I'm a straight-A student in the top 20% of my class. I recently graduated from Wyoming Area Secondary center with high honors and several medals and pins to show my success. However, despite all the success I have had so far, achieving most of it was not easy. When I was eight years old, my mother lost her job, and we were forced to move into low-income housing. The initial move was extremely rough because my mother is a single mom with two kids. At the time, we were very young, so helping out around the house was not something we were able to do. A few years later, we found out she had a medical issue in her leg that required surgery. Unfortunately, the surgery had a mishap, leaving her with Charcot's foot. This is a foot disease in which the bones are severely weakened due to nerve damage, which left her able to walk, but only in a boot and not for long periods. Because of this situation, my brother and I have had to step up a lot more to help around our house. Most of my pay from my job was and is still allocated towards needs like cat food or paper towels. My mother cannot walk upstairs, so cleaning the upstairs is our duty. Most of the time, we have to help with cooking meals, giving her baths, and doing other tasks that she is no longer able to do in addition to our other chores. Also, I have had less time for school work and extracurriculars that I previously enjoyed. Even though I had less time for my activities, I still shifted my time around to be able to fully help my mother while pursuing interests that I knew would be beneficial to me in the future. Compared to my peers, I am constantly busy, but I know it will all pay off in the end. My hard work and determination have allowed me to push through the difficulties and finish high school the way I wanted. Because of my situation, I had to grow up and learn responsibility at a young age, which has helped me become a successful person. I have learned to maintain the daily struggles of school, work, and maintaining a home. I've adapted my schedule to have still time for things I genuinely enjoy. I've learned that things can get bad one right after the other and even still have come out a better person. These experiences brought on by my mother's disease have given me skills that can make me a successful college student. My time management skills can help tremendously in a college setting where multiple things can happen within a couple of hours. The hard-working mindset I have gained during this time will also help me be a successful student and cheerleading squad member. I genuinely want to do well and enjoy my college experience, and learning what I did during my childhood can help me do so.