For me, a high (or at least good) GPA had to be my priority in high school, setting aside extracurriculars, due to an adverse situation during my Freshman year of high school.
In March of 2020, I was thriving in the 8th grade, and participating in many extracurricular activities including Chess Club, Rocketry Club, and working on the Stage Crew for theater productions. I was looking forward to the upcoming 8th Grade Moving Up Ceremony which is held every year at my school to honor the 8th graders who are moving up to high school. Because I had been at my small charter school since I was in kindergarten, I knew that the Moving Up Ceremony was a big deal. However, in March, the Covid pandemic dominated the world, and my life changed in a minute.

Like most students, I completed the 2019/2020 school year at home on my laptop, leaving my extracurricular activities behind. However, when the 2020/2021 school year approached, my family had to make a decision on whether to send me back to school in person with my friends, or to keep me at home attending school online. Ultimately, my parents made the decision to keep me at home due to my asthma.

I do not remember the day I was diagnosed with asthma. I was too young to remember. However, my parents have told me stories about my regular hospital admissions, and the scary drives that often preceded these admissions when they would awaken in the middle of the night to find me wheezing and struggling to take a breath.

Although I do not remember these hospitalizations, I do know what it is like to live with asthma every day. Because of this, I understood when my parents made the decision in the fall of 2020 to have me continue my education at home instead of returning to in person school for my Freshman year of high school.

As my transcript shows, this clearly proved that although it was likely the best decision for my health, it was not a good decision from an academic perspective. I will be the first to admit that I struggle with remote learning. I thrive being in a classroom with an attentive teacher and committed students, and I always enjoyed my involvement in extracurricular activities. Attending school at home meant I lost all of these aspects of the in-person educational experience, and my grades struggled significantly as a result. By the end of my Freshman year, my previously excellent GPA was below a 2.0.

For my Sophomore year, I returned to in person schooling, and I knew I would have to find a way to improve my academic performance. Although I had always enjoyed extracurricular activities, my GPA had to take priority. I have always wanted to be a veterinarian, and I knew that I needed to significantly improve my GPA to achieve that dream. As a result, I studied hard, worked with my teachers, and put as much effort as possible into improving my GPA. Now, in my last semester of high school my GPA has improved to a 3.0, and I am proud of this achievement.

Having achieved better academic standing, my next goal is to attend Colorado State University to study Biomedical Sciences in order to eventually become a veterinarian. Although I wish I had been able to spend more time participating in extracurricular activities during my years in high school, my personal circumstances necessitated a focus on improving my GPA, which is what I did, making it a priority over extracurriculars. Thank you for your consideration.