A Teenager’s Wake-Up Call

I knew from an early age that education was important, but there was something I had not yet grasped—the importance of striving to be better than average. In my early years of school, I was an average student. I always passed my classes, but I was not driven to exceed my tendency to be an average student. I did not try to improve my learning skills. I felt it was all right to be average, and I was happy to just pass my classes and move on.

I realized that my parents cared a lot. Every parent-teacher conference would end with my mom or dad telling me about the importance of being more than average. This attitude changed when I entered middle school. I had a great relationship with my teachers, and I slowly started to take my parents’ advice seriously. My relationship with education went from “I am doing this because I am supposed to, and I will get in trouble if I do not” to “I am doing this because I want to be successful. I want to be proud of my work.” I stopped relying on my mom to light a fire under my feet to keep me motivated. Instead, I began lighting the fire myself. My hard work did not go unnoticed. I was consistently on the principal’s Honor List, drafted into the National Junior Honor Society, and received an NAACP award.

It made me feel great. In high school, I have validated myself academically through God and the teaching of my parents. I have consistently received distinguishing honors. I have also completed two college courses already. As I became more independent and focused on my education, my parents no longer needed to keep looking over my shoulder and lecturing me about grades. They trusted me and knew that if I had a slipup, I would immediately figure out how to do it better next time. As a senior getting ready for college, I thank God for this wake-up call. I believe I now have two of the most important skills needed to help me through my college experience: self-motivation and self-determination. I will need them to reach my goal of becoming a medical doctor. I thank God that I listened to my parents and received my wake-up call to do better in school before it was too late.

Ricki-Lee Riley