Juwan Gary

En101
Mr.Owen Neace
8/29/19

Hello,

My name is Juwan Gary. I am a freshman from Columbia, South Carolina and I am here on full

ride scholarship to play on the men’s basketball team. The University Of Alabama has brought

me memories and joy already and I have only been here for four months, and it feels like I made

the right decision for myself and my family because the culture and family atmosphere and I feel

apart of the Roll Tide family. Attending The University Of Alabama was not a school that I

would have thought of to recruit me for basketball and the day I got that offer and took my

unofficial and official visit, no doubt this was going to be my second home for the next four year

of my basketball career and my education. This decision was not a decision I could have made

on my own, I had my family and my coaches walk me through this process and made sure that

Alabama was the school for me. The person I would say that help me more with this decision

then any of my supporters, my mother Elisha Gary. My mother is a hard working, dedicated

black women and I am proud to be called her son because without her I would not be the person I

am today. My support system is very rare because it is hard to find loyalty now in this

generation, but my supporters have always been loyal to me and always had my back through

thick and thin. The times I needed to be pushed and be motivated to strive for greatness I could

always depend on AAU coach, Edward cooke, without I would not be the player I am today and

would not be playing for top division one school, the times I needed word of advice from a man

or knowledge on how to deal with certain situations as a man, I know my dad, Kevin Gary going
to be there to give me that advice or knowledge. My dad and mother met each other in high

school and both were apart of the basketball team, so they are the real reason I got into basketball

because it is in my blood. The last person in my support system is the person that would put a

smile whether your day going good or bad she is going to make you smile and laugh because her

personality brighten up the room and everyone day and that person is my little sister Kassidy.

Kassidy and I are two different people when it comes to downs to doing activities, such she loves

to play the piano, doing ballet, tap dancing, drawing, stuff that includes artistic talent and passion

to do, but whether she is different from me she is still my little sister and I will do anything for

her.

The history of my education has been one bumpy ride from elementary to now. Every

grade level I always had a mentor or teacher to help me with school work and make sure I did

everything I needed to do to get to the next grade level. Elementary to middle school was my

best year in school, as far as making good grades each quarter, getting awards for making all A’s

or A’s and B’s, hearing and seeing how proud my parents were everytime I handed them my

report card card, those were memories I could not forget because those were the best time on

being a kid. When my middle school years ended, I knew high school was not going to be the

same as my elementary and middle school days because everyone used to say, “You are going to

hate high school or “high school school work and teachers are so hard”. From my freshman year

of high school to my senior year I learned a lot from a lot of people and I am glad those people

had the courtesy to help me when I needed it because I made a lot of mistakes and I was not

learning from them until people were keeping it real with me and telling me there is no future

without an education and I did not realize that until it was time to make a decision for college.I
knew I only had one option and that was to get the grades I needed to get so I can be eligible for

college and that is what I did because that statement that was made really clicked in my head and

helped me be successful in the classroom and now I call myself a high school graduate. These

next four years in college are not going to be the best year because I am going to have my bad

days and good days, but I am always going to have that stuck with me through all my years of

school.

It is things I did not focus on in the past that I want to focus on so I not only be a better

person, but a better student also. In the habits of mind on being a freshman I want to be open to

new ideas because new ideas can lead into something that can lead me into success in life and the

other one I want to focus on is, persist. Persist is a word I do not often use, but the definition has

a lot of meaning to it and I am going to try to be persist this year as a freshman because I know

things are going to tend to get harder throughout the time I am here, whether it is basketball or

school, it is going to get, but I am working on not quitting on myself and let defeat define me

because if I quit on myself, I am quitting on everyone that believe in me from day one. When I

am in class my mindset is always going to be different everyday, one day I am going to have the

mindset on just focusing on passing, another day maybe try to become a better writer, just

something that is going to push me so I can come out with this class with a passing grade and

having no regrets on taking it.