In school, things were a little different besides being a year behind all the rest of the students because of my situation, I was always the outsider in my class, whether it was because I did not know English when I started school or just because I was not from the United States. It got to the point that I would lie about being from Mexico just so that I was accepted by my pairs in school and not looked at as an outsider. All through elementary and middle school the self-imposed pressure of doing well in school took me to the point where I was labeled as academically gifted, but in all honestly, I strived to be the best so that I would no longer be the outsider but the smart kid in the class. When I was given the opportunity to join Early College Academy (ECA), I knew that attending a program like ECA would change my life even if it was at the cost of losing most of my friends and no longer playing the sports I liked. To me, joining ECA was a decision like no one else’s, for I knew that getting two years’ worth of college for free was something that I might not be able to get down the
In school, things were a little different besides being a year behind all the rest of the students because of my situation, I was always the outsider in my class, whether it was because I did not know English when I started school or just because I was not from the United States. It got to the point that I would lie about being from Mexico just so that I was accepted by my pairs in school and not looked at as an outsider. All through elementary and middle school the self-imposed pressure of doing well in school took me to the point where I was labeled as academically gifted, but in all honestly, I strived to be the best so that I would no longer be the outsider but the smart kid in the class. When I was given the opportunity to join Early College Academy (ECA), I knew that attending a program like ECA would change my life even if it was at the cost of losing most of my friends and no longer playing the sports I liked. To me, joining ECA was a decision like no one else’s, for I knew that getting two years’ worth of college for free was something that I might not be able to get down the