Jason SerranoCollege Essay 1 1

Jason Serrano College Essay I am just your average teenager from Paterson New Jersey trying to make a better living for my family. Growing up in Paterson, I experienced things I should not have experienced, from deaths, drug dealing, to gang violence in my neighborhood. I come from a very big family where college was optional. But for me, I made sure to make it a priority. I come from your typical Dominican family. My parents migrated to this country in 1993 with nothing to their name. Two years later I was born. The sacrifices they made to provide a better living for me were enormous. I know the only way I can make them proud and paying them back is by being successful in my studies. It took the support of my family get here where I am right now in my life. As I was growing up I would always try to break free, from all the violence going on around my neighborhood. After graduating elementary school, I saw the world entirely differently. Entering my sophomore year in high school I began to get caught up with the kids outside of my school. My grandmother came from Dominican Republic in 2010. She was my back bone for my motivation. The relationship I had with her was unbreakable. In 2012 all that was taken away from me when she passed away. I was so devastated that I thought my world ended I was in disbelief. The world took a pause until I took it all in. I was in such pain that all I wanted to do was hurt everyone else around me. I felt empty. A black cloud was over me that day and for the rest of the year. I decided to stop attending school. I found no reason to keep going on in life anymore. This was the worst low imaginable; now I needed time to figure myself out without my grandma. The day she was taken I asked God, “Why couldn’t he have taken me too?” I couldn’t picture life without her anymore. I felt like I had no reason to live anymore. I tried seeking counseling to help me handle grief, but nothing was helping. I stopped attending school, and if I did I would cut my classes. I felt as if my grandmother was my only motivation to continue succeeding. After her passing I didn’t care about who I had to make proud, not even my parents. I had been doing it all for her. As a result my grades began to descend. I was completely dumbfounded the day my counselor told me that I would not graduate if I continued. It was time for me to get back on track. I had been trying to achieve to make my grandmother proud. Every little test score, quiz I scored high on was all for her. As the year went on, I pondered and pondered and I remember my mom telling me, “I am so proud of you”. Months began to pass so did the dark clouds above my head. As I finally accepted my grandmother’s death, I began my junior year with positivity and motivation. No- one knew what a rough year I had been through and it’s a story so central to my identity. Now, I began to succeed in my studies and become as knowledgeable as I could be in order to be successful, I developed leadership skills this year, I joined the track team and in order for me to continue being on the team I had to maintained a “C” average. That made my GPA a little bit higher. I also got involved with joining the student government and became the class vice president. My grades added up to a “B” average by the end of my junior year. I made the honor roll, and proved to myself and others that there is time and room for change. I surrounded myself with a group of kids who were dedicated to their studies, and were motivated. Not only my parents were proud of me, I was proud of myself. As a result of my rocky rollercoaster beginning, I now feel mature enough to finally make my own decisions and the decisions to better myself and change is the best one yet. Furthering my education to study criminal justice is a goal I plan to pursue. Going to college will not only make me and my parents proud, it would also make my grandmother proud. I know I would not have made it this far without her watching over me. These challenges made me the young adolescent I am today. The obstacles I faced were challenging and without a doubt I know I will work to the best of my ability and succeed during the next four years.