During my freshman year of high school, I lost my aunt to a recurring brain tumor. It was a very hard time for my family and it affected quite a lot of things in my life. The tumor that she had was very fast growing and her passing was a very long process over a couple of months that ended a couple of days before Christmas. I think the hardest part of all of this was when my aunt went into hospice and we had to face the truth that she wasn't going to get any better. Watching her slowly deteriorate and continue to get worse is not something easy to see. At the time I could not fully understand a lot that was going on. I was just trying to be there for my family in the best way that I knew how. In school, I would become upset even thinking about her in those times. I missed school quite often as a result of spending time with my aunt or just being with my family. I had some teachers that were very understanding with work and my absence, and then I had other teachers that made this time even harder for me. Because of the days that I was missing from school, and the work that I couldn't make up at school, I, unfortunately, fell behind in some of my classes. Something that my aunt always had was an extremely hard work ethic and drive. She was very passionate about many things and that was truly an inspiration to me. My aunt and I had a very close relationship, we did so many things together. We went hiking, rode bikes, went for lunch and talked often. She taught me so many things about who I want to be when I'm older and how I choose to live my life. She never let an adventure pass her by and I aspire to be even half the person that she was. After her death, I knew I needed to step up with school. After the new year, I worked extremely hard in school to earn the grades that I wanted and achieve success in my school and classes. To do this, I worked with a tutor for some of my classes to get caught up, I also requested extra help from the teachers when needed if I had any questions about a lesson or a test coming up. In my freshman year of high school, I truly learned how to take my education into my own hands and gained a lot of good study habits as well as the skill of advocating for myself and my future. I miss my aunt every day, but I like to think that the best parts of me, I learned from her. I strive to work as hard as she did every day, to go on every adventure and to treat each day like it's your last because, in her short life of 43 years old, she experienced and did more than most people do in their entire life.