Reflection by Mila

Reflection by Mila - July 2025 Scholarship Essay

Having graduated High school this year and doing a tone for reflection over the past few years, I would have told myself a lot of things. I think that the most important thing I would have told myself is to take a breath, go day by day. I noticed a lot in my last year of high school I was stressing a lot, it felt like everything was closing in on me. While reflecting I noticed that I did that a lot in my past as well. In my senior year it was more academically but when I was younger it was more socially. I worried constantly about my friends about getting my school work done and letting my parents worry about my brother who, in 1st grade I believe, was going through cancer treatment. I juggled all this myself, rarely asking for help, trying to be strong for them who, although they tried to hide it, I could tell they were going through a lot. I think it hardened me and changed me from the small kid I once knew who would go out to play and ask for help, into someone who stays inside, stays up till 12 getting her work done, and asks for help almost never. I started therapy my senior year as well. I think that although it didn't help me initially over the summer I've been going and learning and taking things in and having a more relaxed space to truly use the advice I'm being given.