Full-Ride Scholarship

Money is a tight thing in my family. Having to feed the family, paying the bill to buying gas for the car. Receiving a full-ride scholarship to a university would be beneficial to not only but also my family. Not only am I going to college for free but it’s like I’m taking my family with me. My family won’t have to worry about me not going to college because of our money issue. If I get the full-ride scholarship I can prove to my brother that if you work hard enough that he can be able to achieve it too.

My brother will be able to look up to me and see all the hard work I have done to be able reach for that goal on not only being the first in my family to go to college but be able to get a full-ride to it also. Once I have the scholarship in my grasp, I won’t be letting it go. I’m ma keep it my grasp till I graduate.

I won’t the idea go to my head thinking oh I got a full ride now I don’t have to pay through my college life, I can just mess around and lose it just because I didn’t continue working hard for it. Once I work hard to achieving it I can’t just quite from there I got to keep on working hard for it to stay in my grasp until I graduate. Not only am I doing this for myself I’m also doing this for my family, who wouldn’t have been able to afford for me to attend college and who also didn’t get the chance to attend college itself.

Personal Statement #1

College is a scary thing. It’s even scarier when you start out not knowing what to do and you’re walking around campus like a lost cause because you didn’t prepare for the next step ahead in life. I was lucky enough to be able to get into the College Bound Club (CBC). CBC is an organization that helps students succeed in high school and start a road to college. CBC was created to help students who are first in their family to attend college. People just can’t join CBC like any other club. You have to apply, be committed and work hard to stay in or you can be taken out of the program.

What I like about CBC is everyone has one thing in common; we all want to be the first in the family to go to college. Every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, we have a study group where it is mandatory to go on those days at least twice a week. What we do, is that we go in and work on our homework. When I’m stuck on a homework problem and need help, I go ask one of my fellow members and ask for help and vice versa. Everyone works together to help one another reaching that goal of becoming the first to attend to college.

Once a month, we attend a Saturday meeting where we talk about ACT prep, talk to college students, go on college visits, and prepare for the transition into college. One of the Saturdays, I liked the most is when we got to talk to the college students and got to ask many questions about what college was like, get handy tips to survive college, and do’s and don’ts while in college.

CBC not only helps me with my studies and gets me prepared for college, they also help me communicate and interact with other CBC members. It helps me network and make many new friends who share the same go goal as I do. Now that I’m almost finished with high school my fellow seniors and I have to set good examples to our other CBC members and show them that we worked hard to achieve the grades and are prepared for college and won’t be scared when that transition comes. When they see how easy it was for me and everyone who took that first step to college who was in CBC they won’t be as scared as they were once it’s their turn like how I was. Now I’m ready to face that transition with my head held high.

My First Week as a College Student

Imagining a rocky road ahead, I survived the first week of college smoothly than expect. Expecting a difficult teacher, non-stop lecturing,100+ classmates, and tough class work, I arrived, nervous, on my first day of class asking myself "Can I make through this college course?" I arrived to my college speech class (A course based on small groups communication, sophomore level class) taught by Professor Toller. The first day went by easier then I thought it would be. The professor was nice and approachable, the class room was smaller then what I expected a college class would have, with only 24 colleagues, and had a PowerPoint up for lectures.

Reading 30-40 pages for homework was almost a daily thing. The next day was almost always a quiz over the material we read.. The quizzes weren’t hard if we read the, but it was hard to stay focused on the book when the chapters were really long and sometimes got dull. The quizzes were only 10 question; 5 multiple choices and 5 true or false. The quizzes were given twice, one taken alone, and one as a small group. The grade I received would be the better score of either as a groups or alone. Working as a group greatly helps. because we are able to pool our knowledge together and answer the questions easily.

What also helped me get through my classes is the study groups. It helps knowing I can get some help on my speech class when I need it. During our study group when we review for the quiz by assigning a person or two to a section and having them teach it to the group. We sometimes even read our reading assignment that was assigned as homework together. Reading together makes it easier for me to follow along and it goes by faster then it does when I’m reading the assignment at home. When we read together as a group it takes us about an hour and 30 minutes, while it takes me over 3 to 4 hours to read because I can get distracted so easily.

I’m glad I got a chance to participate in this experience to go through what college life is like. When I start college as my freshman year I won’t be as nervous and will have more confidence in myself as in get into class.. If I wasn’t able to participate in this and was not given a chance to experience this college life early, I could image myself being a nervous train wreck, not knowing what to do and where to get to class. This summer scholars has helped me get an early view on college and prepare me for what’s to come in the future. It has helped me know the campus so much better so when if I were to choose UNO as my college, I would be able to maneuver around campus.

Life at the Dorms :]

The week stay at Scott Residence Hall was a great way to start off the UNO summer scholars program. I was able to meet many new friends and bond with them before summer class started. It’s a great way to start meeting your friends early so when you get to class you won’t feel scared not knowing anyone in class. When I first got to Scott Residence Hall I was scared I only knew the people from my school. When I got up to my dorm I met my first roommate in our suite, we shook hand and introduce ourselves to one another. After the introduction we decided to look for our other two roommate that we had yet to met. After meeting my roommates, it was time to get on the bus. We headed out and drove all the way down to Carol Joy Holling in Ashland, NE for some co-op team building. Those two days at the camp was the best day ever. We split into three groups, mine being called “Super Flies." During our trust courses everyone in the group got close and bonded. Going up the High Rope Course, one of three trust-building obstacles, got me scared, but with my teammate cheering and supporting me I made it to the end. An amazing feeling rushed through my body making it to the end with teammate support.

Not only did we do trust-building activities during the week stay at the dorm, but also many activities. After the Scott Hall everyone went outside and played some outdoor activity, played some volleyball, basketball, Frisbee throwing, water balloon fight, and much more. With all the activities I did I was able to meet all the summer scholar students and made some sort connection with them. We all hung out during breakfast, lunch and dinner together and also watched movies/TV in the common room. During times while hanging out with my new friend I was able to meet up with one of my really old friend I haven’t seen since forever and we were able to reconnect with each other.

I’m glad we had the week stay first because I was able to meet all my new friends and was able to find out who I had class with so I would be able to walk with my friends to class and not be as nervous not knowing anyone there. I felt comfortable and made it through my first day of class. I also learn that it’s tempting to put off my homework so I can hang out with my friend but I made it through without doing. So I end up hanging out with my friend while we do homework together and it made things go much faster and I was able to understand what I was reading. Living in the dorm made me think that I should give this a chance then living at home when I start going to college so then I would be able to meet new friends fast and hang out.