Lamia
Ahmed
Key Learning Experience #1
I remember dreading that day in late August, when I was to go to my high school to receive my O-Level Grades. I had taken the Cambridge International Exams, and my high school required all students to have a minimum of 5 As in order to be accepted back in for the last two remaining years. I had been at this school, Karachi Grammar School, all my life. Since Kindergarten all the way to high school. This place had become my home for the past 13 years and my friends were definitely my family.
So when I was walking up to the sand colored building alongside my mom, I knew there was a chance I would not meet the school requirement. After I completed my examinations in June, I felt I had not done well enough. I felt I may have just done enough to meet the minimum requirement, but I was not confident. I saw my friends with their parents, standing around, talking excitedly as they held the laminated paper that listed their grades. It was evident that they had all done well. I did see other students walking out of the school with their slouched shoulders, which just heightened my nerves even further.
I walked up to the desk with my mom, and the school headmistress handed me my laminated grades. I quickly scanned the paper, and I got a massive pit in my stomach. I had missed the requirement by one ‘A’. My grades weren’t bad; I had gotten 4 As and 5 Bs, but this still meant I would be leaving my school and my friends. I honestly felt like this was a low point in my life, where I had failed to achieve something I had worked and studied so hard for. I admit that I did cut corners here and there, thinking that the work I was doing would be enough. But in the end, that strategy did not work out for me at all.
The next week, students had the chance to meet with the headmistress in the hopes they could make an appeal. I was in line with my father, waiting for the chance to make my case, and hopefully be readmitted into my school.
After a long conversation, the headmistress decided that I could be readmitted. I had just barely made it. This experience, I believe, will remain with me for the rest of my life. It had such a big impact on me, just because I knew I had not done enough; because I knew that I had cut corners, that I had missed school because I was too sleepy to wake up. All those decisions, my often careless attitude, I knew would not help me at all. If I wanted something, I knew I had to work hard and give a 100%. At the time, I felt like I aimed to get an 89.5% because I felt like that was what I needed to get the grade. I believed that I could achieve my goals without giving my 100 percent.
This experience has had a lasting impact on me. Even today, while I was completing my Blinn Team program, I found myself falling back into my more careless attitude, where I thought everything would work out in the end. I found myself on academic probation in my first semester, and this just reminded me of my past experience, which is why I switched gears and aimed to work harder. I had to face the reality that I was in college, and if didn’t give it my all, I would fall behind immediately.