Goldie Robins' personal essay

“Julian! Julian! Julian! Get up!” Or “Wakey wakey eggs and bacey!”

She would reply,

“Shut up! Go away.” Or “Yeah, yeah, yeah I am up!”

After that my parents would go in and try to get her out of bed, it never worked. It was always time for me to go to school eventually so I said bye and thought on my way to school, good luck!

Always being one of the smartest people I know. Doing her work, and helping me with homework. She was always the stereotypical idol of an older sister. Getting straight A’s, and just hoping that I would too. Trying her best and just looking at all her projects she did and how I was thinking, I can’t wait to do that. Always known as someone who has great potential. Then high school began. Where was my perfect sister Julian? Thinking oh, it must be a ninth grade thing she will be okay in a week or two. Me being in sixth grade I didn’t know any better. But, she continued not doing her work and not going to school. How could it be someone so smart is now not getting good grades? There is definitely a mistake. Freshman year went by for her, but it felt slow for me. Sophomore year came, Julian is going to do great this year I just know it! All I remember is her not wanting to attend school. Having arguments back and forth with my parents. As if screaming was a normal tone in my house. Shedding tear by tear, if only I collected them all.

Time went on, for a couple months. She was hoping she would get into this program to study in Israel for the rest of her sophomore year. There she went, January 23^rd 2009 off to Israel for school until June. Maybe she will do her work. I guess that was okay, but then junior year was coming. The most important year of high school.  September until November she was still enrolled in public high school. Did she go? Nope. November until June was the most successful months of high school with a new school. I could tell that my mother and father were so happy that this new school was working. So excited not just for a full year ahead of us, but senior year. But then it actually came. The first day was picture day, so she went…but late. From there on it was a couple times here and there but that ended in November. I remember talking to her one time about it because I felt brave that day. I was obviously scared that she would throw something at me other times, but not this time.

As I was stumbling to get my words out, I said, “So why don’t you attend school?”

Her reply, with an attitude coming on and a grunt, “None of your business. AND you don’t even have to go after you 16. BYE!”

Now I wish I could have got in her head, so she could of made the right decisions. Ironically, her essay for her college applications were about, how to make good choices. Unlucky for her, but lucky for me that she had to learn the hard way. From her bad mistakes/decisions I know what to do and what not to do. It has made me want to try more in school and never want to be absent. I was always obsessive about absences and lateness’s but it has recently had a great affect on me. She didn’t even realize she was teaching a lesson to me through all the struggles she went through. Although it is all about how it affected her, it also had an outcome on me.

This was happening to someone who’s room was right above mine. Who was there when I was born. Who has been, and always will be my older sister. So don’t think that just because SHE didn’t do her work, or SHE didn’t wake up for school, or SHE didn’t make great choices at times, it only affected her. The affect on me was not only for me to learn but also for me to know right from wrong. It is somewhere I never want to be in life, and to have to experience again. It motivates me to strive for excellence. In the long run, she ended up learning right from wrong. The ends of her suppose to be senior year she took the G.E.D. testing and did fantastic. She got into all eight colleges she applied to, and is now currently in Israel on a gap year program before college studying at Hebrew University, and then living on a Kibbutz. So sometimes you can’t just pass go, and collect two hundred dollars, some people have to work for it.