At a very young age, I realized and came to my own conclusion that taking advantage of a good education was the way to succeed in life. To be honest, I never really had anyone pushing me to get the best grades possible or anyone standing over me saying, "a mind or an education is a terrible thing to waste". Don't get me wrong, my mother supported me in everything that I aspired to do. But she never really forced me or pushed me to choose the career path or do the things in life that she wanted me to do. She just told me to do my best and she let me find my own way to success. By my mom stepping aside so I could lay the foundation for my own future, this made me the independent and focused woman that I am today.

Believe it or not, by the time I started fifth grade I knew I had a gift. The gift to understand that education was one of the most important aspects of a persons life. Around this time, kids are complaining about going to school and they really don't understand the importance of an education. However, I realized that it was up to me to take control and lead myself to the best education possible. From this point and the rest of the way through grade school I applied myself to every school subject that was offered to me. I not only wanted to make my mom proud of me by getting good grades and making the honor roll, I also wanted to prove to myself that all of the things that I was missing out on by studying and applying myself to my school work was worth it. I came to the conclusion that, what I was doing was definitely worth it because I was gaining a lot more than I was missing out on.

You can almost say that I taught myself the real meaning of a good education. I always had aunt, uncles, teachers and other important people throughout my life stressing to me that getting an education was the way to go in life. But I had already come to this revelation early on in my life. I saw how people who didn't have an extensive education lived compared to people who did have an extensive education. Not only do you get the most out of life and get to see life for all its worth you also have the added feeling of accomplishment.

- Kimberly Howard, American University