Have you ever heard the cliche that success comes with hard work? Or generally the phrase that ‘’improvement requires some serious conviction and will’’? I know the second one may sound a little strange and vague, but that summarizes what I had to do to get to where I am at today, not only academically but in life. Let me elaborate more on my academic and social jump from basically the class dummy and a very reserved person to the outgoing and academically exceptional individual that I am today. I can say for one, that it simply was not just run-of-the-mill activities that coincidentally brought me to this standing point.

It took stone cold hard work and a willingness to change. If I never wanted to change, I wouldn’t put myself in a position to be subjected to such dynamics in the first place. For example, I didn’t have to change schools or change the people who I associated with, I could have stayed at my old position and not experienced a single change; however, it was not long before I realized that it not just on the case of whether I wanted to change or not anymore, it was that I needed to change. I always knew that I was intelligent, but I did not ever get enough encouragement or support needed to unleash my intelligence. From the starting of the year (when I transferred schools) to now I knew I had changed greatly and there were many reasons why.

Initially, when I came into my new school, I thought I was going to be okay, the first thought that went through my head was ‘’Ahhh, I don’t really need to prepare, I’m going to show these people what I’m all about’’. However, when it actually came down to it, after cycling around many classes within the first week, I found myself lost on every subject. I barely understood the material that was being taught here and I barely raised my hand to answer questions, that if a teacher would ask, normally I would be able to answer. I was simply confounded by the amount of knowledge my classmates possessed on many levels, I was simply in disbelief when I realized that I was being outperformed tremendously. Coming from a school where academics were not priority in the eyes of the student body, in a somewhat ghetto neighborhood school, I was top dog. I was one who valued my education and I sought any way to display my ‘’great’’ knowledge on lessons imparted during discussions.

Just for some context about where I came from originally: my school, which is also the school I was in from kindergarten through ninth grade was originally called Renaissance Charter school; however, due to a shift in the management of the school and the desire to have the name after the recent senator Hardy Williams, who was supposedly supporting and representing our school, had the school named in his honor. And even when Mastery Charter school converted my school into a Mastery Branch, the name still withheld. Since my school was only an elementary through middle school, It wouldn’t be possible for me to stay for highschool here; yet, however, since my school was taken over by Mastery officially during my year as an eighth grader there has been some significant change. Primarily, a highschool was being added to this combination of middle and elementary school, all in one building. So because of that I decided to do another year since it was my indigenous school and I was use to everything, and also since I was a very acute student (some would call me the teacher’s pet), teachers and even staff strongly encouraged my passing into their move-up and creation of a High school.

I had a lot of confidence going into my freshman year, which seemed like my senior year in the sense that we were in the same building as k-8, so I had a strong feeling of maturity going in and not only realizing that I was just a freshman. What I felt confident about where Is about where stood- I felt as though I was one of the most intelligent and bright of students amongst the entire student body, and most of all I was optimistic that due to Mastery principles and implements, I thought that my classmates and the student body would change. No more people disrupting in-class learning or just creating an overall unhealthy learning environment and teaching environment for both the teachers and classmates.

During my time at Hardy Williams- as experiencing them myself, kindergarten was fine elementary school was okay(though a few bump and grinds); however, when middle school hit, that was when the peer pressure and the distractions came. What worsened it was that the fact that many of my classmates came from morally dilapidated, one parent home families that was centered around ghetto principles. I needed to realize that it was never any of my classmates fault that they came from these types of families and environments because I realized getting older that people were products of their own environment. And as I succeeded into high school, these ghetto principles still surrounded and the more I was around that as a teenager, the more I wanted to dress like a ghetto person, talk like a ghetto person, act like a ghetto person, you name it. I was one to be easily convinced by others.

Things people noticed about me was that I really wasn’t fixated on all the wrong things, which were good in the eyes of my classmates, and that I was somewhat different. I am an original first generation African immigrant, and I had not grown around the customs of what my fellow classmates at Hardy conformed too; therefore, as an effect I was ousted from group conversations, people did not really admire my company, and I was polarized and often patronized. These effects not only exhort me to develop a bad temper, but It increased my desire to be just like everybody else. Let’s not forget that Human beings are social creatures, we have an innate yearning to be apart of the group or be actively engaged in conversations and social interactions, so I had to do what was necessary to find this sense of social fulfillment. Even if it meant risking my academic life, it was not until halfway through the school year after many oustings, epiphanies, and envy that I realized I could no longer be apart of such a school system.

Ever since I was young I had aspirations to become a doctor, I declared at 13, in 7th grade, that I would become a neurosurgeon against my dearest friend who declared he would become a cardiac surgeon. So we vied to get on the path of those aspirations, not being aware or having knowledge of any of the components that required that profession, so later at 16 I narrowed my choices to just becoming a doctor officially and sacrificing myself and my mind for only that goal, because I believe that god wanted me to become a doctor. Even after much pondering through the years between a computer technician, an artist, and a lawyer, that was what I wanted to do!

So, I realized, if I did not get myself in order or find a way to change my circumstances, I would never reach such an aspiration. So I decided, that the following year I would admit, seemingly only a dream school to me from the description of my dear friend Jovan Lewis, I simply was enamored. I figured, this was the school that would help me achieve my goals, what more could I want? A science school, I loved science, a school with no uniform(not really a significant factor in my desire to be admitted), and most importantly I did not have to be constricted by the Mastery principles which consisted of complete quietness during classwork or lessons with all fixed times for questions and discussions. Because of that, I went out of my way vigorously to be admitted into my new school, even if that meant constantly asking my friend Jovan, who attended questions and viewing the school website several times each day.

I was extremely elated after being accepted that I was yelling in the ear of my acceptance caller(coincidentally who turned out to be Jeremy Spyr). All seemed well, first few days went well, but by the end of my first week, again I realized I did horribly, hardly engaged in class activities and I was socially out of reach(due to being in a school with minimal social interaction). These trends continued and I was bombing many assignments, hardly doing homework, and not doing the necessary things to be a successful student. Coming from Mastery, these things came intuitively to me, though reason being because of my previous school’s standards in comparison to my standards were exceptionally low. But being at an institutions in which the standards and the bar was raised exponentially, I felt it rather difficult for me to climb to the ladder or get on the path of reaching my dream of becoming a doctor.

After much pondering over a stretched period of time and experimentation, I devised a convenient study plan in which allowed me to study extensively and successively, and also I realized I would certainly need to be reading more because these were crucial skills that I was lacking: reading and studying. I knew that my classmates, well ahead of me, possessed these skills and the results shown, so I declared that I would begin reading a total of 3 books per week, with 3 book reports that followed. Soon enough, I began noticing the positive effects of this advent in my life, which evidently changed my experience and life at my new school. I began actively engaging in class discussion, and my vocabulary, verbal fluency and grades automatically increased, in addition I became very studious. That was then truly, I begun to realize that I was not a failure or stupid, and simply that anything in life that requires your best effort takes conviction, desire, and ardor which were conventions that led to my culmination at this point. Undeniably, I unleashed my hidden potential, and if I did it-from what I considered a ‘’dummy’’ to the bright and exceptional individual who I am today, so can you!