Bad grades

Who cares about good grades? I never did. I had always told myself that a D was a good grade. Although I was very smart I was completely irresponsible when it came to turning in assignments for classes. I had gone through middle school with a mind set that D’s were passing and at the time that’s all that mattered. It gave me more time to be with friends and less with school. But I was in for a wake up call my second year of high school when I was called in by my counselor.
“Okay students, I’m going to pass back your transcripts so you can review what you have taken and what you need to take.” At the time I felt pretty confident after all, I had not failed any classes freshmen nor sophomore year. As Ms. Foster went down the list of names I awaited patiently for my name to be called. “Destiny Ortega” she said. I jumped out of my seat and quickly walked to where she was handing out the transcripts at the very front of the class. I quickly walked back over to my seat to get a chance to view my transcripts. As I gazed down at my transcripts I felt as if my heart had just dropped. I was in a complete loss for words.
In red ink were the words “need to make up classes.” I thought to my self, no biggie. As Ms. Foster walked around the class to answer questions we might have concerning our tr­anscripts. All the while I tried my best to keep optimistic about what she might have to say about them. My situation couldn’t be bad, or could it? She came by my desk and I asked if everything was on track, but the expression on her face was unclear and uncertain. She pointed at my freshmen grades and said, “These are not passing grades for college.” I felt an instant cold rush go down my back, and she continued, “These grades will only allow you to graduate high school and attend a JC- junior college.” I thought to my self how could I have set my self up for this? How could I set my self up to fail? All this time I thought I was on the right track to go to college, but I guess I was wrong. I knew that if I wanted to get back on track I was going to have to work twice as hard. After all, without struggle there in no progress.
Half a year later and I can’t believe the progress that I’ve made. I went from receiving no higher than a C to receiving no lower than a B+. If it wasn’t for that day when Ms. Foster came into my sophomore class to review our transcripts I probably would have never started to care about my grades. Even worse I’d probably be far behind in credits! I use that day as my motivation to do better academically. I feel that if it wasn’t for that day that I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now to succeed and reach my goal of receiving a 4.0 GPA. I’ve gained a new belief that my descions today will most definitely have an effect on me tomorrow. And because of that I now try my best to excel in all my academics and to never settle for less.