Jordan Sumner

An Unplanned Success
In middle school I was given the opportunity to get a head start for high school. I was
given the ability to take high school math and science course starting in seventh grade, an
opportunity that many students would take advantage of. Though, for me, it was an opportunity
taken for granted.
Being accepted into Blair Middle Schools program for Pre-med and Engineering meant
that their students would take sciences required in sixth through eighth grade in their sixth grade
year, in order to jump into algebra, biology, and robotics the next year. I came into the program
with a positive outlook and a strong will to succeed, but come next school year, I fell off of my
action point. At the start of seventh grade, going to school wasnt for bettering my knowledge
and understanding of the world, it was to show up to socialize and be prevalent to others. I
became too engulfed in what was going on with my friends that I was incapable of telling my
parents What I had learned in school today was What I did learn was that There was a fight
today in third lunch, along with Todd dislocated his forearm during an Oklahoma Drill at
practice today. I couldnt tell them what a quadratic formula was. I had no idea there was a
project due tomorrow on cells and how they function. I became too caught up in what others
were doing that I had no clue what I was doing. Come to the end of my seventh grade year, I was
removed from the program for not maintaining a GPA of a 3.0 or higher. Surprisingly, that wasnt
a big enough wake-up call for me, I still payed no mind to academics.
It wasnt until after my eighth grade year that I had an epiphany of where my past actions
had lead me. I blew my chance, not to where I failed my courses, but to where my overall high
school GPA was embarrassing. My GPA was the least bit impressive, which lead me to realize

Jordan Sumner

that my new and true motivation was failure. Well, not failure exactly, but how much I didnt
want to fail myself. It was from then on that I promised myself that high school is going to be
what turns my act around. To commence my rebound my freshman year concluded with a 3.0
GPA, I was convinced that I had the ability to exceed a 3.0, which lead me to my next year. In
2013, I began my sophomore year at Frank w. Cox, a school that has given me the opportunity of
redemption. Cox, as well as other Virginia Beach Public Schools, gives their students the chance
to partake in many extracurricular activities that are beneficial. Towards the end of my
sophomore year I decided which career path I wanted to take, so I filled out an application for a
2-year Engineering technology course at The Advanced Technology Center, and received a letter
of acceptance in the mail that summer. My junior year is where my progression came to its
highest, ending that year with a 3.7 GPA, bringing my overall GPA from a 2.7 to a 3.2. At ATC I
acquired nearly all of the technical engineering skills I know today, which helped me acquire my
NOCTI Pre-Engineering certification. As all of the years had progressed, I noticed how well my
work ethic had developed.
Through my past experiences I have molded myself into something greater each year. No
matter how low someone thinks they are, no matter how much they regret their past decisions,
they can only improve themselves as long as they apply themselves through hard work and
dedication no matter the circumstance. Just as the statement from Herman Hesses Siddartha
Whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and
transform it into something of value., the way we turn the failures into something we benefit
from is through our attitude and understanding.