Hey there everybody. Just looking for a couple tips/advice on this biographical essay. It would be helpful if any grammar mistakes or writing missteps were pointed out. Constructive criticism is welcome!
Prompt: We are interested in learning more about you and the context in which you have grown up, formed your aspirations and accomplished your academic successes. Please describe the factors and challenges that have most shaped your personal life and aspirations. How have these factors caused you to grow? (800 word limit)
I'm Ruger. Well, my given name, Alex, didn't exactly catch on in grade school, so I was stuck with my last name as a nickname. They weren't exactly the most creative back in fifth grade. Nonetheless, it's identity I've grown into as I have matured and come into my own.
For the majority of my life, I existed in a comfortable, middle-class setting. I was baptized at an early age as a Roman Catholic, something that has influenced me for a long time. As a child, I had an obsession with dinosaurs (yes, I was one of those kids). Science in general proved to be what I was most interested in growing up, and my parents gladly got me whatever books I wanted. Like most children, I enjoyed games, television, playing with my friends, and whatnot. My mother was stay at home, always there and ready to help, whilst my father worked in a big city during the week and came home during the weekend. My two younger siblings, a brother and sister, though extremely irritating, weren't all that bad.
Grades have never been a problem, I having earned As and Bs for just about my entire career, even though math has been a pretty significant hurdle for me. Nor was finding friends, though I've always been treated as the kid of the group. I don't really mind, since we have great times together and, let's face, I am a bit immature.
I was around fifteen when everything started to cave in. My father was involved in... illicit activities. My mother, having none of it, separated. She was given primary custody, and once I found out exactly what caused this breakup, I preferred it that way. I would not be associated with such a despicable human being. My brother and sister, on the other hand, were confused and saddened by the whole affair. Mom was, understandably, quite shaken up and frustrated.
We found ourselves out of our old, large house and shoved into a much smaller house my mother's family had owned for some time. My mom hadn't worked for some time, and acquiring a job was difficult for her, to say the least. All of sudden, after having been sheltered and babied for the majority of my life, I was thrust into a position of responsibility. Now I had to shoulder the cleaning duties while my Mom was running the kids to practice or job searching. Like many young males before me, the incongruities of doing "the dishes" and "the laundry" was foreign to me.
I am many things (a sycophant, overly polite, uncoordinated... I could go on), but a quitter is not one of them. It took a little practice, but it wasn't too long until I was cleaning like a pro. There was some sense of pride in these menial chores. In a way, I kept the house running, and I needed something to do when soccer season was over and all my homework was done.
That being said, not everything was peaches and roses for me. My father dragged the divorce on way longer than it needed to be, and my mother would have the occasional fit. Often times, I wondered if things would ever get better. After all, from my point of view life seemed like an endless cycle of fight after fight, tragedy after tragedy. But I kept on pushing forward despite this. Floundering in despair isn't exactly my style.
"Never give in, never give up." I would say optimistically. I looked at the bright side of things- I had a (mostly) supportive family, great friends, a decent standard of living, and a bunch of other great stuff that isn't really relevant. You've got to take the good with the bad. Sure, my parents' divorce and subsequent fallout was pretty horrible, but despite all that, it enabled me to grow as person and realize just exactly who I am. As they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
