Human Growth and Development - Personal Statement Example

This paper gives a personal account of an event that marked my transition into adulthood. Graduating from high school in 2013 marked my transition to adulthood. While undertaking my high school education, I was also enrolled in a community college under the Dual Enrolment Program.

I had to put much effort into my academics because I knew that success in education was a critical way of assuring a bright future as an adult. Indeed, my effort yielded the desired results as I attained a GPA of 4 out of 4. As I picked my graduation certificate, I knew I would be independent. I acknowledged that while I had guidance in school, the outside world would have me as my guide and teacher. School provided an environment of dependence where I would look to my teachers to explain rules and give guidelines on expected behaviour.

Even what I was to achieve academically was more or less informed by my teachers based on their analysis of my abilities. My parents were also keen to guide me on what was expected. On my graduation day, I knew that all these would be no more. I would have to teach myself how to behave in the new society outside the school where relatively no one exists to teach another how to conduct oneself. It is expected that as an adult, one is equipped with relevant knowledge on conduct in the light of the social environment.

The law enforcers would deal with any deviant behaviour, and appropriate punishment would be administered. Adults are also expected to have their own goals that drive their existence. No adult lectures the other on what to do with their own life. This autonomy made me appreciate that adulthood had caught up with me. Graduating high school made me aware that I would not have people to handle my needs as I demanded. It was my right for my parents and the school administration to ensure that I had access to whatever I needed to succeed in life.

That is why, when I lacked, I would talk to my parents, and they would provide. After school, this was not to be. I had to fend for myself. To prove my adulthood perception right, I got employed at Quick Mart 2 in New Bedford, MA as a cashier. Here, I finalized customer transactions and operated the cash register. I also verified invoices and balanced the cash register at the end of a trading shift. For my services, I would earn some money as my compensation. Given a choice, I would have instead remained with the pay, not the work.

However, considering that adults have to work to make a living, I had no option but to continue working. With my graduation from high school, I would now be exposed to a society of diversity where I make choices for my company. In school and community college, I would have my parents and teachers dictate the kind of peers I should keep. The notion was that my peers influenced my character. Indeed, this was an excellent aspect to inculcate in me because even in the outside world, one’s company determines one’s character and achievements in life.

Nonetheless, the outside world presents a different context where no one guides you on your company choice. The power of choice was not bestowed on me. With the acknowledgement that no one would tell me whether I was making the right choice for friends, I appreciated that I had become an adult. Therefore, graduation from high school made me understand that I was no longer a child but an adult. The idea of autonomy in my conduct, economic independence and freedom of choosing my company indicated that I had become an adult.

Even though there was no clear-cut distinction of my transition into adulthood, these perceptions of an adult that I had on receiving my high school graduation certificate make this graduation a remarkable event that reminds me of when I started viewing myself as an adult.