As a student, I have had many ups and downs. When I’m up, I feel like I can take on the world. I am motivated and have an eagerness to learn. However, when I’m down and hit a low point, I feel defeated. The courage I felt when I’m up immediately vanishes. I feel overwhelmed, which usually leads to a lack of confidence, and self-doubt. Experiences from childhood through adulthood have contributed to these ups and downs. Most of them are personal and family related. I have had many hardships to overcome, but I wouldn’t change anything. Everything that has happened in my life, any challenges I have gone through, has helped mold me into the person I am today. I’ll start with high school. I come from a small town, a little over two miles. I grew up and went to school with the same kids from elementary school to high school. I was never a straight A student, but I did pretty well in school. Senior year it all crumbled. My mother was having issues with her husband from her second marriage, which resulted in a trial separation. I had to help out with my younger siblings in the morning before they went to school, while my mother went to work to support us. I did the best I could to make it to school on time, but usually ended up a few minutes late to my first class. My first class was English. My English teacher would not allow me in the class any time I was late, regardless of the excused notes from my mother, my guidance counselor, or even the principal. She knew the situation at hand, and had no regard for it. She even mocked my situation, and wrote a poem which was read aloud to the class titled “The Late Girl”. The guidance office worked very hard to try and get me into another Senior English class, but there was only one other teacher, and his class was full. I ended up dropping the class, and taking Senior English in an adult high the following summer in order to