Without the top challenges that life has presented me with the high school degree that I am getting today, it means so much precisely because of all the struggles and setbacks I had to endure. For instance, take a video game, for example, "Mario Brothers". He was to jump over only one pit and then rescue. What fun would that be, would anyone be playing it.? No, because where is the risk and the reward? Where's the challenge? There's no ultimate feeling of stratification. Just like this video game, it is how every challenge I have faced has demonstrated to me a different aspect of life. At first glance, a first-generation student who has grown up in a rural community would not have the slightest idea of the route to take to be successful. However, through trial and error, I have surpassed the expectations of those around me. By taking advantage of what my high school has to offer. The time I most vividly recall struggling with was the fall of 2022 when I first started college courses and deadlines became a major priority. Deadlines often require me to manage time effectively and stay focused on completing tasks within a specific timeframe. Transitioning from a high school student to a college student was difficult because I had to balance multiple deadlines and prioritize tasks accordingly due to the higher expectations required and the fact that extensions weren't given in any circumstance. In addition, the writing standards were aimed at a more significant level, leading to learning the differential styles. I realized then how important it is to stay organized by creating a schedule or using a planner to keep track of all assignments from different classes. I learned I needed to prioritize my tasks based on their importance and urgency to stay focused. In this case, I had to take matters into my own hands. So, first, I reviewed the provided syllabus by my professors, broke down each assignment into smaller tasks, and determined the estimated time needed for each task. Regularly reviewing and adjusting my planner was crucial in helping me avoid procrastination and set aside dedicated study and work periods. This created a sense of accountability, provided an extra motivation boost to stay focused, and helped me meet my deadlines. The transition from high school to college was different; work was heavier, but all manageable with a schedule. The combination of positivity, support, and goal-setting helped me overcome adversity and continue on my personal and educational journey. Through the extra circulars my school was able to offer I was able to see how many opportunities I was provided with which not only helped shape me as a student but also as a person.

I grew up spending my many summers traveling from the sandy beaches of Florida, to Georgia’s vast production lands of peaches, to South Carolina’s lukewarm temperatures to Kentucky’s rugged mountains, and finally traveling back to Florida, all in a span of one short summer. My parents would travel to these states not for leisure but in search of work to harvest seasonal crops while my two older siblings and I tagged along, leaving us was not an option. It was clear to me then that people like us weren’t meant for higher education. We were meant to survive, working endlessly from sunrise to sunset to strive in a society. At age 8, I knew that I was destined to be more than a field worker, I was going to become the first generation of my family to pursue a higher education. That this American Dream they were hoping for, wasn’t just a deceiving perception, but rather a reality that I would help make. These past several summers have represented for me boundless months of exploration of my immediate surroundings and taking full advantage of where I am now. In my case what my parents gave me as a child through my adolescent years was a taste of life in the shoes of an immigrant; I endured the painful physical labor of harvesting crops to working in warehouses. There is nothing like suffering as a motivation for further success. Working on farms and warehouses as a harvester has taught me that obtaining your everyday bread of life is worth a great amount of effort. Just staying alive on a day-to-day basis is a struggle. If there is one thing I will always take away is that we can’t change where we come from, but we can change where we go.