Motivation For Education

Written by TJ Larsen

October 8, 1998

          After graduating from Triton Regional High School I went on to Endicott College in Beverly only to have the worst academic experience of my life. In high school I was in virtually all high honor classes and was a fairly good student, but I let my grades fall after I was accepted to Endicott. After a summer of celebration and relief from high school pressures I entered Endicott in the fall of 1997 as a graphic design major and lived on campus in a co-ed dorm building. However, I got off to a bad start.  I am now in Northern Essex Community College a year later in order to prove myself academically so that I can return to Endicott.

            I wanted to be an artist my whole life.  In my early elementary school years, my teachers recognized that I was artistically inclined.  I actually enjoyed the projects assigned in art class and always put in the extra effort that seemed to come naturally to me.  I designed the covers for my elementary school’s handbook, my junior high school’s yearbook, several senior high sports’ programs, and even faculty Christmas cards.  In high school when my art was published three times in one issue of the Boston Globe Magazine about suburban and rural youth called “In Our Own Words 2”, I was confident enough that I could further my education as a graphic design major.  I showed interest in Endicott College, and my guidance counselor assured me that I would be accepted if I applied there.  The staff at the Yale Daily News warn us that even though some guidance counselors may be quick to recommend or approve some schools it is wise to do plenty of research so you can make your own decision.  I chose Endicott College after several visits to the campus.

I found the hardest application requirement to be two written essays.  I knew these essays would be a major part of the admission process, and I was afraid to be rejected because of poor writing. Theodore O’Neil, an admission director, wrote about the importance of the college essay.  He notes that not requiring this admission technique would relieve students of a great deal of struggle.  Then he states that colleges need to be able “to judge the whole person, and in order to do that, [they need] to hear a voice that resonates with the human qualities of the academically qualified applicant” (223).  I spent many days and nights preparing my essays for Endicott.  When I was finished with them I felt I had presented myself especially well with the help of my S.A.T. scores and grade point average.

Living on campus played a large role in my failure at Endicott College.  There were more unnecessary fire alarm pulls, broken windows, destroyed and stolen furniture, and drug and alcohol induced disturbances to qualify my dorm to be the worst co-ed dorm Endicott has ever had in its five years of being a co-ed school.  I had a horrible work environment in my dorm and I did not take advantage of other study locations to prepare for my class assignments.  The third floor, which I happened to lived on, was a jungle.  The stairwell entrances all had signs that said, “Welcome to the jungle,” in computer print, and someone always kept the Guns ‘N Roses theme song blasting from his room during normal class hours.  I was distracted enough so that I failed to complete four of the five courses I was enrolled in.  I did not take the work load seriously enough to keep up with assignments, requirements and deadlines.  In addition to not meeting academic standards, I, myself, acquired enough residential violations to qualify me to be kicked out of my dorm building.  I was found in possession of alcohol by my resident director on more than one occasion, had a tendency to violate quiet hour regulations, and withheld information regarding marijuana offenses in order to protect a few of my peers.  I was also caught hosting a non-student who was restricted from campus grounds in my dorm room before most of the other violations even occurred.  I was clearly on the institutions and faculty’s bad side from the beginning.  In light of the situation, I made the decision to take the second semester off from college to work full time and clear my head.  I planned to return to Endicott in the Fall semester of 1998 to begin again.  The school accepted my leave of absence and I moved back into my home in Rowley. 

My time off from Endicott was well spent, and in my opinion, much needed.  I landed a

full time job in the Newburyport Industrial Park and adjusted to a schedule of working five days a

week without any homework assignments over the weekends.  My advisors told me that if I had not requested a leave of absence as an “at risk student”, I would have been expelled from the college.  Taking into consideration that I expressed interest in returning to Endicott with intentions of improving my academic performance, they decided to allow me to do so under the conditions that an “at risk student” must agree to.  Endicott requires proof that I am serious about improving my grades and therefore required me to complete two academic courses with a 3.0 grade average or better during summer school.  The problem with this was that I had no time to enroll and attend a summer school class at such short notice while I was working full time.  I also had no interest in taking classes over the summer.  I had a serious decision to make, and I did not want to end my education with only a high school diploma.  There has been a rising number of 25- to 29-year-olds completing college throughout the years.   Graduation from a four-year college has “become increasingly associated with economic status and success…” (Boston Globe, A9).  I knew working in the Industrial Park for the rest of my life would be like throwing away a perfectly good opportunity to educate myself for a higher paying job in the future.  The compromise agreed upon is that I could sign up for two credit courses anywhere I chose in the fall and return to Endicott in the spring if my academic performance is adequate.

I now had to look at community colleges to fulfill my requirements at Endicott.  I placed requests over the phone for catalogs of credit courses  from Northern Essex and North Shore Community Colleges.  When they arrived in the mail, I chose NECC because I found the catalog straight forward and the layout easier to understand compared to North Shore’s.  I was able to locate the classes I needed quickly and found the course descriptions that corresponded without any confusion.  It is important to know what exactly you what to get out of a college curriculum.  After establishing “your personal criteria, your investigation should be active and should include a campus visit where possible” (Shain, 214).  Northern Essex, being located in Haverhill, made little influence on my decision to choose the college.  This time I did not need to write any essays to be accepted.  I visited NECC for the first time, one day before my classes started, in order to purchase books.  Honestly I can say I am not interested in how the college perceives itself or the stereotypes I have heard about it.  I just want to put all of my efforts into the classes I have signed up for.  My experience at Endicott, which has led me to NECC, has given me a new desire to be successful in education and it is up to me to turn my learning habits around in order to achieve my goal.