Muhammad Chaudhry, Period 7, 9/22/21

Muhammad Chaudhry, Period 7, 9/22/21

Goal Setting & Growth

At this current point in time, what specific goal(s) do you have for yourself? Why?

One of my goals for the remainder of 2021 was to become an All-City Linebacker and Offensive Linemen on the school’s football team. This has been my goal since the beginning of freshman year when I was nowhere near the skill level I am currently at right now. This goal is important to me because it shows how hard I’ve worked to make my goals a reality and to make a name for myself on the team. Another goal I have is to go to college tuition-free so that my parents don’t have to take on the burden of my college tuition. I’ve thought about this quite a lot over the summer and I came to the conclusion that going to an Ivy League school won’t do me any good if I’m $300k in debt by the time I graduate and this realization changed my perspective on college applications considerably.

How do you demonstrate resilience towards achieving this goal? (or these goals?)

I have been working with my coaches for the last 4 years to get to where I am right now as a player. I’ve been through the tough 7 hour-long practices and the pain and the injuries and I’ve always gotten back up because I know that in the end, it will all be worth it and that I’m working my butt off for something worthwhile. I also watch my practice videos to learn what I’m doing right and wrong so that I can become a better player and ultimately become an All-City football player. Seeing my improvement from freshman year also helps me keep working hard because I remember where I started and where I need to go. I have researched a lot about the best way to go to college tuition-free and if going to a smaller CUNY could give me the same experiences as a bigger school like Columbia, then it becomes very easy for me to achieve my goal of reducing financial stress on myself and my parents. I have asked many of my teachers for any advice about college and they all gave me very useful information, I used that information to the best of my ability to formulate a plan for college applications and to weed out colleges that won’t be good for me financially.

How does the world around you affect your perception of this goal? (or these goals?)

I’ve talked to multiple teachers and coaches and adults and most of them have told me that I should go to a school in New York to keep the costs down and to stay close to home so that I don’t have to worry about dorm room expenses. They also advised me to apply for as many scholarships as I can so that I won’t have to worry about money as much. My teachers have a lot of knowledge about college planning and they know what kids go through each year and they know what will be best for me so I am currently using their guidance to pursue my goal. Freshman year only one or two coaches believed that I could become a good football player because they saw the resilience and the mental power to push through obstacles that a majority of people in life can’t. It’s because of coaches like them that I started pushing myself and believing I can be a good player and make an impact on the team. People that doubt my ability also helped me indirectly because they provoked me and I wanted to prove them wrong so I tried my best every practice. I still have some ways to go to achieve my goal of becoming an All-City football player, but I am confident that I will achieve that goal this year.