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THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
GAME DAY
Page 6B
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2007
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 118 ISSUE 50
The hand that feeds you
NO EASY WAY OUT
A LITTLE PUSH FROM SOMEONE YOU ADMIRE CAN ENERGIZE YOUR ENTHUSIASM AND SPARK A CAREER
10. 25.2007 = JAYPLAY
My parents always stressed to me the importance of education. From the start, I made school a challenge; I could not shut up. I always had something to say, whether it was pertinent to material or not. My mouth was a machine gun firing words at an unruly rate. During those years it was normal for my parents to get two or three calls a week from my school saying I had spent the majority of the day in time-out because I talked too much.
My middle school years were a bit better and I got into less trouble. I thought in high school I would keep my mouth in check. Until one day I had no reason to want to talk in class. Actually, I had no desire to even be in class.
Midway through the first semester of my freshman year of high school, the excitement I'd felt since kindergarten disappeared. I felt like a prisoner adhering to a strict regimen that sought to end my creativity. That year was abysmal; I didn't want to be there and my grades reflected it. I failed two classes my first semester and one in the second semester. I despised school, hated my teachers and loathed the "learning" environment the school sought to create. I wanted to quit. I wanted something different—I wanted a job. I didn't see a point in education. I was old enough to work and I wanted to work. I saw education as an interference with a crucial part of American economy—money. If I could dedicate the eight hours I spent in school to work I would have money and I could help my parents immediately with finances. I knew my parents had not completed high school in El Salvador and yet they were successful. They owned their own home and drove two nice cars. Why couldn't I do it?
ILLUSTRATION BY CATHERINE COQUILLETTT1
When I was 17 my family went to El Salvador on vacation. This was my fourth trip, but the first I was old enough to remember. I was able to see with my own eyes what my parents had escaped. I remember walking around the capital city of San Salvador, seeing kids half my age, covered in dirt and grime and wearing clothes that were either too small or had more holes than actual fabric. These kids worked
for spare change, old clothes;
whatever anyone was willing to
give them.
When I got back home,I had
a new appreciation for what my parents had done for me by leaving El Salvador; I rededicated myself during my last two years of high school; I developed an interest in journalism and decided to pursue it in college. During
Daniel Reyes
During my first two years of
enough to be on my own yet.
She was right. Here I met one of the most influential people of my life. She helped me realize
college, I attended Garden City Community College because my mom thought I wasn't mature
could do more, and was there when my ass needed kicking.
Laura York was the student media adviser, and after a semester in her media class, she offered me scholarship for books and tuition to write for the campus magazine.
Breakaway. It was a blessing that I nearly turned into a disaster. Laura and I clashed
over my attitude. Eventually, we had a make-or-break fight. I was grossly behind in an online class and had to catch up on six weeks of work in two weeks. That morning we had a breaking news story, and I didn't volunteer to take it. Laura was furious. She said any journalist would jump at this opportunity, and I hadn't. I stood there in the middle of the classroom, stunned and wounded. I wanted to quit, and I nearly did, but then reason caught hold of me. Laura had stated a plain truth. She expected more from me because of my experience. I didn't quit. I returned the next semester, and a year later I got my associate's
degree and applied to the University of Kansas at the urging of my parents.
When received the acceptance letter, I could not believe it. I was going to do something with my life. Something my parents had dreamed about. Since that trip to El Salvador I've done many things I never imagined I would. I was the first in my family to graduate from high school and the first to earn an associate's degree. And now that I'm set to graduate in May, I will be the first in my family to earn a bachelor's degree. After that it'll be time to put what I've learned to use. I hope to write for a magazine like National Geographic or ESPN the
Magazine. At one point things looked bleak for me, but now I can see what I have strived for. I've reached this point in my lifemotivated mostly by both the lesson of my parents and Laura's coaching, which taught me not to take the easy way out. I could have taken the easy way out, stayed in Garden City and gone to work in the beef plant, but my parents and Laura saw something more in me. To quote Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven: "You are not what you were born, but what you have it in yourself to be."
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