The cost of education is great, but the rewards are so much greater.
Throughout my life, the only person I’ve ever sought approval from has been my mom. The irony of that is my mom is the only person that doesn’t put pressure on me by telling me how I should live my life.
All she’s ever wanted from me is an honest day’s work.
My mother and her family are immigrants from what used to be Yugoslavia. When my mother was little, she and her family got a sponsor and immigrated to the United States.
For years my mother’s family lived in an apartment building that had only one washer and dryer for more than 100 people. My grandpa worked in the Pennsylvania coal mines and my grandma worked in a bakery. They were too poor to afford a car so they had to walk more than five miles to work everyday. But, from what my mother told me, they never complained.
After what they had been through, that was easy for them.
At the time they fled Yugoslavia, the Axis Powers had invaded the country and the Croatians were in the midst of exterminating the Serbs through genocide.
They were poor, discriminated against and scared for their lives. But they worked hard and made better lives for themselves and their children.
And I almost screwed it all up.
I dropped out of high school my senior year and started participating in activities that could have landed me in a lot of trouble. But even through all my struggles, my mother stuck by my side because she knows first hand how tough life can be. Instead of pouring salt in my wound, she told me how proud she was of me. She told me that I had a good heart and said she was happy that I was able to hold a job, even if it was just for minimum wage at Wendy’s.
My mom believed in me so much that I couldn’t just settle for Wendy’s. That was just not a good enough reflection of what an outstanding mother she is.
So four years ago I enrolled at Sinclair Community College and got my life back together, but it wasn’t easy. I spent a lot of hours in the Academic Resource Center and even more time in the Math Lab. My classes at Sinclair pushed me to become a better student, a better person and most importantly, a better son.
So in two weeks when I leave Sinclair with my associate’s degree, it won’t just be for me. That degree and everything else I’ve accomplished at Sinclair will be for my mom, my grandparents, my father and everyone else who sacrificed so much to make my life better than their own.
The cost of books for my fours years at Sinclair: approximately $1,500. The cost of all my classes for my four years at Sinclair: approximately $6,000.
Completing what my family has worked so hard for me to get: priceless!