Friday, December 18, 2009

Role Models

Am I the only one who is so tired of turning on the tv and finding more and more about Tiger Woods?

I made a comment on my FB page stating that he is proof that you should never look to someone famous as someone to look up to. I believe there are plenty of "regular every day" people who are much better role models for kids to admire.

I'm going to use my Ashley as a good example of this.

Ashley is a good student, but it does not come easy for her at all. She has to work hard for every good grade she gets. It's been this way since she was a young child and it continues now that she is in college. When she struggled in Chemistry last year, she took it upon herself to get a tutor and she met with her every week for the entire semester....that was time she gave up hanging out with her friends, who frequently told her to skip a session to do something with them.

She did all this while being on the college competitive dance team (3-4hr practices every day plus another 2 hrs for the past month to prepare for the state competition) and working every day, and still finding some time to go to the mall with her friends (priorities you know...ha). She also is a babysitter through a Nanny service, and is a mentor for a little girl at the elementary school she works at.

She called me the other night bouncing off the wall with excitement. She had to take a nursing placement test required by all students who are wanting to get into the nursing program. It's a lot of math and science on the test, which are two of Ashley's worst subjects. She set up extra tutoring sessions for both subjects to help.

Not only did she pass all her finals for this semester, she also learned that passed the nursing placement test. The other requirement to get into nursing is that you must have a GPA of at least 3.25, and she is well above that.

She is now officially a nursing student. Woohoo!

What she is doing/has done is not unique. She is not the only person in the world to accomplish this.

However, when I think of who I would have wanted my children to admire when they were little, I would have preferred someone like Ashley. Someone who would show them that if you want something bad enough, work hard, stay out of trouble, and ask for help when you need it, and you'll see that your dreams can come true. Someone who has a heart so big that they freely give of themselves in ways that help others.

Not someone who despite having a talent & millions of dollars, still obviously feels empty in some aspect of their life. Empty enough that they search to fill that void in inappropriate ways that hurts the people they care about the most.

5 comments:

sara said...

congrats to your girl!!!

and I agree wholeheartedly with you!!!

mom and dad said...

well said!

Kelly said...

You are so very, very right. Congrats to her for becoming a nursing student. I'm sure she'll make a wonderful nurse. Sounds like she's got the personality to make one of the best.

Fran said...

Lovely post.

Joyce said...

Oh.... that was such a great post! I can see why you are so proud of her! Too many kids her age do not have such good attitudes and drive! They expect things handed to them! She's great!