Jamie Berry
September 13, 2009
Honors English 11

Prompt: Describe and obstacle or challenge facing you, your family, school, or community. What have you or do to address this challenge? How does Colorado State University fit into your plan?


Where I come from is a small rural area, were a college education is very important if you want to make a good living. I am considering going down this path having a good education and an amazing job that I absolutely love. My parents weren’t so fortunate to have an opportunity like this. My dad is from Turlock, California but dropped out of school during his senior year to drive truck and move out on his own. When he came to Colorado he meet my mom fell in love got married and had a family and started his living working for a farm. Now we own a garage door business that doesn’t do bad but don’t make a lot, he also helps my relatives with their farm. My mom on the other hand, graduated from Alamosa High School and got married to my dad right after and has been working for City Market since she was 21. When I was in Junior High she recently went back to college at Trinidad State Junior College in Alamosa, she graduated in 2005 with her Associate’s degree in Business but continues to work at City Market. As you can see my parents chose not to take this path of going to college and getting out of this small little place in which we live. Jamie on the other hand, is currently a junior at Sangre de Cristo high school I can be very smart if I push myself. Pushing myself these last two years is one of my goals I’m enrolled in a lot of courses such as Honors English 11, FFA, Cheer, Prom Committee, Basketball and Track. After high school I plan on attending college, one of the challenges I am faced with though is we don’t have a lot of money and college can be very expensive. Something I am taking in consideration is getting a good education so my kids can have a good life and won’t have to worry about college expenses like me. Knowing college is very hard and time consuming pushes me to do my best and keep a level head and not to get caught up in the ways of the world. Colorado State University can offer a lot and will fit into my plan expectedly.

My long life goal has always been to do well in my life and give my family and me a better way of life then that I had. The lifestyle I live isn’t bad but not great we get by and do good but I want to strive to make a difference in my life. Life for me has had a lot of ups and a lot of downs but no matter what I always kept my head high and make the best out of every situation with a smile on my face. The first time I realized that this would be a goal for me was when I started realizing my parent struggle financially sometimes I knew it was hard for them to make it and as a kid it was hard for me not to ask for the things I really wanted because I knew we could use that money for something we really need. Now days it gets harder and harder to sustain a living in this economy, as of right now we’re an a recession and money gets more and more scarce with that bills get more harder to pay every month, something I see that hurts my parents in the pockets. Seeing this makes me want to make a difference for me and get a job that I will love for the rest of my life.

In the future I plan to go to college I really want to go to CSU, visiting CSU in the past helped me to make the decision that some day I wanted to go to this school. Coming from a small place i would really like to get out of. CSU is located in Fort Collins which seems like a pretty well mannered place and not a small town or a really big city. I’ve heard and researched a lot about campus life and about the classes and education, from what I heard I think it would be a great place to live and an experience I would never forget. My plan is to major in Biomedical and get my LPN, I haven’t really got to hear too much about the Nursing program but what I have heard isn’t bad. Some weakness I have is I don’t like to study and kind of butt heads with the books when it comes down to study, but as stated above if I push myself to do excellent then it will come for me you just have to work for it if you really want it, which I plan to do. Along with not liking to study there is times when I can get distracted very easily, overcoming this shouldn’t be a problem as long as I keep a level head and keep my goals in sight, I’ve done it before so this shouldn’t be a problem. I have been through a lot so it just makes me that much determined and focused to do well in college and succeed in life. Now that you know a little about me and my future plans I can assure you that I will stick to my word and do everything talked about in this essay. CSU would be an awesome opportunity with a great environment and would be an honor to be a student.