I’m a mildly disabled person whose been going to college since the fall of 2005, after I graduated from high school.

Despite everything that I’ve been through, I’m finally going to graduate from El Camino.

The final class that I need this semester is Journalism 14, a multimedia class, in order to satisfy my major requirements and get my Associates Degree in journalism.

The reason why it took me such a long time is because I had to work a lot of hours at my job at Ralphs as a regional courtesy clerk while going to school part time to complete my education.

In past years of my life, I’ve tended to be a bad student who was mischievous in elementary school, a pest in middle and high school, but since I went to college I changed my outlook and priorities for education.

I’ve improved over the years in college as I got older and matured. I followed the teachers instructions by listening and just doing my assignments as well as I could.

I used to do poorly on my assignments for classes like science, math and sometimes English. But now, times have changed.

I’ve learned to take better notes and study more thoroughly for my assignments and tests even though I didn’t do it when I was a child.

I remember that I used to ask questions back then that were off topic to the teachers when I was a child, but now that I have grown up, I’m asking questions that are on topic and very relevant to my course subject.

I came from being an arrogant and selfish person to an understanding and compassionate person who understands people by listening and helping them in their time of need. I learn whatever the instructor or professor teaches me.

The reason why most college students with disabilities don’t succeed is due to the lack of help that they get. Only 17 percent of college students get some kind of help while 94 percent of disabled high school students receive more help in being educated, according to the Hechinger Report website for higher education.

Even though that statistic may be a very low number in colleges compared to any high school that a person with a mental disability may go to.

They should still seek out any assistance that is available to them, such as the Special Resource Center here on campus.

Regardless of those statistics, I’ve managed to overcome all those obstacles as a person who rarely paid attention in class. But now that I’ve become a brave learner and finally petitioned to graduate, I look forward to life after EC and appreciate my time well spent there.

I plan on taking online classes, as well as taking a full -time position at my current job, after I fulfill my goal and graduate from EC

Seeing my goal fulfilled is a life long dream of mine and it has finally became a reality.