Aspirations of a Freshman Undergraduate by Kieara

Aspirations of a Freshman Undergraduate by Kieara - August 2025 Scholarship Essay

I aspire to end up getting a job to pay for my college tuition. This is because I don’t want to rely solely on scholarships and grants. However, the current job crisis would make it hard for me to get one. My college thankfully has ways to help make things easier. Dominican University of California offers the ‘Hand Shake Program.’ This program would help students with internships, resumes, etc. During my high school years, I never had the motivation of getting a job. I had always thought I wasn’t going to attend college. College seemed to be unnecessary for me. To be honest, I had just thought about doing side hustles and continuing living with my parents for the foreseeable future. It is also that I didn’t like how people keep pushing students to pursue college. They made it seem like it was the only way to become successful in our adult lives. However, after some debileration, I had decided to go to college after all during my high school senior year. This is because I wanted to pursue a degree in psychology. Granted, this does put me at a disadvantage considering I have no resume; I did at least forty-hours of community service. But, I want to ease the burden of my parents paying for my college [tuition.] I am not only doing this for myself, but for my entire family as well. After all, I do plan at some point paying for most of my tuition. That’s what motivates me to go after it.
Additionally, one of my other aspirations include joining at least two clubs and participating in club activities. I especially want to join the art club. Ever since I was a young child, I have always loved doing art. It has been my hobby for most of my life. I had originally been a part of my high school’s art club during my junior and senior years. I supported them through club sales day, along with volunteering to help paint the mural in the art department. So I want to continue being a member of an art club. I’m further motivated by the fact that this could help in my endeavors for paying for college. It can also assist me in building connections that I could use later on in my undergraduate years. As in, getting a part-time job or an internship to earn more money. I could become recognized for my art talents and be hired to help in character designs for a company. But most importantly of all, being a part of clubs allows me to be a part of my community. Learning more about the people around me, hearing their stories, and bonding with them. It just makes me feel like I belong.
I plan on becoming a part of a new friend group, which I want to achieve as soon as the school year starts. It would be really beneficial to have a support group during my college years. Although I still connect with some of my old high school friends via discord, it doesn't hurt to have a friend group that actually attends the same college as me. Sure, it can be a bit daunting when making new friends. Especially when you don’t know how to approach them. However, it doesn’t hurt to try. Besides, I can continue building connections as I make new friends. Both for my career endeavors and life in general. Usually I prefer to be alone. But I nonetheless still value the ‘power’ of having friends. Other than helping me when I’m at my lowest, they could also make my first year in college a special one. I don’t want my first year to be depressing and boring. So having a friend group would really keep my spirits up.
My last main aspiration is to simply get better at my handwriting. It’s not that my handwriting isn’t legible; it’s just a bit inconsistent and ugly. Personally, I still feel like my handwriting could improve. Even though I had spent about half a year trying to fix it. I had learned from my economics teacher that part of someone getting a good grade in their [written] essays is because the teacher could easily read it. Now, that doesn’t mean that the content of their essays matters less. It’s just that I’m worried my essays may get graded lower partly due to my handwriting being hard to read. Henceforth, I’m determined to make my handwriting consistent, especially when writing super fast. The last thing that I want is my professor asking me to tell me what writing says in an essay I’d submitted.
I hope that these aspirations of mine are completed before the school year ends. By striving to complete these specific goals, it would make things easier for me in the long run. It could grant me some peace of mind. And who knows, perhaps meeting my aspirations this school year can open the doors to a great start to my sophomore year.