Dylan Gurowski

ENG 111

Professor Williams

October 2, 2023

My Academic Adventure.

“The way I see it, if you want to see the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” - (Dolly

Parton). This quote is significant to me because everyone must go through “the rain” which is a

metaphor for bad moments in life but eventually it will get better. And you will see the

“rainbow” which is a metaphor for good times and being happy. This quote relates to my life and

my academic career. I have had good times in life and good grades, but I have also been really

down and borderline failing some of my classes. I think that it is important to not give up when

times are hard and keep your head up because you need to learn to leave your bad past behind so

you can move forward on to a better future.

When I first started school, I always had really good grades, I would get all A’s, but this

ended when I got to the 5th grade. In the 5th grade, my math teacher was bad and did not like

me. She obviously picked favorites in her classes, and I was not one of them. This made me do

really badly in her class along with some of my friends as well. This was the first year I got

below a B in a class, and I was really upset. However, it only got worse the next year. In the 6th

grade my math teacher again was very bad. Instead of picking favorites this teacher just seemed

to not like anyone and it seemed like she got the job just to yell at kids. She taught us poorly by

giving examples of questions that were way easier than the actual content on the assignments.

She would also yell at us when we did not know how to do it. I am fine with a strict teacher but

whenever there is a rude or disrespectful teacher I cannot learn well. It really makes me dread

going to their class. This is one of the reasons I performed so poorly in her class and ended up
with a D. I did have some bad teachers, but I also had some good teachers. In the 6th grade I had

some good teachers that helped me through the year such as my science teacher Mrs. Byars and

my English teacher Mrs. Amos, these teachers were really great and helped me make it through

the year which was very stressful. These teachers seemed like they cared about me and wanted

me to succeed. This motivated me a lot, and I actually enjoyed being in their class.

By the time I got to 7th grade my grades were good again and I was getting A’s and high

B’s however when coronavirus came around this was terrible for me. I ended 7th grade with

good grades and was confident but the next year in the 8th grade my grades were the lowest they

have ever been. I was failing multiple classes because I was not mature enough yet to keep up

with all my online work and join on the zoom calls. I also did not learn well on zoom calls, and I

much prefer to either do my own research about and read about it or be taught in person about it.

I failed 2 classes in the 8th grade but somehow, I passed and successfully made it into high

school. This is when my grades started to turn around and I began to do better. In my freshman

year I started getting good grades again and was getting A’s and Bs once again. This was thanks

to my teachers who were great such as Mr. Lungarini, Ms. Yang, and Mrs. Howard. I also started

to make more friends in my freshman year, and I would finally realize the people who really

were not my friends and people that just made fun of me. This vastly improved my mood and

how sociable I was. Before high school I was always kind of in a shell but once I got into high

school, I started to become more social and felt happier. Since I have been in high school, I have

been getting good grades. I have slipped up along the way, but everyone has to have problems

along the way. It is the problems we face and how we take them and the way we recover from

them that makes us human.

The next step I hope to take in my academic career is college. I want to go somewhere

close to home like UNC Charlotte because it is only a 30-minute drive and I like the campus. I
also have never lived in Charlotte before so I think that it would be cool to give living in the city

a try. UNC Charlotte is probably going to be the school I attend. My dream college would be NC

State. I want to major in engineering and NC State is an amazing school for engineering. I want

to take engineering because it is such an important job in the world and is always in high

demand. I wish that I did not have to go to college because it is going to be extremely expensive,

and I am a little scared of what it is going to be like. But one thing that I learned from my

academic career is that I should not be scared, and I should just prepare myself as much as

possible instead of being nervous and just worrying about it.

Overall, my academic career has been full of challenges but along the way I have learned

many things that are extremely important not only for my education but for my life as well. Such

as talking to people, making friends, and most importantly feeling comfortable with myself. I

have learned many things in my thirteen years of learning in school, but it is not yet finished. I

am excited to see what is next for me to learn and what my future holds for me. A major thing

that I have learned is to not fear the future and to embrace it. I now look forward to my future

and the future of my academic career going onto college and even after that. I think that your

academic career never ends as long as you keep learning and trying different things in life.