Heidi Robles

Around this time, 4 years ago, I was sitting in your very seat. The Rochester Children's Scholarship Fund helped me learn money management and what is most important to manage my time. I decided to use the scholarship money to start paying my own cellphone bill, which was paid for by my parents before, and I saved the rest for a MacBook I needed for college in the fall.

Why did I decide on those two things? Well I really wanted to take the responsibility on myself to learn how to manage my money and priorities because that is not something they teach us in high school. Being that you are at the end of your high school careers it might be too late to take the same path I did with the scholarship but it is never too late to learn how to take responsibility of things and learn to manage your investments and time.

I came to college thinking these were going to be the best 4 years of my life. This is the time to party, make new friends, and build a new life for myself all while getting my degree as a first generation college student. The years were less of "the best" and more of the most reflective years for my life. I say reflective because everything about me changed, the person I was in high school is not who’s standing here today. Yes, I partied and I made new friends and now have endless memories but this came with the most responsibility I have ever had. The responsibility of managing my entire life because my parents were not there to do it anymore. I was now in charge of my own bills, making sure my own homework is done, and balancing my social life along with being active on campus, not to mention keeping good grades as well.

This might sound scary and overwhelming because it is, but it comes with gratification at the end when you reflect on how much you have grown. Whether you needed help along the way, made the wrong choices, or struggled, it is still your success and no one can take that away from you. I want to leave you all with this quote "Don't forget where you came from but never lose sight of where you're going." Give back to our community, our students, and our youth because we were once them and help guide them to where they want to go because they are the future. You people are the future.

Ms. Heidi Robles
James Monroe High School
Class of 2015