Scholarship Spotlight Spring 2009 - Ohlone College Foundation
Jen Gates
- Abe & Hannah Hochler Scholarship and Ohlone College Foundation Scholarship
“Being a first generation college student, especially a college graduate, means more to me than I can even describe.”
Attending college for me has been a life-long dream. Throughout elementary and high school, I received very high grades. Several semesters I had a GPA of 4.0 or higher, due to advanced classes. After high school I did not go straight into college. I spent a few years working and eventually became a mother. I am now a mother of a 3-year-old boy and a 16-month-old boy and having them reminded me of the necessity to attend college and obtain a career, to better the lives of not only myself, but my children, too. I am the oldest of five children and neither my mother nor my father ever attended college. In fact, my father dropped out of high school in his freshman year. Being a first generation college student, especially a college graduate, means more to me that I can even describe.
I am majoring in sociology and I plan to have a career where I can work with people to try to make their lives better. The first career that I have in mind is doing something to work with the homeless community. I would like to create something wonderful for the people who do not have homes and who go hungry and cold throughout the year. I am not sure exactly what I want to create, but I am hoping that with my college experience I will receive more knowledge of how I can make the lives of homeless individuals and families better. Another career that I have strongly considered is being a parole or probation officer. I have always had an interest in the legal system, and I think it would be helpful for the people who want to make their lives better after going through tough times and spending time in jail, if they had a parole or probation officer who loved their job and who wanted to make a difference in their lives. The final job that I have considered is to become a high school counselor. High school can be a crazy time for many students, as it was for me, and I would like to be a role model in the high school system that the students feel that they can talk to and can come to me for advice or for help during the rough times during high school.
I think being a high school counselor would be the best option for me. Family is my number one priority and having a work schedule that would allow for family-friendly hours and vacation times would be an ultimate accomplishment for me. I can't wait to take my family on vacations and make lasting memories for all of us. Being a high school counselor would be a dream come true.
Being a mother of two, it is sometimes difficult to complete all my homework assignments and to study for tests. I am a full time student and I take going to school very seriously. Even though at times it is difficult, I push through the hard times and I have been able to complete my first semester at Ohlone with a 4.0 GPA. Having this scholarship assists me in all my goals of being able to finish college and graduate with honors so that I can go on to have a successful career. I want to finish college so that my children will have a better opportunity to go to college and I hope that through my education in college, I am able to make the lives of the people around me better as well.
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