rte, 423M, | Finally Mato (Confessions ofa wating student | by Vince Reyes| The Coffeaticious | Medium Open in app Ge Published in The Cotteelicious 06 Vince Reyes Aug 1,2016 . Sminread sve v Of @ | Finally Made It (Confessions of a working student) Ihad been a working student. And to tell you the truth, it’s not as easy as you think. At9 o'clock in the evening, I answer phone calls from American customers of a big C Q hitps:medism conte coffe cioul-nallp rade i 8664650b6de 18arta, 423M. | Firally Mato (Confessions ofa wating student | by Vince Reyes| The Coffeaticious | Medium Open in app Iwish I could sleep after my 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. night shift, but I can’t. Because I have to go to school to attend my classes. If you're an average person like me, you'll have a hard time understanding concepts in Advanced Mathematics and equations in Signal Processing even if you had full ten hours of sleep, let alone no sleep at all. The suffering goes on until 5 o'clock in the afternoon when my last class ends. Iwish I could sleep after my 7 a.m. to 5 p.m, classes in school, but I can’t. You can’t just sleep if you have to gather sound level data in front of South Luzon Expressway for your thesis paper. You can’t just sleep if you can’t teleport — it takes time before you get home, especially with the unparalleled traffic in Metro Manila. You can’t just sleep if you live in a poor neighborhood where kids get rowdy exactly when you're trying to sleep! I wish I could sleep for more than two to three hours a day, but I can’t. Because this is the kind of life a working student has, the kind of life I must live if I were to reach my dreams. My life as a working student started with the terrible news that turned my life around. One day I woke up and my parents told me that I won't be able to continue my studies anymore. My heart sank, my knees trembled. hitpssimediar conthe-coffelciou-nalip rade R6E46SObde2, 4:23 PM | Firelly aro (Confessions ofa waring student) | by Vince Reyes| The Coffeaticious | Medium e openinapp ( ) I could not accept it. I don’t have to experience such misery in my life, l angrily told myself. But when it became clear that I really have to stop my studies, everything went dim. I thought of ruining my life completely. I thought of doing drugs. I thought of getting into fights. I thought of. .. killing myself. Iwas on the dark side — stuck. Until my mom woke me up when she said, “If you think of taking your life because of hardships in life then you are a loser.” Pm nota loser. I’m nota quitter. I’m not giving up that easy either. So after months of emotional struggle, I realized that I simply have another problem to solve. Immediately after that realization, I picked up where I left off and was again back on track. “If you think of taking your life because of hardships in life then you are a loser.” —Mom With a clearer perspective, I was able to come up with a two-part action plan. One, apply for a scholarship. Two, look for a job and save money for my tuition fee and allowance. There’s no assurance that my scholarship application will get approved. Besides, my parents can’t provide me allowance and money for the things that I will be needing in college if I ever get back. One thing was clear: I still needed a job. So after submitting my scholarship application I went ahead and looked for one. hitpssimediam conthe-coffelciol-nallp rade R6E46SObde 38arta, 423M. | Firally Mato (Confessions ofa wating student) | by Vince Reyes| The Coffeticious | Medium e openinapp ( ) amazing how when you commit yourself into solving your problems, solutions just knock on your door. One morning, I received a text message from Sir Yong, the program head of Computer Engineering in my school. He said that he needs to talk to me. I have no idea what it was about because I was out of school during that time. I got curious so I went to school to meet him. I can’t believe what he told me. Iwas granted a full scholarship care of the President of our school. It didn’t sink in immediately. I was waiting for somebody to pinch me and tell me I was dreaming. But nobody did. It was real. hitpssimediar conthe-coffelciou-nalip rade R6E46SObde| Finally Mato (Confessions ofa wating student) | by Vince Reyes| The Coffeticious | Medium Open in app hitpssimediam conthe-coffecioul-naliy rade A6G46S0b6de2, 4:23 PM | Firally Mato (Confessions ofa wating student) | by Vince Reyes| The Coffeticious | Medium Open in app Itwas a dream come true. It wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Sir Yong. For him, and the other professors who helped me, | will forever be thankful. And in no time I was back again at school. 3 years later and here I am, almost at the finish line. I’m happy to tell you that two months from now, I'll be graduating from college with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering, If I allowed myself to give up when I was struggling back then, I wouldn’t have made it this far. My experience as a working student really pushed me to the limits, physically and emotionally, But I don’t regret any of it. My experiences made me tougher, stronger, and one-hundred percent better than the person I was. You see, if you really want something, you don’t stop chasing it no matter what. YOU DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO REACH YOUR DREAMS. Someday you'll thank yourself for not stopping and for not giving up. Last stretch, last two months. You have no idea how excited I am to share to the world my graduation photo with the caption, “T finally made it.” hitpsimediam conthe- coffe cioi-nalip rade 8664650b6de ee2, 4:23 PM | Firally Mato (Confessions ofa wating student) | by Vince Reyes| The Coffeticious | Medium e openinape ((Seistree ) —p hitpssimedism conte coffe ciel rade A6E46S0b6de 782, 4:23 PM | Firally Mato (Confessions ofa wating student) | by Vince Reyes| The Coffeaticious | Medium e openinapp ( ) Home to some of the best stories on medium, Look around, relax and enjoy one with asipof coffee Contre romiecatson) rat Google Play hitpssimediam conthe-coffelciol-nally rade A6G465Ob6de ae