As a kid, my parents always told me to strive for greatness and push myself to the best of my abilities. However, as a high school student, my parents’ advice would fall on deaf ears at times.  High school can be a difficult time and succeeding in school is not always viewed as a cool thing to do. I went to three different high schools and each high school had a different dynamic on how they viewed successful students. A student that studied hard and excelled in school was not always celebrated. The key to being successful in a school like that is to maintain your academic level and find the friends who accept you for who you are rather than changing your personality to fit in.

 For students looking to pursue higher education, the benefits of trying your hardest are very simple:

• By putting in more effort and more time into an activity than you believe is necessary, you will achieve more than you think
• By learning about new things, you can find different interests and find a potential career path
• By applying this to activities outside of school, you can make lifelong friends who can help you grow in that activity and more importantly as a person

If college is not right for you, think about how a good work ethic and personality can influence an employer. A candidate can be an extremely smart person, but if they do not have a good work ethic or cannot cooperate with others then a company would not hire them. I push myself to learn as much as possible, but I also push myself to get to know my teachers, coaches, and coworkers. Surrounding myself with different people will help me be the best version of myself.

As a college student, my parents’ advice has yet to change. They do not care what activity I am participating in, but they always encourage me to try my hardest. I do not know what career path I am on or what my end goal is, but I do know that my parents’ advice will always stick with me and guide me.