Jada Abraham is a tenacious 17-year-old college student at Georgia state university. She had a rather difficult childhood, at an early age acquired A.L.L cancer. Beating this disease at such a young age lit a fire under her. Jada’s mother learned through this experience that Jada needed to be strong throughout the rest of her life and started teaching her where real strength comes from. Strength comes from accountability and being responsible for your actions while simultaneously showing respect for others. Jada as far back as she can remember has been raised to be honest, responsible, and professional in any and all public settings. These core values have greatly extended over to her academic self. Growing up through middle school and high school she had always tried her best to exhibit her best manners and to be the utmost respectable to her teachers and peers. Jada was known in school for being cordial to her fellow students while also prioritizing her academic goals and the rules and regulations given by the teachers. It was engrained into her by her mother that no matter what is happening in the environment around you it is always your full responsibility to learn what you need to and do the work you need to do as well. 

Because of the fact that she established these core values very early in her life, transitions from each grade and academic settings were always a very easy process. From middle school to high school, and from high school to college it never really mattered. She was always shown the same respect and honesty. The only problem that has plagued her throughout this time was her procrastination. It never ended up affecting her grades very much, however it heavily affected her mentally. She was always stressed about due dates and the workload that hindered her ability to begin her assignments. It was easier in middle school to subside this stress in earlier academic settings but as the years went on it became a problem she was forced to confront. This stress reached its pinnacle as soon as college started, and Jada needed to make changes. She started with working on her time management skills, always keeping a planner on hand and keeping alarms on her phone. She realized that much like Ronnie Estoque in his article, “I’m one of the first in my family to attend college Here’s how I got there”, She realized that she needed to look into your own story for motivation. Motivation comes from within, and Jada knew that she had the strength. After she gathered this knowledge from within, she started doing even better in class than before. 

Jada’s academic self is more than she behaves in class, it is how she carries herself through life as a lifelong learner. She was born with the strength to handle any task that came her way so learning barely even registers in her head as an obstacle. She will continue to learn everything she desires and will accomplish anything she wants… 

…and Jada believes you should too because at the end of the day you are responsible for your own learning. 

https://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/student-voices-im-the-first-in-my-family-to-attend-colleg…