Belonging

College is a huge step for everyone. Going to college makes you better at something and helps you get closer to your dream job, whatever it might be. I believe that to belong in college you must have certain traits, all ones that are the basics needed for common success. You need to be a hard worker, be honest, resourceful. Those are only three traits of so many that are needed when attending college.
I think that I have many of the traits needed to be in college, including the ones that I listed. I belong in college because I need it in order to be successful in a career. I am a thinker and a writer. I come from an ethnic group where very few of us go to college (but what else is new, right?). For anyone from any non-white background to get into college and succeed is great. Looking around at the other Native Americans in my community, you see a lot of people who are poor, have no ambitions, are drunk, or possibly a combination of all three. Sometimes it can be upsetting to see the people you are a part of exist in such a sorry state. However, to rise above the challenges set in a place like this means something.
I’m not saying that Native-Americans face the worst hardships of any ethnic group, but what I’m saying is that it is hard for people to be successful and for kids to have that drive to want to be someone important one day. Growing up I saw a lot of fights, kids swearing and everyone, including me, was getting into trouble. My parents saw what was happening to me and took me out of school and placed me in a different one. At this new school I was alone, at least at first. The kids there were different. They didn’t really fight, no arguments with the teachers, hardly anything that happened before.
This new school was the by far the biggest challenge I had ever faced before. Everything was different, and I had to understand a new way of school life. For the first month at the school, I was the loner. I spent my time doing nothing at school and all my grades dropped. I barely passed the 5th grade because of this. But after a while I looked at myself and realized that what I was doing wasn’t helping me at all. All I was doing was making life harder for me. So I talked more, joined the football team, and made a bunch of new friends. And each year I spent at the new school, I made more friends. I don’t really play football for my high school now, but the friendships I established years ago still remain strong today. And it was because I evaluated my situation 6 years ago and adapted to make life better for me and the people around me that I was able to be successful in and out of school.
The transition from the school on the reservation to a predominately white school was tough. I wasn’t used to being in a school not filled with Native American students. I had to adjust to my new life, and by making well thought out decisions, was able to succeed. I think that it is this example of myself that I believe I can survive in college. I can think, write, work hard, be honest, and make decisions I know will benefit me the most. Every college student needs to be able to do that. I can.