In the middle of picture is my father. He is responsible for 50% of my biological development, but has provided so much more to my life than that. During my child development, he taught me everything I needed to know. I am no where near being a "grown up" yet, however I have already realized that the fact that my dad is a first generation college student has affected my life greatly. This influence has had a beneficial impact on my life.
My parents had always seemed lenient compared to other parents especially once I entered into my junior year in high school. Throughout my middle school years and before, academics were always important but never overly stressed. I did fairly well in elementary and middle school but I wasn't excelling. Once I reached high school, I began to put school aside as not a priority. I preoccupied my time with playing soccer almost 24/7. I was known as a soccer kid who didn't really care about school all throughout high school. My parents always pushed me to strive in my academics, but gave me the freedom to choose whether I wanted to or not. I personally enjoyed this method. I had the freedom to do almost whatever I wanted to as long as I wasn't breaking the law. My parents eventually stopped telling me to do my homework altogether once I became a junior in high school.
Now it may seem at the moment that my parents were just absolutely terrible at their jobs and did not care at all. They really did care about my academics, and would be really disappointed when I would get a bad grade, however they always allowed me to make my own choice whether I wanted to be successful myself. There are a couple of lessons that my dad taught me, and it's safe to say that these lessons will be engrained within me for the rest of my life.
Now I never studied consistently in high school. I would pop out an hour or two if I had a test coming up. Consequently, I would never get the grades I wanted. I was always a B student. My dad would always tell me about the practice of studying everyday. Every time single time the name Clavin Roberts and the great example he showed was always told to me. Slowly but surely, I began to follow this pattern that was first set by Calvin Roberts and later followed by my dad. This practice was to study everyday for a certain amount of time, even if you didn't have any homework. I began to manage my time much better. This is probably the most important lesson my dad has ever taught me pertaining to my academics.
It took my father 17 years, but when I was a senior in high school I finally realized how important academics were. While everyone was relaxing senior year, I began to finally take school seriously. Not only did I do my homework for my classes, but I would even do research on my own because I enjoyed it. My senior year I gained an interest in biology and found out that I actually enjoyed learning it.
With me being a very lazy student for 3 of my 4 years in high school, one could imagine my GPA being very low. It was at a shocking 3.0 unweighted. Now I know you are all confused to the uttermost on how I could get accepted to Emory. Well thats where soccer came to the rescue. I was helped heavily through the admissions process due to my soccer abilities. It also helped that my parents had enrolled me in the IB program, which is a rigorous program equivalent and sometimes harder than the AP program. With a decent SAT score as well, I was accepted. This was a jubilant time for me.
It was finally time for college. All summer long I had doubted myself whether or not I would be able to keep up with the rigorous academics of such a prestigious college. However, time after time my dad would reassure me telling me if I studied and kept up with good time management that I would be fine. He was correct. Even with the time consuming schedule of having the soccer season, my first semester of college was no transition at all. I made almost no changes with my study habits. I made sure that everyday I put in a certain amount of studying time no matter what, and it paid off. Because I started off right in college, I am actually doing much better here than I did at my high school GPA wise (a whole point higher!). Any success I have received in college is a product of my father's teachings.
With him being a first generation college student, he realized that academics are truly important. However, he also learned that learning is much more effective when you actually want to do it. In his experience in college, he learned that time management and putting in the hours is key. My dad always tells me that he doesn't care about the grade, but how much effort you put into a class. He truly prepared me for college which will help me for the rest of my life. He is an amazing guy and I thank him whenever I get the chance.
My parents had always seemed lenient compared to other parents especially once I entered into my junior year in high school. Throughout my middle school years and before, academics were always important but never overly stressed. I did fairly well in elementary and middle school but I wasn't excelling. Once I reached high school, I began to put school aside as not a priority. I preoccupied my time with playing soccer almost 24/7. I was known as a soccer kid who didn't really care about school all throughout high school. My parents always pushed me to strive in my academics, but gave me the freedom to choose whether I wanted to or not. I personally enjoyed this method. I had the freedom to do almost whatever I wanted to as long as I wasn't breaking the law. My parents eventually stopped telling me to do my homework altogether once I became a junior in high school.
Now it may seem at the moment that my parents were just absolutely terrible at their jobs and did not care at all. They really did care about my academics, and would be really disappointed when I would get a bad grade, however they always allowed me to make my own choice whether I wanted to be successful myself. There are a couple of lessons that my dad taught me, and it's safe to say that these lessons will be engrained within me for the rest of my life.
Now I never studied consistently in high school. I would pop out an hour or two if I had a test coming up. Consequently, I would never get the grades I wanted. I was always a B student. My dad would always tell me about the practice of studying everyday. Every time single time the name Clavin Roberts and the great example he showed was always told to me. Slowly but surely, I began to follow this pattern that was first set by Calvin Roberts and later followed by my dad. This practice was to study everyday for a certain amount of time, even if you didn't have any homework. I began to manage my time much better. This is probably the most important lesson my dad has ever taught me pertaining to my academics.
It took my father 17 years, but when I was a senior in high school I finally realized how important academics were. While everyone was relaxing senior year, I began to finally take school seriously. Not only did I do my homework for my classes, but I would even do research on my own because I enjoyed it. My senior year I gained an interest in biology and found out that I actually enjoyed learning it.
With me being a very lazy student for 3 of my 4 years in high school, one could imagine my GPA being very low. It was at a shocking 3.0 unweighted. Now I know you are all confused to the uttermost on how I could get accepted to Emory. Well thats where soccer came to the rescue. I was helped heavily through the admissions process due to my soccer abilities. It also helped that my parents had enrolled me in the IB program, which is a rigorous program equivalent and sometimes harder than the AP program. With a decent SAT score as well, I was accepted. This was a jubilant time for me.
It was finally time for college. All summer long I had doubted myself whether or not I would be able to keep up with the rigorous academics of such a prestigious college. However, time after time my dad would reassure me telling me if I studied and kept up with good time management that I would be fine. He was correct. Even with the time consuming schedule of having the soccer season, my first semester of college was no transition at all. I made almost no changes with my study habits. I made sure that everyday I put in a certain amount of studying time no matter what, and it paid off. Because I started off right in college, I am actually doing much better here than I did at my high school GPA wise (a whole point higher!). Any success I have received in college is a product of my father's teachings.
With him being a first generation college student, he realized that academics are truly important. However, he also learned that learning is much more effective when you actually want to do it. In his experience in college, he learned that time management and putting in the hours is key. My dad always tells me that he doesn't care about the grade, but how much effort you put into a class. He truly prepared me for college which will help me for the rest of my life. He is an amazing guy and I thank him whenever I get the chance.