Educators:
Have your eighth graders write a 150-200 word essay explaining why going to college is important for them and how they plan to help themselves on the road to college. Essays selected will be posted on website throughout the year. Send it to options@asu.edu Include student name, school, and home address.
Ana Lujan: My Story
My name is Ana Luján and I am now a junior at ASU. This is my story of how I got to be in college, and maybe this could be your story too. When I was younger, I always knew what high school I would go to. All of my cousins and my sister had gone to Central High, so I knew that's where I would go. My goal was to become a doctor, so during high school I did the best I could to help me prepare for college and stand out during the college admissions process. I participated in JROTC, choir, student government, National Honors Society, varsity club, softball and volleyball. Being a part of these clubs made high school really fun and helped keep me out of trouble. Advanced Placement classes helped me prepare for the challenge of college courses and by my senior year, I completed nine of them. Since I am a native Spanish speaker, I took AP Spanish and got a five on the exam. Those were the easiest college credits I've ever earned! Not to mention it saved me a ton of money. Volunteering at my school and at a local homeless shelter helped me stand out from the crowd and my good GPA sealed the deal and I got into my first-choice school. All of these things also helped me get scholarships to pay for school and slowly I am getting closer and closer to reaching my goals. Getting my degree is going to give me the chance to help my family and it's going to give me a huge advantage as compared to my friends who started working straight out of high school. Going to college isn't something that you should think is for other people. Anyone can go to college; I'm doing it, and so can you.