johnstaropoli-blog

[johnstaropoli-blog]

How I Got Here

         Memorable friendships that will last forever, A Big Ten Championship in football, and seeing Kanye West live in concert. These are just a few of the hundreds of lifelong memories I’ve made this year as a freshman here at Penn state. While I look forward to the endless possibilities I will have here the next three years, I also look back to how I got here.

*A picture of me and my friend Henry before the Kanye West Concert in the fall

       A year ago, I never would have thought this is where I would be today. Even though Penn State has been my dream school for quite some time now it hasn’t always been a real possibility. This obstacle goes back to my origins. I am from the great state of New York, I grew up in a small village just twenty miles north of Manhattan along the Hudson river. This little place I called home was Irvington. This was a great place to grow up, Irvington offered the best of both worlds. It gave me the chance to live in a tight knit community where I knew everyone while at the same time gave me the opportunity to be a thirty-minute train ride from New York City. Living so close to New York city provides kids with  endless opportunities to expand their cultural knowledge, and experiences not offered anywhere else . As much as I loved growing up here and would never change it for a second it almost denied me from going to the school of my dreams.

*A view down main street in my hometown of Irvington NY

    They biggest thing that spates kids from Pennsylvania from kids that aren’t here at Penn state is tuition. Being from New York and wanting to go to Penn State meant I would have needed to pay over thirty thousand dollars in tuition and that isn’t including room and board. For some this isn’t a very big problem but last year when I was making this life changing decision of where I wanted to go I had to consider the money. At that time, my parents had just put my two older siblings through school and my father had just found a new job. My parents were more worried about being able to pay the bills than where I wanted to go to school. Although I respected their stance on not wanting me to go I was compelled to change their mind.

     Penn state was the final school on my list that I heard from. With nine other acceptances, it was by far the most expensive. Between New York state schools and academic scholarships from other places Penn set was going to cost almost five times as much as any of the other schools I got into. After a lot of discussion and pleading with parents I finally got a no. It’s not that they didn’t want me to go to Penn state they just thought it wasn’t feasible for our family at the time and they didn’t want me to have pile of debt in student loans when I came out of school.

     After feeling bad for myself and being upset I knew I had to pick a school so I narrowed my list down to a few State schools and chose SUNY Oneonta. Between the in-state tuition and scholarships I had received I was going to go there for practically nothing. The next few days were hard as I saw some of my best friends get into their dream schools including one that goes here now. It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy for them I just wasn’t satisfied with my decision.

        About a week after I had sent in my deposit for Oneonta I decided I wanted to try one more time to convince my parents to let me go to Penn state. With the help of my senior adviser who also happened to be my English teacher I put together a list of reasons why Penn State is the best place for me to be and the best place for my future. At the time, we were writing a paper in English on an issue in our life that we wanted to change so of course I picked not being able to go to my dream school. After a lot of research and hard work I finished my paper, before submitting it I handed it to my parents and asked them to reconsider.

        My paper was addressed to my parents and detailed the advantages of coming to Penn state and not only how it would benefit my college experience but also my life after college. Although I provided more than a dozen examples there were four main reasons I gave them. One of my greatest passions in life is sports, especially football and lacrosse. Penn state has both of these programs nationally ranked in division one allowing me to not only experience them on the highest collegiate level but also giving me opportunities to get involved as I am an equipment manager for the lacrosse team here at Penn State. Although this meant a lot to me I knew my parents weren’t going to change their mind just because of my love for sports. I transitioned into my education, for the longest time I have wanted to be an engineer specifically Petroleum and natural gas. Not only did Oneonta not have this program but Penn state’s ranks among the best in nation currently at the number six spot according to U.S. News. The next section of my paper outlined Thon, this is very important to my family as my youngest cousin was diagnosed with leukemia three years ago this June. In this part, I detailed all of the great work that goes into Thon and how the money it raises is used to fight pediatric cancer. I knew I needed to end my paper with a good selling point so to round it out I brought up the reason I was going to college in the first place, a job. I was going to college in order to get a job afterwards doesn’t that make where you go very important. Not only does Penn State have one of the best programs for the field that I wanted to work in but they also have one of the largest alumni networks in the world. This vast network isn’t always appreciated to its fullest potential, if my parents let me come to Penn state I would graduate as a part of this large community that would give me opportunities otherwise not available to me.

*First home football game with my friend Caleigh

      I really thought I  was going to convince my parents with this presentation. I really thought I had a chance. After coming back into the room after my parents had read my paper and discussed it I thought they were going to say yes. The next few words that came out of their mouths were words I thought would define my future all they could say was  “I’m Sorry John we just can’t do it” I was devastated but knew I had tried my best and needed prepare myself to become a Red Dragon (Oneontas mascot). April 9th 2016 is a day I will always remember, as I walked into my house after morning lacrosse practice I entered the kitchen where I found my parents sitting at the table with huge smiles on both of their faces. In their hands was a letter, this letter was to congratulate me on receiving a scholarship that was offered to two students from our local high schools. This scholarship was would pay $25,000 of tuition a year, this meant I was going to Penn State. My dream had come true, the only problem was I thought this had to be a dream. I didn’t apply for this scholarship I’m sure I would have remembered. At the end of the letter it said that the committee  had chosen me because of the paper I had written to my parents an the passion I showed in it. That whole weekend I was overjoyed but confused at the same time, this was until I walked into second period English on Monday. As I walked in the door my teacher Mrs. Koester ran up and gave me a hug telling me how happy she was for me. In my mind this made me even more confused “what was she talking about” I thought to myself, but then I put it together she had helped me with this essay and had a copy of it she had to the one who sent in that application. To this day she has never admitted it was her but I am forever grateful for what she did.

      Fast forward over a year now and here I am writing this blog post knowing without the support of this one teacher and the initiative she took I wouldn’t be here. I had more than memorable year here at Penn State and couldn’t be happier where I am right now. All this I owe to Mrs. Holly Koester.

*Senior prom with my friends and Mrs. Koester