Growing up as a kid was hard for me. I was born early, so growing up I was different than everyone else; I was three months early weighing two pounds and eleven ounces with a hearing disability and I had problems with my eyesight as I got older. Struggles and differences were challenging for me when I was growing causing me to not do well in elementary school. People would always tell me I could not get smarter, and that I will never do better. I only had a few people I could count on; one was my mom. When I went to the doctor's for my hearing test, I did horribly. They looked my mom in the eyes and told her that I would probably never read a chapter book due to my hearing. I was born without parts of my ear, meaning that high-pitched noises would bother me more than others because I could hear them at a greater volume. Another downside of my hearing is softer noises I can not hear at all. When I was younger that made everyday life a challenge and some time still today; I have a hard time hearing people and I have to read their lips. This did not stop me, thanks to my mom. She helped me when I was little; she'd sit with me and help me read a chapter book, showed me new ways to work around my hearing, and told me it was okay to be different than everyone else. And just because my grades weren't the best, didn't mean I wasn’t working hard. I had to work twice as hard as someone with normal hearing. Slowly, I progressed with reading and was able to improve and catch up to my class. That is when I hit another bump in the road. I started to get a lazy eye on both eyes. I slowly progressed until I reached the point when I needed to have double eye surgery because I couldn't read the paper in front of me and everything looked fuzzy. This leads me to have corrective surgery at the age of seven. After all of these struggles is when I hit the top of the incline in my life as a kid I was able to see well again. I understood why I couldn't hear well and found ways to work around it by recording what the teacher said in class, which I could listen to at home to help me understand the homework. I slowly was progressing in my grades and my reading. Now today I’m in a 1st generation college preparatory program. I am reading at a college-level and have supportive people surrounding me. We are all working to help each other so that everyone is able to go to college. No one points out that someone is different or that they are at a different academic level. Everyone here knows that it is okay to be different, and I want to spread this thinking to everyone that I meet. I think that I have worked hard to get where I am and have overcome many bumps in the road. I love myself and will continue to work hard no matter how many things try to stop me. When attending college, I will overcome my challenges. I will also continue to learn from new situations I encounter along the way. I want to spread my message of resilience and perseverance to others. It is okay to be different; just know you can persevere through challenges and succeed if you believe in yourself.