake up, my number one goal is to finish what I

started.

Italia

Florida State University

I never needed or wanted the fancy material things in life such as jewelry, name brand clothing, getting my nails done, etc. Growing up in what is called the ghetto was not an easy life. The only thing that I really wanted when growing up was to live a happy and healthy life. I was born in the Bahamas, but I have been living in Florida since I was four years old. Most of my life was spent in one of the worst neighborhoods located in

Miami. This was considered a very bad neighborhood because there was violence, killings, robberies, rapes, and other numerous conflicts. My number one goal was to get out of that neighborhood and make something good of myself. I wanted to be the first person in my family to graduate and go to college. I knew none of this would be easy, but

I promised myself I would strive for the best and try my hardest. The main obstacles I had to overcome to get to where I am now were maintaining my stability at home, in school, and in my neighborhood.

My mother, who is a single parent, and I were best friends until I reached the age of 13. This is when she met a man, Albert, who eventually became her boyfriend. Little did I know, this man would change my life forever. After a year had past my mother and

I moved in with Albert because she had lost her job and could no longer afford a stable home for us. Over time Albert started to act superior to us since we were living in his house and acted as though we would be helpless without him. As I grew older, he grew more and more violent with my mother and I. Once a week he would abuse me until I had bruises or swollen body parts. After he would abuse me, I would have to watch him abuse my mom emotionally, mentally, and physically. My mom refused to leave him because

he continued to support her and she was scared to leave.

By my 11th grade year in high school I decided I could not take it any more. There

was no stability in my household, so I became a run away. I ran away as many times as I

could until my mom called the police to look for me. I would sleep in cars, at a friend’s

house, and even in someone’s back yard. I hated being in that house, but I never wanted

to tell anyone because I was scared social services would take my baby sister away if

they found out about our household conditions. There were times that I would not eat for days because I did not have money to get food while out on the streets. I finally decided

to get a job and started taking care of myself. By the age of 17 I was working two jobs

and going to school.

School was hard to stay focused in, but I made really good grades. I loved being in school everyday because that was another way for me to escape from the chaos in my life. This was the place I knew all of my friends would be and it would always make me feel good. My only distraction was being scared to go home everyday. Being in school and seeing so many other students so happy, made me hate my life. I prayed and prayed everyday for a better life. I cried and cried so many nights until I could not cry anymore.

While in school I took out a lot of my frustrations from home onto people. I fought all of the time and would get in trouble. My principal never expelled me because she knew there was something wrong in my life. Instead, she helped me by placing me in anger management and assigning me a counselor. That did not help me though because I felt as

though no one would really know my pain.

While living in Liberty City I witnessed people getting shot, killed, robbed,

harassed, and fighting. It was so depressing being there because everywhere I went I had

to look over my shoulders every 2 seconds. There were many times where I have been

robbed and even more times I had been harassed and sexually assaulted. I would call the

police, but it would always be too late and the only thing they could do for me was fill

out a report. This was my motivation though. Instead of giving up, I used all of these

downfalls to encourage me to move forward. I hated living this life so bad that I would do

anything in my power to move beyond it.

After so many years of trials and tribulations, I have finally made it. By the grace of God, I have finally made it. Now that I attend Florida State University and have a

home to call my own. I can honestly say that I made it a long way. Everyday that I wake

up I still believe that I am living a dream. I left my past behind me, but I will surely never

forget it. I am thankful for every opportunity I have received thus far. I continue to pray

because I still have my little sister back home and I hope that she will not have to go

through what I had to go through.

Now that I am receiving a college education I plan on graduating from FSU, then

going to medical school so I can become an Anesthesiologist. Once I am financial stable,

I have full intentions on adopting my sister so I can provide her with a stable home and

loving environment. She means the world to me and right now I am living for myself and

her. That battle is over, but my struggles will continue and that’s fine because I know I

will overcome it all

If I knew then what I know now, I still would not change anything because

everything I went through made me the strong black woman I am today. And if I was

given the opportunity to speak with a Florida legislator, I would advise him/her to lower

the cost of books needed for classes. The costs of books are very expensive to the point

that some students can not afford them. If students can not afford them and do not have the resources to get them for a lower price, then how will they get the education they need for their classes.

Chardea

Florida State University

I was born in the heart of Miami- not the glamorized, picturesque costal area

commonly referred to as South Beach. My inner city dwelling resides miles away from

the coveted Star Island, a yearly vacation spot for tourists, movie stars, and various

celebrities. I grew up in the raw inner city streets of Opa-Locka and Liberty City. On every other block rested an abandoned, eroding crack houses infested with helpless souls.

The schools in my school district were labeled by the No Child Left Behind Program as a

“F”, “D”, and “C” schools. To make matters worst, my father deserted my mother, which

forced me to grow up a single parent household at seven years old. Because of my

environmental factors, statistics predestined my life to be filled with hardships and

failure. Instead, these barriers enhanced my desire to succeed. Guided by my Christian

principles and a determination to not use my circumstances as a crutch, today I stand firm as a healthy, strong, African American young woman graduating in April 2008 with two bachelor degrees in English and Political Science from Florida State University. My perseverance, tenacity, and faith keep me on a steadfast pursuit for success.

In retrospect, my family’s financial circumstances initially lead me to embrace the bountiful world of the performing arts. Because my mother was a single parent, she enrolled me in extra curriculum activities while she worked her second and third part time jobs. At the age of three, she signed me up for tap dance lessons at a local community center. During the summer she enrolled me into the African American

Cultural Arts Inner City Youth Center, where I studied classical ballet, modern dance, jazz dance, and hip hop. I also learned to read music and play the piano, clarinet, and

flute at an intermediate level. In addition, I took vocal lessons and drama lessons

centered on cinema, plays, and improvisation. Because of my hard work and artistic

accomplishments, I received a full summer scholarship during my fifth summer. I

continued studying the arts at this youth center for a total of eight years. By age fifteen, I became old enough to teach lessons and earn countless hours of community service. In return, my vigorous training in the arts opened several doors of opportunity for me; for example, I auditioned and entered Norland Middle School’s Magnet Dance Program and

New World School of the Arts High School. In addition, I experienced the privilege of performing as a professional dancer on music videos aired on BET and MTV, as well as

Debbie Allen’s reality show “FAME”. At Florida State University, I currently pursue the art of performing with my very own dance company, ONYX “The Artistically Inclined”, which was established April 24, 2005.

Studying the arts not only enhanced my performing skills, but the discipline I developed through these pursuits enabled me to become an accelerated, academic scholar as well. The long hours of rehearsal practices instilled within me extraordinary studying skills including an enhanced ability to focus, remain goal-oriented, and earn outstanding grades. For example, I graduated in the top twenty percent of my high school with a 4.98 weighted grade point average, and I currently maintain a solid 3.05 grade point average.

Recently, I earned membership into Order of Omega Greek Honor Society, which is the highest, esteemed Greek academic honor society for all of the councils including the

National Pan-Hellenic Council, Pan-Hellenic Council, Inter-Fraternal Council, and Multi-

Cultural Council. Also, I was awarded an internship at the Florida State Capitol working with Governor Charlie Crist for the spring semester of 2008.

An additional instance where I turned my economic circumstances into a positive aspect is through my work experience. At the age of twenty two years old, I’ve worked a total of fifteen part time and full time jobs. Some may perceive this as unfortunate.

Honestly, working during college while simultaneously being active on campus with my sorority and throughout the community is indeed a difficult task. Yet, it is not impossible! In fact, the work experience I gained helped me develop time management skills, organization skills, and customer services skills. Through my many miscellaneous jobs, ranging from being a waitress, hostess, dance instructor, secretary, data entry assistant, to various retail positions, I realize how much I enjoy helping and working with people. My prior work experience helped me conclude that practicing law and working towards the betterment of individuals is a role that I would take absolute pleasure in fulfilling.

Overall, my faith and perseverance would not allow me to succumb and crumble because of my lack of financial resources, environmental factors, and background.

Ironically, my circumstances helped me to develop into the goal-oriented, charismatic, hard working individual I am today. My artistic, academic, and work related skills lead me to believe that I would be a powerful asset to society.

Anonymous

Florida State University

It was all a dream. A real college experience would not be a part of my life. There

just was not enough money. All throughout High School in Miami, I tried to get good

grades, take AP classes, get involved in student clubs, and do as much community service

as possible to increase my chances of going to college. My family suggested that I just

go to a community college for two years so that I could live at home and work to help out with bills. My goals, however, did not match up to their vision for me. I wanted to go to a major University and live the college experience. I wanted to grow as a professional person independently and be successful. I wanted to be the first in my family to graduate from a university.

On a deeper level, I really needed a change of lifestyle. I love living with my mother, I just would not be able to progress in that environment. My mother never went to college and her main source of income is Social Security and Food stamps. She never really understood why I was so excited about school and going to college. She just was worried about paying bills. She also had a boyfriend that would try to discourage me by saying I would never be able to live on my own in college and make it to graduation. He never went to college either and he often would be drunk and smoke marijuana in my house. This environment made me uncomfortable because I wanted more out of my life than that.

My abuela (grandmother) did not want me to move away because she is a very old fashioned, typical Cuban grandmother and she feels that young ladies should live with their mothers until they get married. She just wanted me to stay home and work

until I found a husband to support me. She thought I was out of my mind to think about moving to Tallahassee where I had no family.

My dad was a whole other situation. I never really saw my dad throughout my childhood but I always had contact with him every so often. He was on the verge of losing his house and going bankrupt. He dropped out of college in his second year and he does not have any steady jobs and he rarely can pay his bills.

Ironically, when I told him I wanted to go to college he was excited to help me apply and got me through all the paperwork. He even told me about this free SAT class that helped me get a 1300 on my SAT. I was in the top 6% of my High School class of

800+ students, I was in 3 Honors Societies, I had 975 hours of community service,

President of the Sports Medicine Club, and I knew 4 languages. I knew I wanted to go to

FSU so I applied and got accepted through the FSU Honors Program!

I have always been interested in health care so I decided to major in Nursing and I got accepted to the FSU Nursing Program at the end of my second year at FSU. I am now a Student Senator for SGA, a CARE Counselor for incoming freshmen, and a sister of

Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, Inc. I am growing as a professional and I am very happy at FSU.

I have been going through a few financial obstacles because my Mom and Dad

are both in difficult financial situations. They know I have 100% bright Futures and a

Pell Grant so they often ask me to help them pay for things. My mother even says “the

only reason you get financial aid is because I don’t work so you owe me.” I usually run

out of money by the middle of the semester and have difficulty financially. Especially

since nursing school is so expensive for uniforms and transportation to the hospitals.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have worked throughout high school to

save money for college. That way I would have a little more money to get me through the semesters. If I had the opportunity to speak with a Florida Legislature, I would advise him to fight for the Bright Futures Scholarship and keep tuition from going up too high.

There are students who really cannot afford college and the only way they can go to a

University is if they get scholarships and grants. There are already schools that are expensive, but for the schools that are not so expensive, keep them that way! My fellow student senators and I had a discussion about this a few weeks ago. Certain schools attract certain students based on tuition prices. If all schools keep getting more expensive, some students will not be able to attend college at all. There are so many areas where costs can be cut or rearranged. If, however, tuition needs to go up; federal and state financial aid should be also increasing accordingly. It just seems ridiculous that the state would increase tuition and decrease aid. What is their idea of students? We cannot pay for it and neither can our families.

Overall, I love FSU and I have interacted with leaders in several other Florida schools through my sorority, or through SGA. I feel it is very important to persevere through obstacles and get a higher education so that you can be successful in the future. I love college and I feel that I am prepared to graduate and begin my career as a nurse. I also want to go to graduate school and become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. I feel that if you learn from challenges in life, you can overcome them and get stronger. It is possible to follow your dreams and live them in reality.

Altheresa

University Of Florida

I grew up as an orphan being raised by my aunt. I and my younger brothers were taken

away from our mother at a young age, I was five years old and I can still remember that

day as if it was yesterday. My mother loved us dearly but she had an addiction to the

streets and all the negative factors that came with it, from drugs to alcohol. My father was

in a different city and as he was concerned we didn’t exist. Being raised by my aunt was

one of the best things that happened to me I have become such a strong and determined

person because of it. When I was in the fourth grade my aunt decided to move us back to

Miami to get a fresh start, and that was where we were born. My aunt was a strong women, she raised 3 kids besides her own and had to deal with the death of her little girl.

The city of brotherly love had turned into a city of nightmares for me and my brothers, from the fire we were in to the abandonment of our mother. Once we moved to Miami my life started to turn around but the memories still haunted me as a little girl. When I was in the 5th grade I was reunited with my mother because she had left Philadelphia and

moved to Miami, all the hurt and pain I felt had turned to happiness, and relief I had not

seen my mother in years. Even though she is still on the streets I have all love for my

mother and I know one day she will become a mother again. I was always told that I was mature for my age, and I owe that to taking care of my younger brothers when my mom would leave us in the house for days at a time. I began to shape not only my life story but a story to tell all those children who have walked where I walked or who are going through similar situations. It wasn’t until I reached high school that I realized that I want to help children but I also had an interest in psychology. So I decided that I wanted to

become a school psychologist. I had never wanted to go out of state for college because

financially that was just out of the question. My aunt had to work two jobs just to get by

raising 4 kids, so school was a big step financially for me. So I started searching public schools in Florida, and I narrowed it down to FSU, and UF. I attended a public school in

an inner city community and the education was lacking the necessary needs a child

should have to prepare them for college. Since I was in the magnet program there we had

more textbooks, more supplies, and more funding but still with 3,000 students that wasn’t

enough. So I saw I was at a disadvantage from the start. But I was determined and I had a

goal so I applied and got accepted and the government gave me about 75% of my

financial need but I was still short so I had to take out loans because my aunt could not

afford to give me the money I needed. So now that I was in college I noticed that the

difficulty of classes were much intricate than my high school. So the adjustment for me

was very hard. And then the spring of my freshman year I was hit by a car putting me a

semester behind because I had to take physical therapy sessions so I had to drop that

semester. This incident pushing me back, I was then behind the average freshman, but I

didn’t let this hinder my dreams that I had worked so hard for. I had to attend summer

school up until now to catch up so I had to work extra hours and receive more loans to

pay for summer school classes. This adding to the debt that I already owe, just to survive

and to stay in school, but I told myself it will be worth it at the end. So I then found my

major Family, Youth, and Community Sciences with a minor in Non-Profit Organization.

I choose this major because it deals with the field of social services and I want to help

those in need. I also want to open up my own non-profit organization for underprivileged

children, and this center is going to be named the “Center of Dreams”, and in this center

there are going to be teachers, counselors, therapists, and other people to help students

with school subjects, interpersonal issues, and other things that pertain to children. This center will be a home away from home for most of these children. I want the children to feel as if they have another family to depend on. My center will have activities that not only strengthen the mind, but also the body as well as the soul. I have come to love children in a new light, because these are precious gifts and they are our future. I also want to become a school psychologist and with this there is a major shortage in the state of Florida for school psychologist and I feel they play a vital role in our world today. I feel that children don’t get enough attention rather mentally, or emotionally.

I have made many mistakes in college but the ones I regret the most is my effort in my class work. I could have tried to do better in my classes; I was also satisfied with just getting by. I should have pushed myself to go over and beyond the call of duty. I also feel that I could have been more active in student activities, my freshman, and sophomore year. Students don’t know how vital it is to become apart of an organization, it builds character and you get to network with other students. If I could speak with a legislator I would advise them to provide the schools with more money because a lot of programs depend on funding. The tuition should be lowered throughout the state because even though the schools are public a lot of times the student can barely afford to attend school.

College can be a great experience if you have a goal, and the right tools!!

Monique

University of Florida

The importance of a college education is more pronounced now than it has ever been which makes getting into one of the top universities very difficult and competitive. My mother always pushed me to succeed in school. She passed away when I was ten years old, but the lessons that she taught me have stayed with me and continue to guide me in what I do as a college student and a developing woman. This became the starting point of my struggle to be accepted into my dream school, the University of Florida, and to remain here.

My mother and my father married shortly before I was born, but soon divorced when

I was two years old. I didn’t know him very well, so his absence wasn’t as devastating as one would normally imagine. The issues that I remember involve the fact that my mother had to raise me as a single-parent, with little help from my grandparents. They helped as

much as their meager income would allow. My mother was a CNA, certified nurse

assistance, who was trying to become a certified nurse. She worked from 11pm-7am

almost every night, so my grandparents had to watch me during this time. I became used

to not having much, but trusting that the Lord would provide. By the time I was seven years old, she remarried. At first she seemed happy, but my stepfather treated her very badly. I grew up seeing my mother being abused by him physically and emotionally, until she died. Most of my family members, including myself believed that my stepfather was the reason that she died, but the hospital report didn’t support this. I had grown very close

to my mother, so when my grandmother came back from the hospital on the morning that

she passed away and told me that bad news, I felt like the whole world would come

crashing down on me. She had been my best friend, especially during my awkward

elementary years when I thought that I was too chubby to have friends, which my classmates reasserted pretty often. This doesn’t mean that I didn’t have any friends, but I

didn’t have many. We also moved around very often, at least once a year, so even these friends didn’t seem to amount to much for me. I was still in school when she passed away, so I missed about a week, and then quickly resumed classes. I caught up with my schoolwork and finished the school year, passing with all A’s. It took some time, but I settled in with my grandparents and began my new life. I was very intelligent so I took advanced classes in middle school. My grandparents had barely received their high school diplomas, so soon they couldn’t help me the way my mother had previously.

At the end, I graduated from high school with higher than a 4.5 GPA as an

International Baccalaureate Diploma graduate and a Summa Cum Laude. I participated in many extra-curricular activities and applied to two colleges, the University of Florida and

Birmingham-Southern College. I was accepted into both, but chose the University of

Florida. Here I am academically challenged constantly and I was awarded the

Presidential Scholarship, Florida Bright Futures 100%, and the Florida Opportunity

Scholarship as a first generation college student. The story doesn’t end here. I recently married and with that came many more challenges. I married an older man who had been married before and has two children. He also had not-so-good credit, so when we tried to get a house, it didn’t work out as well as we had planned. We are now living in a house, but it is hard to make ends meet, especially since I don’t have a job. I currently have six classes and I have applied to over twenty-five jobs, none of which have accepted me. We applied for Food Stamps and he was eligible, since he had a job, but I was ineligible due

to my lack of a job. It seems as though our financial problems are multiplying day by

day. Last semester, we had to pay over $1000 in hospital bills, because I was sick and neither of us has medical insurance.

If I knew what I do now, I would have read all of the documents that I received from different institutions more closely. For example, the reason that I am taking six classes this semester is because in order to keep my Presidential Scholarship I am required to take thirty hours per year. Last semester I took 13 credit hours, thinking that this was enough according to something I had read concerning this scholarship. This semester, I had to catch up. This is why I am taking six classes or 18 credit hours. I would have also paid more attention in my classes in high school, because knowledge builds upon itself.

Things that I learned in my history classes in high school have been sneaking into the

other subjects that I have been taking.

If one day I found myself talking to a Florida legislator, I would encourage them to

review the budget that is set out for the public institutions of higher education. For

instance, UF has suffered many budget cuts in each department, including the College of

Liberal Arts and Sciences, of which I am apart of. At the same time, private institutions,

such as the University of Miami are receiving multi-million dollar grants for research. UF and other public institutions shouldn’t have to struggle to give the best education possible

to its students while private institutions with higher tuitions, which should enable them to

pay for research better than a public institution, are receiving all of the aid. This type of

legislation is furthering the inequality faced by those students whose parents are members

of the lower classes, who can’t afford high tuition rates, since most students in this

category attend public universities and colleges unless they are athletes. This sends the

wrong message to aspiring young minds. They are led to believe that in order to achieve

success now they are required to buy into the stereotypical roles of being a low-income

student who becomes rich and famous, by being an athlete or a celebrity of any other sort.

This is very disheartening. One more piece of advice would include legislation

concerning Florida Bright Futures. The plan to award students based on the potential field

that they are interested in pursuing in college is not the right way to go. Students should be awarded based on their intellectual ability, instead of their ability to help the economy of the state or the nation for that matter.

Princess

University of Florida

College seemed to be the place where my goals would be achieved, dreams accomplished, and a soul mate found. Not to mention on a free ride, which showed that all of my hard work and dedication had paid off, meaning no finances taken out of my parents pockets nor mine. I'm better in the classroom, than on taking state tests, so I had missed the Bright Futures by a slight mark but, I knew that my future would be bright regardless of it being stated on my scholarship or not . With that said I was recruited to the University throughout OAAHSSP, which recruited the brightest minority students throughout the country and as long as they followed the guidelines would be admitted to the college, and possibly receive scholarships, in which I did. However, it was totally different. Coming into College I was aided a scholarship known as FOSP, which stood for Florida Outstanding Scholarships Program which awarded students 100% coverage of funding as long as they remained within the designated GPA and tracking courses. But, there was a loophole in the system, there was a certain amount of money that your parents couldn't exceed for their income, which was undisclosed.

To make a long story short, I took all the methods necessary to keep my scholarship, such as GPA, and courses, then all of a sudden I was put on verification in which the financial aid office finds something wrong with your assets. I like to say they single out specific students because I have been on verification every semester since my admittance into the University. Meaning, I receive my aid months after everyone else, and I am pretty much on my own until it is dispersed. It was so bad, that I risked eviction of my dorm because my aid was not dispersed. The lady threatened to take my keys had it

not been for my constant visits and pleading to the housing department of my financial

instability, and still she refused to listen, I heard the constant remarks of "honey, well,

isn't there some one that you can borrow the money from?" or the "weren't your parents

aware of the costs of where you stay?" some days I just wanted to break down and cry,

then on others I did, but to myself, and to the lord. All of this was going on while I was

getting little jobs here and there, but soon I would learn that college life only gets harder.

These problems aroused hen my full ride was scholarship was taken away, to this

day I have not yet been told of why this occurred but, I am sure it is because someone in

the financial aid office did not like me nor my family, why you would ask? just because, I

get that feeling as if I am being screened from head to toe, every time I go in there. Little

comments like she has A Dooney & Bourke bag, or this or that, I am like how can I be

judged in appearance knowing I deserve every little piece of money I get. I pretty much

spent my entire freshman year trying to gain sanity from realizing the debts I would be

facing upon graduation after being told I would be clean of any debts just a month into the school year. It's funny how things work at my school, but I just became so hopeless.

My grades were deeply affected too. I would spend most of my mornings going from the financial aid office to speaking with counselors, to attempting to study because I didn’t know what to do. I wasn’t concerned with class rather, I was concerned with how I was going to pay for classes, not to mention textbooks, and eating expenses.

Through these past experiences I can definitely say that I wish I would have worked harder to gain Bright Futures because as far as I know there aren't any loopholes to take it away. The challenges I face today are pretty much re-establishing my GPA, obtaining more debt as the school grants me 5,000 in loans, which I was previously told

that I would never have to consider, and taking the past as a lesson learned but not

forgotten to where I must continue to strive and rise above these obstacles, while working

towards my teaching degree. As for Florida's higher education system, I would make it to

where students could keep their scholarships if met by the requirements, and not by their parents salaries. I don't know how much more money my mom made that year, but, I

know that being a single parent with not, one but two kids in college, 2 younger siblings

at home, and bills, did not have enough money for her daughter in which I have learned

the trades of life. I say this because I have worked some 30-38hours a week just so that I

could afford groceries, and buy textbooks, while my friends go home and get the proper

rest needed, enjoy the venues of campus, and dine along the bistros of University Ave. As

I watch from the inside of Chipotle, looking out the glass windows. I saw school as a

burden instead of a place of enjoyment and achievement because I knew that as soon as

class was over, I was off to work until 11 or 12 0'clock that night.

As a result, I am still striving toward my future and not letting anything come

between my quest for success, but along the journey I shall continue in the hopes of

finding my happy place, and my home away from home.

Monica

Florida A&M University

We live in the age of change, as we have two minority presidential candidates,

record high gas prices, and economic instability. The nation’s economic instability has caused legislators begin to make major budget cuts for state employment, city facilities and city maintenance.

As legislators meet to make critical decisions on Florida’s financial status and

begin to make budget cuts. I hope funding for education and educational programs are

not an option for budgetary cuts. Our legislators should fight to maintain educational

funding and more free student financial aid. Education and research is the cornerstone of

our society. Through education we have made technological advancements in health and

science. We have the knowledge to place satellites in orbit, send men to the moon, and cure diseases that were fatal in the past. All of these advancements were accomplished by individuals who received a higher education. When we make budget cuts on education, we discredit our livelihood and hinder societal advancement. A higher education is not just a privilege, but a survival necessity for our society.

I am currently a student of the college of Allied Health Sciences in the division of

Health Information Management at Florida A&M University. I have struggled financially

since I began my scholarly journey. My mother and I have made great sacrifices, so that,

I can continue my education. I maintained a full time enrollment status and cashiered

countless hours for about two years to help with expenses. I currently have two student

loans and place other charges on credit cards. I sacrifice eating a well balance diet, and

buying required medications to pay monthly bills. My mother works doubles to send me

money for monthly necessities, because of the rising cost of monthly necessities, at times needs are still not met. Herny Ford once said, “Life is a series of experiences, each one of which makes us bigger, even though sometimes it is hard to realize this. For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and grieves which we endure help us in our marching onward.” Even though I have faced financial adversity through my matriculation, I have no regrets. These obstacles have made me stronger. My college experience has truly been bitter sweet.

I look forward to graduating with in the next five months. After obtaining my degree in health information management, I desire to get a position to help make progressive changes in healthcare. I would like to help find ways to make the medical records system more user friendly for nurses and doctors. Also find ways to raise the number of technicians per nurse; to create a safer environment for patients and healthcare professionals. I hope to find ways to increase more funding for all aspects of healthcare.

My main concern is to help enforce all policies and procedures to insure better healthcare for patients. These are just a few of the goals, I hope to accomplish. I hope with my degree I can make a difference that will keep the hope of the pass alive, change the present and impact the future. I endeavor to become: The standard, and not the paten, the greatest, and not just a great. So, I live to set forth on an unknown journey with a fire unquenchable, a spirit unbreakable, an unbounded ambition, untamable determination, incredible perseverance and so, I live for the greatest experience, success.

Nicole

Florida A&M University

Yes life is hard, but are you going to make change or give up and give in. I chose

to push through and fight for my life. I have been raised among three other siblings with

very little help in the growing up process. I know as a child I was always given strict

discipline and told that I would not be able to do much. I stayed at home working on

ironing my fathers clothes and cooking and cleaning every evening after school. I was not

given the opportunity to hand out with friends or join activities. I grew a little older and

my siblings were able to take care of themselves. In the process or growing I was told if I

wanted to join any activities I would have to put my self through it financially and

maintain my grades on a A, B honor roll only. At the age of fourteen and a half I put in

an application at Winn-dixie and god came through at qualified me for the job. I then

worked all the hours I could because I knew when I got home it was back to cooking,

cleaning, and maintaining the siblings again. Well I got a little older and worried more

on money, school activities and grades and later found out that I would have to take

testing to get into school. I knew I was in a few honors classes but all the testing results I

received back were not of standards to receive scholarships. And seeing as my parents

told me if you really want activities go after it but I didn’t know that they meant save because college is coming soon. Now that I knew I didn’t have the grades or the money I felt well then I’ll join the military, and that also fell through. I knew the war was here but

I graduated at seventeen but you have to be eighteen to join and take more tests. I asked my mother to drop me off at the campus of Florida A&M University because I had applied and needed help bringing all of my belongings. Even through the struggle of

asking for help in changing my location for school I was here. I had money left to pay for

a semester and from there on I had to take out loans. I then became tired and careless my sophomore year of having two jobs and trying to maintain class grades. By the end of my sophomore year I discovered I was pregnant by my boyfriend of four years. Although I have never made mention of this obstacle to anyone not even my parents I feel it was something that woke me up to not just give up. In my new turn over that wake up process

I received another job and didn’t attend school because of my new ditties. Well towards the end of the summer I lost my child and loads of my hair from stress I endured and not eating or sleeping when necessary. I then felt that I was very weak and I didn’t desire to move ahead with school. I then prayed and said to myself maybe god didn’t want me to become a statistic, maybe he wants me to graduate. Although I had a lot of things going wrong in my life I really had no where to go because I had no help at home but I felt my parents said im eighteen so my time was up, and the boyfriend I had graduated and left me behind. So I decided to pick my self up because although I didn’t have much I didn’t want to be stuck in this gear for the rest of my life. I then grew more knowledgeable to the university and found out about this scholarship and that I was actually able to receive a small amount of aid from the state, and though there are ways to receive help. And as my mentor said when I started receiving aid that its better late then never to have received at all. But if my parents were a little tender and had more experience in school I would have know about FASFA, sat, acts, scholarships, and even grants at an early age and been able to enjoy school rather then work for the years that I have. And in maybe knowing what I know now earlier in life I would have been prepared but god puts you through the struggles that he feels you can make it through. Yes, food, tuition, and housing is scarce

but I’ve made it this far, but I can only pray for best and try to overcome the worst.

Anonymous

I have been on earth for a mere 20 years and within these years I have been in situations that many of my peers have not had to endure. At the early age of 10 my mother passed away. It was so traumatic to me because my mother was a recovering drug addict and was doing her best to get her life on track for the sake of my sisters and me. Because my father did not feel he was fit to raise us, my grandmother took it upon herself to raise the three of us. Moreover, as I grew to accept my mother’s absence, my father was deported to Jamaica. By the age of 15, I lost both of my parents.

Being raised by my grandmother was sometimes difficult but I am truly grateful to her. Because of generational differences, she and I did not always get along. After she retired in March 2004, money became tight but she made sure my sisters and I had everything we needed. Sometimes I felt my grandmother could be a bit strict and even tyrannical but now that I look back on it, I am a better person because of her. She has instilled in me values that I will never depart from. Because of how I saw her struggle to raise the three of us, I am more understanding and grateful for what I have. If my grandmother did not take in the three of us, I have no idea where we would be.

Because of my background, sometimes I think it is a miracle that I am at the

University of Florida. I did not come from the best of circumstances but I did not want to become another statistic. I did not know how I was going to afford college costs because my grandmother makes little money since retiring. But I have always been a diligent and hard-working student and was determined to attend college. I applied to the University of Florida because I saw it as a challenge. I heard various rumors that it was very difficult to get into the University of Florida and I felt I should be in a challenging

educational environment. After my acceptance, I found out I could apply to be an independent student due to me not having parents to support my education. After applying for dependency override, I am an independent student that receives many

scholarships and grants to pay for my education

Because of my background, I sometimes find it difficult to relate to other

students. Many of my peers have not had to endure what I have gone through. It is very

difficult for me to open up about my past. Most people know I was raised by my

grandmother but do not know factors that led to that point. I tend not to divulge

information about my parents, either. Sometimes I feel out of place but I do understand

there are people out there just like me. Perhaps if I would open up more and share my

own story, I would find out that I am not alone.

Money is really tight for me. Although my education is paid for, sometimes I

need extra money to purchase books and other miscellaneous items. I tend to use my

money for basic needs like food. I do not have extra to spend at the mall or even visit my

family back home. I have to put my dorm room things in storage and that is going to cost

me over $270. My family can barely help me out because they have their own families to

take care of and my grandmother is pinching pennies to take care of herself and my

youngest sister. For that reason, I do not call home to ask for money—I do not want to

be a burden. I budget, pinch, and squeeze my work-study money to live.

After receiving my degree in English from the University of Florida, I plan to

attend the University of Georgia to get my Ph.D. in either English or Speech

Communication. After earning my Ph.D. in either English or Speech Communication,

my dream is to become the President and CEO of the Urban League of Broward County.

The Urban League of Broward County was instrumental in my development as a person through its many programs such as the National Achievers Society and Project DREAM.

After serving as President and CEO, I would like to open my own business to improve

the reading and writing skills of both adults and children. It is so important to be able to

read and write effectively and I have a passion to help others improve those skills.

If I knew then what I know now, I would not have been so worried and

uptight about my schoolwork and money problems. This would have made my college

experience better. College allows students to have experiences they may not have gotten

to enjoy had they not gone to college. I do have fun from time to time, but I think I

should go out more. Everything I do has to be planned and while that is not necessarily bad, it is not always good. I should have been more spontaneous in going out and gone on road trips. I should have taken more risks because college is a time to learn more about the world and myself. I wish I would have studied abroad or gone on a FAB trip and not allow money be such a huge factor in my decisions. Now that I look back on it, I should have appreciated my time in college. Never again will I have so many opportunities with very little responsibility.

My college education is so important to me and I appreciate it beyond words, but

I do think there are improvements to be made. If given an opportunity to speak with a

Florida legislator, I would advise him/her to incorporate more programs for low-income and minority students. Although minority students have shown gains in college enrollment, challenges persist. I would advise Florida legislators to implement more and improve already existing campus based initiatives to assist minority and low-income students in their transition to college life. According to Lemuel W. Watson in his 2002

book How Minority Students Experience College: Implications for Planning and Policy,

“Minority students, while negotiating their development as college students, must simultaneously negotiate their development as individuals of color. Institutions must be cognizant of the minority students’ two-pronged progression through the various development and identity stages” (103). I would advise Florida legislators to require universities in the state to acknowledge and promote diversity through various programming initiatives.

My college experience has been a challenge but I appreciate all that I have gone through. I am an extremely motivated individual and I charge after my goals in an unstoppable manner. Although I work hard, I am still a work in progress.

Naomi

Hillsborough Community College

. I am a 19 year-old student, currently enrolled at Hillsborough Community college, whose major is nursing. I am an American Citizen, born in Wisconsin; however,

I lived in Haiti until I was twelve years-old. I have six sisters and no brother. My father and mother are both Haitian ministers, they are currently living in Haiti. Their income made in Haiti is not enough to help me pay for my college tuition.

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the Caribbean, and growing up there was a big experience. My Father had to work really hard to send all his 7 daughters to school.

Going to school in Haiti requires a monthly tuition. Every morning, we had to wake up at

4 AM to get ready and he had to drive us to school in Port-au-Prince which is the capital.

Our school was about an hour and a half away without traffic and two hours away with traffic. After my dad dropped us at school, he had to stick around and work until it was time to pick us up and take us home. When his car broke down, we had to leave the house even earlier to take a cab to school. My Mother took good care of us at home, while my father worked hard to afford to feed all of us and pay for our education. He then send all of us here to the United States to get a better education; However, my older sisters’ student Visa were expired, therefore, they were all unable to make it to college.

Therefore, only my two younger sisters and I are currently continuing our education in the U.S. because we are American citizens.

At 16 years old, my father worked hard to buy a three thousand dollars, 1995

Toyota corolla so I can drive to both school and work because they were unable to help me save for college. With a job, I managed to graduate high school with a 3.8 GPA in

May 2006. I am currently working at HCC as a work study student. With the money I

make, I pay for my car insurance, my phone bill, and put gas in my car. Many times I

don’t even have any left for lunch. I actually wanted to start saving up for a new car because my car is old and breaks down many times. Without my car it would be hard for me to get to school. However, my parents don’t want me to work full time, so my grades won’t drop. My college tuition payments all depends on the Florida grant that I receive yearly.

On the other hand, despite all the difficulties, I still thrive to succeed. I work hard to keep my grades up. Here at HCC, I have a 3.5 GPA. I am now a member of the Phi

Theta Kappa; I am a member of First Generation in College, and a new member of

Student Government. After graduating HCC spring 2009, I plan transfer to USF to

continue working toward my nursing major. After majoring in nursing, I plan to go to

medical school to pursue my major goal of becoming a pediatrician. Growing up in Haiti

is what inspired me to become a Doctor. I grew up watching many sick children get

worse or even die because their parents either don’t have enough money to take them to

the doctor, or they have to drive or walk to far before they can reach a hospital. As a

child, I felt really terrible due to the fact that I could not help them. Since then, I decided

to work hard and do what ever it takes to become a pediatrician. After becoming a

pediatrician, I plan to build a few clinics in village areas which hospitals are too far from,

and a big hospital in a place called Croix-des-Bouquets to take care of sick children.

Therefore, I think that I should be awarded this scholarship because I am a hard working, intelligent student who is very serious about getting an education, helping others, and being very successful in life. I feel that it would be very beneficial for me to

receive your charitable scholarships. I would greatly appreciate you financial aid to help me with my future endeavors.

Anonymous

There are many obstacles/barriers that I had to overcome to make it to college.

Some of which include figuring out how I am going to pay for College. My family had

many financial problems as it was already, and couldn’t help as much as they wanted too.

Between working and going to school every day, I struggled to help make ends meet both

at home, school, and while in the process of trying to save for college as well. Which led

to me getting 2 jobs in the summer to help pay for my trip to school as well as everything

else I needed. Around that time my mother couldn’t help me that much so, I had to work

every day from 7am-9pm, including Saturdays, as well. I usually saved both paychecks

after paying the little bills I had but sometimes, I also had to help my mother pay some of

the household bills, such as the cable, light, and car insurance. Even though I graduated

in the top 10% of my class I didn’t qualify for bright futures and other scholarships that

our school offered so that’s when I knew I had to work extra hard in the summer and

save to make sure I could get what I needed.

When I got to college I faced many more barriers. Being that financial aid

covered nearly 95% of my expenses, I still owed them. It wasn’t that much but, not that

little that I could pay. I tried to live off my last check from my 2 jobs but, between books, gas, and my phone bill, I was left with nothing. The only money that I had was the little money that my mom or aunt could send me from time to time. But, at that point I was grateful for anything I could get at that point. My mother didn’t want me to do loans but,

when I did try to apply for a loan I had no co-signer, and my mom had previously been

revocted. So basically I was stuck. Sometimes I would feel home sick, being that I have

never really been away from home that long before. Around that time I mainly got

physically sick too sometimes, from time to time. And on top of all that someone hit my

car around November. Even though I wasn’t hurt, the person who hit me bailed and I

ended up with a messed up bumper and no money to fix it. When Christmas break came around I ended working with one of my mother’s friends during Christmas for about a week so I could put some money in my pocket. Eventually when I got back to school for the spring semester my balance had overlapped with my spring balance. I thought that I would basically owe the same amount but so happens there was a mistake with my meal plan and all of a sudden I ended up owing the school more than 1,000 dollars. Which I’m still wondering how I’m going to pay. Because if I don’t I can’t register for fall classes.

But, I try not to worry that much about it. Being that my mother just lost her job it’s starting to get even harder because I can’t get any money from her at all now.

My goals after college include attending graduate school, preferably at Emory

University to obtain my master’s in nursing and become a neonatal nurse. Because I do love babies. If given the chance I may also want to go too Medical school to become a

Gynecologist/Obstetrician. I’ve always been fascinated with the human body and whole process of women giving birth. I also plan to get a job at a main hospital in South Florida

or Atlanta, and start saving my money so I can be financially stable and support myself

and possibly help my family as well, if needed in any way. If I’m still able, I want to

possibly try pursuing a model/acting career as well too.

If I knew then, what I knew now, what I would’ve done differently to make my

college experience better is, I would have tried to save more money. Even though I did

that, I would have went about it in another way, and most likely made my decisions more

wisely in choosing college necessities. As well as apply for more scholarships and grants.

Being that I wasn’t able to apply for a lot of available grants/scholarships due to school and work, I would have definitely researched more and searched for more available sources to pay for school. However, when I made my schedule I would have done a background check on some of my professor’s first; i.e. using rate my professor. Another change I would’ve made is Time management/skills. I would definitely try to manage my time and school work more efficiently. This also ties in with also having better study habits as well. That way I could have been more balanced and organized.

If given the opportunity to speak with a Florida legislator, what I would advise him/her to change in Florida’s higher education system is the amount of Financial Aid disbursed every year. Because as the cost of Tuition goes up, the more that “we” the students have to come up with to pay these fees each year. Being that not everyone get’s financial assistance, and aren’t eligible to apply for many scholarships/grants, that leaves many in debt, especially when they can’t get approved for loans as well. I think there should be alternatives for those who can’t get the extra money they need through loans and scholarships alone. Instead of giving millions of dollars to those pronominally white schools or schools with championship football/basketball teams, and trying to expand only certain schools instead of all based on favoritism, try offering more towards education, because first of all that’s the reason that everyone is in school anyways.

Teyondreya

University of South Florida

I lived a simple life as child. My mother worked quite often to support us, and

because of that I don’t remember seeing her very often in my earliest years, but I do know that we were always provided for. There wasn’t anything that I can remember going without—but then again it is hard to miss something that I never had.

I grew up like any child should, I assume, ignorant and happy. I lived in an area where we were alike and did the same things. We all went to school, and afterwards went to the Boys and Girls Club. The boys often played little league football, or basketball, and most of the girls cheered. Sometimes we got into trouble, sometimes we didn’t, and that all depended on what we did, and how we did it.

It wasn’t until halfway through Middle school that I was exposed to what some would say disadvantages of having just enough to get by. Up until then my mother made sure that my brothers and I never knew the hardships that she really had to put up with in order to raise us. I never knew what it felt like to struggle, I never knew what it felt like to wish there was somebody else there that could help, I never knew how hard it would be to get out of an already bad situation that would only keep getting bigger as I got older.

A while back a friend of mine, who may have experienced more hardships than I growing up, said to me, “if I wouldn’t have left I would probably be dead or locked up somewhere.” I thought for a minute about that and my conditioned response was: “you always have a choice to do what’s right.” He laughed. I didn’t understand why, but if he were to ask me that again, after looking back over the way I grew up I would say to that

now: “you do have choice to do what’s right, but when you’re living in a hole that gives you no room to breath in order to grow, then the choices you have are quite limited.”

Living in this hole that I thought of as life, I had to make one of two choices, either gradually claw my way out, slightly filling the hole making it a little easier for the next person to get out, or mesh within the sides and become another statistic. I chose to climb out, but not without provisions.

I always had the desire to go to college, but no one else in my family had ever been. The desire was always there but the encouragement among other things made the intent to go not so feasible. It is quite a heavy burden to bear when, in some respects, one person has to carry the entire family. I don’t know how my mother ever did it, but I thought I owed at least that much to her. The thought that maybe I would be our only way out made college possible in my mind, so I concluded, given the circumstances, I’d have to work harder to make that happen.

Unfortunately though, the reality is, the schools in my neighborhood were quite different from the schools in other neighborhoods, and this little thing called school choice made sure that those in my neighborhood would stay there, unless of course sports were involved. A 3.00 GPA becomes a different set of numbers depending upon the school. I had a chance to attend the “better” school once but my tenure there ended after only 6 months. I never did understand why they would bus us 45 minutes away to get a

“better” education instead of bringing the better education to us. Guidance counselors got paid to tell me what opportunities were best according to where I came from, not where I wanted to go. Oh how so encouraging it is to have those that are supposed to be leading me to better opportunities, but instead leading me to perhaps a smaller hole with only one

tool to get out.

I ended up attending college at the first university that accepted me, which was

definitely a bad move. The monies that I was suppose to have to help pay for school were no longer available when I actually got to the school. I was told that I would have to take out a loan, or not attend college. Perhaps if I had been awarded the Bright Futures scholarship I would not have had to worry about that on my first day of school, but because my good ole guidance counselor assured me that I would not need the ½ of credit in geometry to the satisfy the math requirement I thought it would be taken care of and allowed for her to enroll me in a culinary arts class my last semester of high school.

The private school I went too was expensive, and after that first year the tuition went up. I couldn’t afford to go even with the sate and federal aid awarded to me so I went back home to attend the community college in the area. Starting over wasn’t so bad;

I was home and the classes were cheaper. I got by but not without being affected by the

conditions that surrounded me. About 30% of the people I grew up with were dead, and

not because of natural causes, or illness. Another 30% were locked up in county doing at

least nine, the rest were split between the community college and the technical college in

the area—some way past the two-year expectancy to be there—becoming accustomed to

the return net check after all the tuition and fees had been paid. I worked during the day,

and went to school at night, helping my mother in any way that I could. Most of my days

were long, but I would have no problem trading my days these days for those days all

over again.

I graduated from the community college in two years, and then went on to attend

a public university. Tuition was relatively cheaper than that of the private school I had

previously attended. I didn’t have any scholarships only aid from the state and federal. I opt to move off campus since on campus housing was much more expensive than it needed to be. After paying tuition and fees, the money I got back went to rent, and when that was gone my mother paid my bills. She was hard pressed trying to pay her bills and mine as well. There were many days that I dreaded going home in fear of seeing an eviction notice on my front door. I often had to make the choice of paying my rent on time or eating. Needless to say a good meal came few and far between. Imagine trying to pay attention in class, but not being able to do so because your stomach is louder than your thoughts. I often cried myself to sleep at night, knowing that my mother did all she could, but still there seemed to be no progress.

I eventually found a work-study job on campus that allowed for me to help her a little—but that was cancelled the very next semester. Jobs were few and far between for me. With out work-study it was quite hard to find a job on campus, and because I didn’t have a car, and my ridiculous school schedule, an accommodating job was near impossible to find. But thank God that obstacles don’t last always. I am now finally on my last semester as an undergrad student, and pleased that it is finally over.

I do plan on attending graduate school to get my MA in School Counseling—the experience I had with guidance counselors really took a toll on me—but not before I find a full time job within the education sector.

I don’t think I had a worse life than anyone else, and honestly I don’t think there is anything I could have done differently to make my college experience better. Many of us are born into circumstance and that often won’t change until some experience—good or bad—causes us to change. I am thankful to know the value of hard work.

My story may be like so many others out there, and it saddens me that so many

capable young men and women cannot or will not strive for higher education because of

the provisions attached to the cause. I think it is the job f the Florida legislator to make it

more feasible for those less fortunate to attend college, and have a chance to better

themselves and their families. If better resources aren’t supplied for those who cannot

otherwise afford it, America will just be perpetuating the cycle of allowing the rich to become richer and the poor to stay stuck in a hole with no tools to get out.

Anonymous

Growing up in a single parent home, headed by a woman, I just knew that I was destined for greatness. My mother is a strong woman, and taught me not to settle for less than what I deserve. Although she did not go to college, she did make sure that I, being the first of three girls, go straight off to college and not stay home. As do many parents, my mother wanted me to do better than she had and to go beyond where she had stopped.

I have set the standards for my younger siblings, with me being the eldest of three girls; and hope that they too will excel in life.

As said before I am the first of my family to attend a University and I must say that I did not imagine making it this far. I will be entering my junior year of college in fall of 2008, and I know it will only become even more of a challenging; however, I am up for it. I knew that it would be challenging from the moment I had to fill out the college applications. Being that I was the first to graduate, and my mother not knowing how to do everything such as filling out the FAFSA online for financial aid, I found myself getting frustrated, nevertheless, I had friends, high school teachers and administrators motivating me, and because of that motivation I did not give up.

With little faith that I would be attending a University at the end of my senior year, I decided that I would much rather stay home and go to a community college instead. My mother said “NO! You are college material and you need to go off to college”. With that statement, I knew I could not stay home. One day when a friend and

I were in our B.R.A.C.E advisor’s office, we filled out applications to Florida State

University. I did not have any faith that I would be accepted, but I thought it is worth a shot. After about two weeks of submitting my application, my mom came after school to

meet with the B.R.A.C.E advisor to talk about scholarships and financial aid. That was the best meeting ever, because she told my mom and me about this program at Florida

State University called the C.A.R.E program. However, the deadline for C.A.R.E program was two days away and if we were to mail it in then I do not think my application would have made it in time. To make a long story short my mom faxed it in and within a month later, I received my acceptance letter to Florida State University through the C.A.R.E program.

In that summer of 2006, I had become a freshman student at Florida State

University. I was very excited, yet something had still troubled me. I began to worry about how I would pay for tuition and room and board after the summer was over. Then two weeks before the summer was about to end my mom called and told me how I was receiving a four year scholar from Bright Star Credit Union through Florida Pre-paid. I very excited until fall of 2006, that I had allowed my grades to suffer. I had a problem with studying due to being home sick and spending a lot of time on the phone and not in my books and notes. Then my scholarship had placed me on probation, telling me I had to get my grades up. I quickly thought of my mom and the disappointment it would be to her if I had allowed my scholarship to go away because of my carelessness. Needless to say, I pulled my grades up and made studying a hobby, because I know it will be worth it all in the end when I walk across the stage.

Another problem for me was figuring out my major. Most college students will change their major two or more times. Initially I started out believing business was my calling, and it may some day be. However, I do know that I want to interact with people and help be that person to guide that young man or woman onto the path of a better life.

Therefore, I decided to major in Sociology. I plan to be a counselor, and to be that person who helps stirs children, teens, and young adults on the road to success through education.

Education is powerful, and I am grateful to Florida State University in seeing that

I get that power. I am also very appreciative of having a mother who would not allow me to stay home and stay in my comfort zone. Finally, yet importantly, I am grateful for financial aid, and my scholarship, because with all my hard work and effort, my family I did not have the funds to pay school. If I could speak to a Florida legislator about the higher education system, I would suggest them to place programs in high schools, teaching them to fill out college applications and the FAFSA online (if they have not done so already). If I could change something to make my college experience better, it would not be anything, because in everyday of my college life, I have learned something about life in itself and discovered that whatever it is I decide to do after college, that it should make me happy. After all money is a plus, but I do not want to dread going to work.

Maura

Hillsborough Community College

When I moved to the United States to reunite with my parents, I had no idea whether I was going to college or not. Since my parents have always been working in the fields picking strawberries, blueberries, cucumbers, peppers and other produce I had in mind that I will be doing the same thing for my future. Towards the end of April of every year, they move to northern states (Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Indiana) for a better seasonal work. Growing up with my family I learned great lesson about life therefore I understood the commitment, and sacrifice that my parents make everyday. Before registering to college, I used to move along with them, and doing so, I though I would never finish my high school or even go to college for a degree. I knew obstacles were there and that I was afraid to face it due to the lack of information in how to overcome them.

Moving to U.S.A was exciting, but when it came time to face the reality it was challenging. I did not know a word of the English language, so it was the foremost challenging process I had to deal with in high school. I spoke my native language

Mixteco. It is spoken in the southern part of Oaxaca, Mexico by the Mixtecans tribe. I felt that it was preventing me in identifying myself of who I was. In certain occasions I was ashamed to tell people that I spoke Mixteco. Additionally, I knew Spanish and could not have a normal conversation at the time. I thought it was too hard because at home I spoke Mixteco and at school English. Since all my childhood I spoke Mixteco, and have never traveled to other places. I felt that it was another fear I had to deal with besides having a conversation with Spanish speaker, and then I imagine how that would be in

English. To overcome the barrier of the language, I took steps to better my grammar, and enhanced my reading skills. When I improved the concept, I realized that learning a new

language is great, but sometimes is difficult. I knew that I would go nowhere without

knowing what is ahead of me, so I had to sacrifice and strengthen my fear to move on

because I was also aware that by getting education I would understand other things.

Furthermore, during my high school years, I faced the challenge of not only learning the English language, but making sure that I was going to pass the Florida

Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). At the time I wanted to give up, because I was

not passing the FCAT. As a result, I was not able to entered college without my standard

high school diploma. Although my parents did not receive any higher education other

than middle school they gave no idea what FCAT was. They just saw me struggling with

all my effort, and at the same time they understood that it was due the language. They

reinforced me to study harder in order to pass the test with their encouragement and

support. I stayed for after school program to do extra studies and practices. I said to

myself that “one day I will graduate from college”. It was kind of like a goal far away.

Since I was the first person to graduate from high school with a diploma; I felt excited

that I should fight for it. Consequently, I focused on it really hard even though I was

already late to register to take college classes. I knew getting my diploma was in the first

place before taking another step and because I was aiming to get my diploma. After six

months, it all worked out even it took me a while, I passed the FCAT. I was thrilled

because I saw the result of my hard work in managing to graduate from Plant City High

School in May of 2003, two years after I moved to U.S.A. Getting my diploma meant a

lot to me and to my family.

I constantly felt that college was not for me because of my families’ situation

even though I already graduated my high school. I saw my parents working so hard day after day to raise my younger sisters and brothers I felt I was left out. For some reason, I implied that by not having my families support economically I was unable to attend college. I knew that they were responsible for me, but I could not ask much of them knowing their position. I only knew that whatever I did not like or did not feel comfortable about I was to change that. Whether it was picking strawberries, or

cucumbers, I would take pride for what my parents were doing in order to support me. I

knew it would be an effort, but I decided to stand up and say that I was ready to be ahead

not because I am the elder child in the family to lead as a role model, but to be me. I

registered at the Hillsborough Community College to take classes, but had not idea what I

wanted to do. I was working full time and taking full time. In addition, I had to support

my parents because since I begin working I knew I had a responsibility for them. After

first semester, I was almost at a point to drop out, but I remembered what my mission

was.

In addition, to facing the barrier to stay in college, I also had to deal with financial

assistance. Since my family has been working in the fields, I did not they could help me

financially in paying my tuition or books. With the rising cost of tuition, books and

supplies every year of about 5%, it gets more expensive and difficult to afford. This result

makes it impossible to continue my education without the assistance of some sort. Now

that I am a community college student I take every opportunity of job or internship that

would help me to jet a job, so I could pay for my college. I barely have money to spend

on my own expenses, and to say that I drive my father’s car to go to college. I think that I

am blessed to have parents even though they can not just give me money, but say that I

have to work hard for it. Currently, I tutor Statistics at the Plant City Campus to earn

some money while I study to complete my degree at HCC.

Finally, when I think back two or three years ago comparing to today, I am

impressed of what I have accomplished. I am currently seeking an Associate of Arts

degree in Business Administration. I will be graduating from HCC on May 4, 2008, and it

is my greatest achievement. My whole families are excited and applauding my effort

because they know it was not easy. I applied at the University of South Florida to pursue my Accounting degree in November of 2007 and got accepted. I will begin taking classes in the summer of 2008. Attending USF is an honor to me not because I am ready to further my education, but because I am ready to demonstrate ability and my commitment to succeed and do something different. Before completing my future educational goal, I know for sure it take hard work for every step I take. Now I know what the difference is for what I being through, and what is ahead of me because without a good education I will go nowhere. Therefore, getting my accounting degree will enable me to work professionally in my field.

Franz

University of South Florida

In 1979 my mother left everything she had behind in Colombia and came to this

country in search of a better life. She struggled to learn English and assimilate into an

unfamiliar culture. Through hard work and dedication, she made it into college. In her

junior year, my father came over from Colombia and I was born. She left college to raise

me and my sister who was born a year later. She never went back to finish, and so began

my first obstacle in going to college.

I was born and raised in New Jersey. While I was in high school, my mother

worked from home and my father was a truck driver. He was an owner-operator, meaning technically he was self-employed. Because of this I was put in the middle bracket for

financial aid and could not qualify for any grants or state aid. In high school I did not

push myself hard enough to apply for scholarships because I thought I would qualify for

state grants. Had I known this, I would have applied to as many scholarships as possible.

I had no choice but to take out loans to pay for my first two years of college.

In my sophomore year of college at Montclair State University in New Jersey, my parents decided to buy a house and move to Tampa. At the same time, my father decided to stop driving and pursue a small business opportunity with my uncle. It was a risky move, because he was relying on the small business to succeed and provide us with our only income. When my parents finally settled in Tampa, the business was not doing so good, and I and my mother pushed my father to start driving again but he refused. He had put all his eggs in one basket, and the basket was about to come crashing down.

The years 2005-2006 were some of the hardest I have had in my short life. I was

going to school in New Jersey while my parents lived in Florida. My school was about to begin charging me out-of-state tuition because my parents moved. The small business my father and uncle started was failing, and he was considering going back to driving.

However, the opportunity to go back to driving would be taken away indefinitely. On the night of August 13th 2005, the night before my birthday, my father was involved in a

traffic infraction. As a result, his license was suspended for a whole year. What is a truck

driver without a license? On top of that the small business was failing. The only skill my

father ever had was driving a truck, and now he was unemployed with no skills and a new

mortgage to pay. He took over what was left of the small business to see if he could make

enough to pay for the mortgage, but it required him to travel to Colombia and be gone for

a long time. My mother and sisters were alone in Florida. My sisters were having a hard time adjusting, and they were not doing so well in school. My mother had to find a job to provide money for living expenses, but it was still not enough. They applied for TANF

(temporary assistance for needy families) and food stamps, but it would be a while until they knew if they would get it or not. My family needed me, and I knew what I had to do.

I left all my friends and the familiar places of New Jersey and decided to transfer to the

University of South Florida. I would live at home and get a job to help around the house.

We would split up the bills. My father would take care of the mortgage, and I and my

mother would take care of the rest (food, gas, insurance, water & electricity, credit card

bills, etc).

I came to USF in the Fall of 2006 as a civil engineering major. I was having a

hard time going to school and working full time. Engineering courses are demanding. All

the money I made went to my parents. Every month the mortgage was due and we would

struggle to make ends meet. We began to fall behind. I used to ask my parents what they were going to do but this only caused stress and fighting. Pretty soon I stopped asking questions. I remember when an advisor at USF spoke to my class about working and going to school. He said it was a sure course to failure, and if we were smart we would

quit our jobs and dedicate ourselves to school. I shook my head. I knew my situation

called for a different course of action. How could I quit my job in fear of failing school?

If I did, I would only fail my family. My grades were suffering, but my family had to eat.

I knew what I had to do, so I decided to drop out of the fall term and get a second job.

I was working at JC Penny and began working for UPS for the 2006 Christmas

season. During the week I would work from 8:00am till 4:00pm at UPS and then from

5:00pm till 10:00pm at JC Penny. During the weekends I would work 8 hour shifts at JC

Penney and had off from UPS. Once in a while I had a Sunday off, but this was the routine for the fall of 2006. I remember working 5 weeks straight without a day off.

Finally we got food stamps and TANF, but after a month they took it away because they found out I was working. It seemed like the system was penalizing me because I chose to work. Now I understand why people can potentially become dependant on welfare and never rise above their situation. If I were to meet with a legislator I would bring this matter up.

While I and my mother were trying to make ends meet with our living expenses, my father began falling behind on the mortgage payments. After a year had gone by he tried getting his license reinstated but had to pay a $1,000 fine in order to do so. The system made no sense. They took my father’s license away (his only way of making a living) and then expected him to come up with $1,000 to get it back. When I reentered

school in Spring 2007, I took out an extra loan and gave it to my father so he could get

his license back. When he did, we were glad that he would be able to drive again and our financial troubles would come to an end. But we forgot about the insurance companies.

Because of the traffic incident on my father’s driving record, no trucking company will hire him. Their insurance companies will simply not cover him. They told him to try again in three years and it would go away on his record. Three years without work! Till this day no trucking company will hire my father and he remains unemployed.

When I reentered school in Spring 2007, I decided to become a teacher. I realized how a higher education could have saved both my parents, but because they did not have any they had no other option. Because of my parent’s financial situation I began

receiving grants from the state of Florida. Every refund check I received I gave it to them

to go towards the mortgage. The threat of foreclosure was knocking on our door. With

the housing crisis becoming a national problem, the bank put our mortgage payments on

hold to keep us from losing our house. My advisor, Ms. Norma Cano-Alvarez, informed

me of a scholarship being offered by the college of education. I thought you could only

apply for scholarships before you entered college. I did not know you could apply while

in college. Had I known that, I would have been applying to every scholarship I was

eligible for!

Today I worry about my father’s future and the future of my family and my home.

He has still not been able to get a job. He has not given up on the small business in

Colombia; every once in a while some money comes over, but it is not enough. My

mother works at a catering venue. It is not unusual for her to work 12 hour shifts on the

weekends and weekdays. This morning when I woke up around 9:00 am she was at work

and still managed to cook and leave lunch on the stove. It is now 10:21 pm and she has yet to come home (I hear there is a wedding there tonight). I currently have 3 jobs. I work tutoring high school and middle school students in the mornings Monday through

Thursdays. On Friday I work all day as a student assistant at the College of Engineering.

Every other weekend I work in the kitchen at the catering venue with my mother.

Despite these circumstances, I managed to earn a 4.0 the first two semesters at

USF (Spring & Summer 07) and a 3.95 last fall semester. I am involved on campus with various organizations such as the Latin American Student Association, Students for

Social Justice, and the Association of Concerned Students to name a few. However, I am limited to non-leadership positions because I have to work and would not have the time.

If I could have some type of extra assistance (outside of the grant I already receive) it would free up more of my time to be more involved on campus. Whether I receive extra assistance or not, I decided last week that I will run for president of the Latin American

Student Association for my final year on campus. It might be difficult with work and school, but I know I will greatly benefit from having a leadership position. To keep me going I tell myself I will not let school get in the way of my education.

If I had a chance to meet with legislators I would tell them they should reward students who achieve high academically despite hard financial circumstances. After graduation in Spring 09, I plan to teach at an inner-city school in Tampa. I want to inspire students to seek a higher education, so that they may avoid the tumultuous situation that my family was placed in after my father lost his job. Knowledge is power, and with a good education you will be empowered for the rest of your life.

Earnest

University of South Florida

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up our school newspaper, “The Oracle” and

inside I saw an ad that said, “interviewing students who switched out of engineering into

other majors, twenty dollars given to the participants”. So I call the number given and set

up an appointment to meet the same day. Arriving early, I proceeded to go to the

basement of the social science building where the interview would take place, I was quite

nervous to admit because I would be opening up to a stranger and a digital recorder.

Nevertheless, I continued and walked into an office with a woman at the front desk

looking at me, then another woman comes from an office and says, “are you Earnest”, I

reply “yes”. Then we both walk into her office and she begins to explain to me that the

interview is about doing a study on students who have switched from engineering to a

different major and their whole purpose was to study the ins and outs of why students

switched, what did they not like about their classes as opposed to their new major

courses, what made you chose engineering and a whole lot of other questions related to

this topic. To summarize everything, she asked questions that had pertained to my life from high school all the way till now and my responses went a little something like this.

My name is Earnest and I come from a low-income family that resides in the

ghetto of East Tampa and at one point in my life I stayed in a two bed, one bathhouse with five people. My father has a kindergarten education and my mother’s education goes

to high school. So as you can see they put a strong emphasis on education to their

children and made sure we understood the vital importance of obtaining a proper

education so as to excel where they did not. During my high school days I faced many

obstacles small and big, but none possessed the enormous and influential magnitude of

”the hood”, the surroundings, the environment and especially the violence and drugs.

Some of my friends I knew who went to high school with me sold drugs and as a result

some would have the nice clothes or have a nice car, all of which I could not afford

because of my parents financial status. Others were so messed up they dropped out and

became crack fiends and still till this day walk my block up and down with no ambition

except a hustlers ambition. When it comes to violence, I lost two of my friends to gun

violence, one was shot in the head at a club and I found out about my other friends death

years later when I saw his picture on a bus stop bench that had his picture and the words

“stop the gun violence”. It’s sad, but I’ve been blessed, with my fathers guidance and

cohesiveness of my family I managed to realize that this lifestyle of drugs and violence

was not for me and that I had a choice, either follow the destructive path of the drug

dealers and gang members within my community or choose the second path and see were it takes me. I chose the second path and didn’t look back and with haste my mentality and

attitude towards life and success took off.

During my senior year of high school I did not know what would be the next step

in my life, I just knew that I wanted to do something unprecedented and extraordinary.

As I looked around my immediate family, I saw financial struggling, violence, drug

usage, hatred, fighting, separation and suffering; but to me no one had rose above it all to

break those chains of mediocrity within our family, it seems as if no one wanted to break

that cycle or those generational curses that had plagued our family for generations. I had

made up in my mind that I was going to be the one to break the chains and I did by

setting out to be the first one to attend college because I wanted better for my family. My

parents didn’t help me much after I got a certain age in high school, they became less

involved and expected me to handle everything, and so I took the liberty of taking some

extra math courses and applying to colleges. In the end, I did not go to FAMU because I

did not have the money, but USF had a program that would pay for everything, so I

accepted.

Once I arrived at USF, my biggest obstacle was myself and the transitions I would

experience trying to adapt to the new college lifestyle. I came to college not knowing what major I wanted to purse so I was confused but I chose the one my father directed me towards, computer engineering. The course curriculum was difficult because I was not prepared for the difficulty of the fundamental classes I was taking and it began to affect my GPA negatively. Every semester, I would find myself dropping one or two courses at a time; constantly switching my major within the college of engineering and I even used up two of my three grade-forgiveness trying to stay afloat. In addition, the nightlife and time I would spend partying as well as the time I had to devote to my organizations was throwing me off and putting my whole college education at risk.

Later on, my family fell into a deep financial hole and they were struggling to keep the house from foreclosure while I was living on campus trying to get an education.

The bills where piling up and my fathers job as a pastor was not bringing in enough and he was to old and not educated enough to get a significant job, so my mother who has been working at a job for her whole life had to bare the load and that’s when my family really starting arguing and my parents marriage was at risk. It was a very bad situation and my mother wanted me to work but she knew that my father would not allow it, he wanted me to focus on my studies and nothing else, he didn’t even want me to know

about the financial troubles at home but I found out through my mother. The thought of

not being able to help my family hurt me and to see it begin to tear us apart crushed me

even more. Suddenly, out of nowhere, my sister gets pregnant and the fabric of family as

well as our financial troubles multiplied exponentially. I was devastated because I knew

that the “streets” had taken hold of my sister, she was stealing from my parents, fighting

and causing all kinds of drama within my family, all while I was on my own out at the

USF campus.

Sometime down the line, my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer, a tumor

in his throat and on top of all this he had diabetes. My family was holding on by threads

and the bills were piling up month to month. I was scared because I was still in college and did not know what to do except keep pushing until I could graduate and get a good job to help myself and my family financially and move them away from that side of town. I was so determined and relentless but little did I know that during this dark hour my financial aid would be cut from under me because I had to be within a certain

percentage of completed hours vs. attempted hours.

After I had told the woman all of that, she proceeded to ask me about my goals. I

told her through all my mistakes, trials and tribulations, my family and me are still here

and I’m a more well-rounded and focused individual. Since switching to the college of

business I plan to graduate with my degree from the college of business with a 3.0 GPA,

then proceed to get married to my fiancé. Directly following that, my goal is to receive

my masters in entrepreneurship. Next, I would like to work in corporate America for a

couple of years and help my family; after that, I would like to start or run a successful business within five years of my graduate degree.

On the side, I plan to find time to do some investing and real estate development.

By the time I’m 35, I would have built my business to a significant level and would like to start a foundation to help underprivileged youth in my community as well as be a pillar in my community to give back and make a difference. By the time I’m forty, I want to be able to retire and have enough wealth that I can pass down to my children.

After I finished telling the woman about my goals, she asked me the question if I

knew then, what I know now…what would I do differently? I told her words couldn’t

express how many things I would do differently, but a couple of them would be to get

more involved in the high school career center so I can know what I want to do when I

get to college, I would also have taking more classes that would have prepared me for my college courses. In addition, I would have attended a community college because it’s

cheaper and the classes are smaller, in addition the fact that you get a sense that the

people care about you and aren’t there just to process you helps you along the way. I also

would have worked on my planning, time management and studying skills because they

are vital to balancing a life as a college student.

Lastly, the woman mentioned that the interview was more deeply connected to

understanding what the education system could do to help engineering students succeed

at the college of engineering, but I wasn’t an engineer anymore and took it as what could

the education system do to improve upon the entire system. I told her first of all, it’s the job of all high school advisors to make every student aware of the opportunities available at that school and not just pick and choose who gets to know about this program or that program because my advisors didn’t help direct me one bit. Two, streamline the career

centers between high school and colleges so when kids get to college they do not have the

status of undecided for a major. Re-activate the career centers at high schools and become more innovative in your ways to reach out to all children or all backgrounds, have a high school career day twice a year wear speaks from different professions and backgrounds come. Kids need to be prepared in order to have a chance and if they are not they end up having a hard time like myself. Also, don’t focus on just tests because everyone does not excel as test taking, mix it up some. Also, help kids to identify their

strong points and weak points because if not they will be confused and lost. These are

just a couple of the things I would say if I was speaking with a Florida legislator because

I feel passionate about it because this is my life and the future lives of children they are

dealing with and I believe everyone has a choice and an opportunity, you just have make it like I did.

“Opportunities don’t come once in a life-time, they come every day, every hour, every

minute and every second”

Derek

University of South Florida

In music, artist often suffer from what is known as a sophomore slump, where they emerge as a fresh new phenomenon, releasing a solid debut album. However, upon their second studio recording, their artistic abilities seem to become non-existent. Many of these artists never regain momentum and eventually fade away like the last star in the sky before the sun invades Mother Earth on a new day. Others somehow are able to snag what’s left of their creative craniums and formulate a reputable third album. This drawn out paradigm is but a parallel of the struggle many, if not most experience during the melting down of our souls into a stainless steel die conformed to the “high standards” of the great education of the U.S. of A; except instead of a sophomore slump, it can better be described as a 4 year slump. Otherwise known as college, this university experience can be a time of personal growth and intellectual challenge; but this is only realized when compared with the post-secondary evil twin – high school – where eccentricity is punishable by law. In reference to the opening narrative, students are released from purgatory like a bull blasting out of his holding cell at a rodeo. The only difference is that instead of throwing off chic young urban wannabe’s showing off the most modern of cowboy fashion, we’re attempting to survive the constant onslaught of university protocol, unconventional professor’s wanting us to “learn concepts that have much wider applications,” and ah yes, Money issues. After all, is Money not the fiber that keeps our all mighty democracy the Gucci sweater of the world, keeping it warm and toasty from the perils of the cold unknown universe? Is Money not the driving force of our lives?

Indeed, it is the whole reason we even attend college, and no matter what the motive – to

enhance the economy, to provide an overpriced service, or to afford the Lego set you

never got for Christmas for your kids – we all want (and arguably) need Money. Which is

why I’m so exasperated over the lack of this precious paper when it comes to funding for

post-secondary education. There seems to be more rules and regulations for deciding who

gets aid than the inside of an H&R Block on your local street corner.

Since the ominous glow of college first eclipsed my adolescent eyes, I have been

in a Cold War with the financial aid office. Upon each visit, I am presented with those six

infamous questions for which answering “No” to, qualifies you as a dependent as

automatic as the snuffing of a flame deprived of precious oxygen. I understand the

reasoning behind this logic, and unfortunately families with the perfect capability of

financing their offspring through the mandatory churning into the soft serve of the month,

take advantage of the state’s “gift of giving.” This is certainly a Shakespearian tragedy

for the rest of us who’s parent’s are probably capable of providing us with the resources

to get through almost a half decade of post-secondary mind constraint, but refuse to do

so. As it may sound that I am requesting more Money from the department of financial

aid, this is not necessarily the case. I seek just enough assistance for myself and others

who are born into circumstances beyond their control so that we’re not worrying about

how our rent will be paid at the end of each month, how we will fill up our next tank of

gas, and how we will buy next week’s worth of groceries. Even if I cannot be consecrated

with the common necessities most Americans (including myself) often take for granted, at least entitle me with the dignity to be considered an independent human being. I moved out of my house at 17 to escape the turmoil of my family of which I wonder daily how I was given. I am the first in my family to attend the post-secondary penitentiary – my

mother never graduated from high school, my father, a trade worker, and my brother, a

high school drop-out and perpetual pot-fiend. Growing up, I didn’t understand why I was

cursed with this necessity to question the world around me in ways different that my

roommates. Since my maternal mother ran off when I was four in order to finish out her

teenage years, I was blessed with a serpent step-mother. My intellectual abilities were

constantly oppressed and were never praised as accomplishments. And when I did make a

mistake, it was glorified and presented as proof that I was not as smart as I thought I was.

I just wanted to vamoose. Even though I was shunned by my own family, I still don’t

resent them. To me, the experience has made me into the person I am today –

hardworking, independent and exemplary.

I currently work to make up for the expenses that hoard daily life, and have not-

stopped since I was 15. Admittedly, my life now is not one in which I can’t complain as

far as material objects. However the more Money I earn, the more sensitized I become to

doing without certain things. This is contradictory of my philosophy, but like any human-

being, if given the opportunity (and by opportunity I mean the hard work I have endured) is going to earn as much of the green stuff as possible. Fortunately I have been predisposed with the wherewithal to tolerate the struggles that torture many college

students. Most students are unable to balance good grades, a job, and a sane head. It’s not

their fault, their genes are just not programmed for it and/or they were smothered as

children. This is why the schools should give us more options when we need Money for

the very institution that stresses the importance of why we are there…..to make Money.

I’m no Greenspan, but perhaps providing better paid internships and cooperative

education opportunities would lessen our hardships. I’m not asking for a hand-out for

myself and for others with my similar frustrations – I just want to be able to get through this now mandatory four years of school so I can get on with this thing called life in a way that doesn’t make me regret getting out of bed each day. So listen up lawmaker, make some changes for the working individual. The black stars who are all alone, waiting to shine their light on the rest of the world with nothing but their brain, heart and two hands. One good thing about the operation of financial aid is that it can’t get any worse; after all Bob Dylan was right when he said “…when you ain’t got nothin’ you got nothin’ to lose. “ We’re all just a bunch of rolling stones, and just as our heads are reaching the horizon and we can see the promise of a new day, we keep ion rolling into the ground.

And in college when you’re going downhill, it seems that that’s all you have to look forward to, that brief moment with your face against the wind.

As it stands, students who qualify for some financial aid, receive a subsidized loan. I give a lot of credit to this program because I’m not seeking out a handout; I just want to do what I have to do to graduate using my own resources. The only problem with this is that there is a ceiling on the amount you can take out each year. Now, if it weren’t for these loans (the amount that supplements the contribution I am supposed to receive from my parents) I’m not really sure how I would get by financially. Private loans are out of the question because I would need a cosigner, which I don’t have the luxury of possessing.

As you’ve seen, I’ve overcome some hurdles, but I’m no Jesse Owens. I’ve lived through some difficult times, but I’m no Anne Frank. I’ve had struggles in my life, but I was born with a healthy mind and body. I’ve had to be frugal, but so does everyone else in college. My parents weren’t exactly there for me when I needed them, but they’re the

reason I’m alive. What I’m trying to convey is that I’m not unique. I’m not extremely

unusual. I have an average life. But the average person can’t finance a college education; and yearly increases aren’t what we want to hear. I understand there are faculty that need to be paid, programs that need to be funded, and buildings that need to be erected; but there must be something that can be done. I am a layman when it comes to these issues and I have little to offer as far as suggestions to remedy the poison that seeps through the living, breathing college monster. The poison of Money. Perhaps more of an effort should be directed toward determining who deserves the funding that is available.

So Mr. Tallahassee, if I could say one line to you; if you could take one idea from this satirical, excuse of an article, it would be to simply – give us a break! Not everyone lies at the extremes of financial hierarchy, and I hate to say it but there does seem to be some grey areas. And though you may recognize this already, maybe address your attention to this problem that affects so many, for more than the duration of a Seinfeld episode. To quote Charlie Kane in the Orson Welles film Citizen Kane, “….I think I have done pretty well under the circumstances.” And I truly believe having this ideology is why I have been as successful as I’ve been. Luckily (and by luck I mean the random occurrence of aim or reason) I’ve been given the dexterity to make the best of the worst.

Unfortunately, others in my predicament have not been habituated with such resilience; and in fact I often find my student counterparts interrogating me on my strategies for cool and collectiveness in times of intense school demands, work stresses, and Money woes. I tell them I’ve been training for this my whole life.

Xiao

University of South Florida

Being the first in your family to attend college comes with a lot of

responsibilities. Choosing where to study for the next four years of your young life is an

adventure of its own. The decision must not be produced nonchalantly, because

whichever institution you decide to enroll in will have its own rewards and repercussions;

therefore, it deserves respect and thoughtfulness. After the decision has been made, you

must now consider your desired involvement within the college. Will you be passive or

proactive? Finally, after many semesters of studying and interacting with social networks,

you will have to analyze your utilized years and question if there was anything that could

have been improved, and decide if there is anything you can provide for those who are

about to embark in their own four year adventure.

Choosing where I was to attend college was a big decision for my family and me.

I had been accepted to the two schools of my choice: Penn State University and

University of South Florida. In my mind, I was either going to be very far away from

home or very close to it. As the decision deadline loomed closer, my decision did not

become any easier. There were several major factors that I had to strongly consider. First,

enrolling in Penn State had always been a dream of mine since eighth grade. As I

researched the cost of attending for an out of state student; however, it quickly became

apparent that the $30,000 tuition was beyond my family’s affordability. When I

considered the fact that my younger brother was to enter college the next year after me, I

knew that my parents had been given the difficult task of assisting two children in paying for college in two successive years. After talking to my parents for several long nights, I

made the decision to attend the University of South Florida. The deal breaker was the fact

that I would be eligible for Florida Bright Future’s Scholarship; therefore, my financial

needs would be limited to what the scholarship would not cover.

If given the opportunity to change how I would handle my college years, I would

have done several things differently. The first change would be becoming more ambitious

in attending the freshman orientation and student organization fair. During the fall of

2007, I was invited to join Beta Alpha Psi (Accounting Honor Society) and my

involvement with this organization has changed my mindset on the importance of interacting with other individuals who share the same motivation and determination to excel in the accounting profession. Through Beta Alpha Psi, I have the opportunity to socialize with managers and partners of local firms such as Price WaterHouse Coopers and KPMG. Most importantly, my experience with this organization has allowed me to obtain my upcoming summer internship with Protiviti. Not many students can claim that they have job opportunities waiting for them after college, but because of the strong network of professionals that Beta Alpha Psi have, our members have become the few who can claim that they have multiple job offers to consider.

The second thing that I would change if I could start all over would have been my decision to come to USF. I love USF and will always be proud to represent “green and gold,” but now that I have tasted the business world, I am more aware of the fact that the top companies in any industry target the best schools in America. In only fifty years of establishment, USF has achieved the goal of being a top research university in the state of

Florida and has challenged the right to belong in the top ranking of collegiate sports.

Even though USF has many accomplishments that other universities of older age have yet

to reach, USF has yet to achieve the academic status that a school like Penn State

University holds. I regret not making the effort to face the financial challenges of attending a well established out of state school so that I would have been able to interview with global firms such as Goldman Sachs and McKinsey & Company. My advice to anyone contemplating which college to attend is: Do not let money be the deciding factor because any size loan can be repaid after college with a large salary.

If I were given the opportunity to speak with a Florida legislator, I would definitely use the scarce time to share with him/or her my view on social responsibility in college. I define social responsibility as the need for educated individuals to realize the need of mentorship and guidance for young children from disadvantageous backgrounds.

When graduates begin their young career, the companies that hire them will do everything in their power to help them succeed. One way they do accomplish that is by mentoring them and guiding them through the tough decisions they will have to make.

Therefore, if we want young adults to succeed in college, we must begin the mentoring process before they step foot on a college campus.

There are many high school students who are on the edge of deciding what they will do for the rest of their lives. Sadly, if you are a minority student who attends a poorly rated high school, your decision would most likely be that of working at any job which requires only a high school diploma. Imagine all the lives that would be changed if

Florida offered a program that placed college students in a position to be able to mentor and encourage high school seniors to attend a higher education institution. In college, the mindset of many students is “how can I get ahead of my peers.” I believe the new attitude that needs to be spread and it is of “how can I bring up those who are underprivileged.” I

strongly believe that those who are educated have a responsibility to see that those who lack mentorship and guidance recieve it through them.

My time spent at USF has had its ups and downs, but for the most part it has shaped my future in a positive way. Ultimately, no one can decide for any individual

what kind of experience he or she will endure, because those experiences result from

personal decisions based on individual circumstances. With my final thought, I will state

that upon graduating from USF, I will leave as an individual more capable of facing life’s

decisions than the young man who entered four years ago.