I strongly believe that how successful a child becomes in life relies directly on what they are taught when they are growing up. More than likely, this is reflective of their parents. An example of this is my own childhood. Although it was different from what is considered “normal”, I believe that mine has it’s own story to tell.

When I was growing up, most of the children had fathers that were doctors, businessmen or that worked at a company. Those fathers left in the morning and came home for supper. My father however, was a different case. Where some fathers carried a briefcase and wore a tie, my dad carried a duffle bag and wore a spandex uniform and a mask. What did he do? He owned his own wrestling school and was a Professional wrestler.

Ever since my father was a little boy he wanted to be a wrestler and he wasn’t going to let anyone change his mind. When he was a little child this was not considered normal; after all don’t little boys want to be something extraordinary like an astronaut or a cowboy? However, as he got older, people’s answers would change to doctor or engineer, but my father’s stayed the same, he wanted to become a wrestler!

After high school, his classmates went off into different directions such as college or into the workforce. Many of these kids were those who had claimed that they would be a baseball player or a cowboy years earlier. What did my dad do? He got a job and went to wrestling school! Soon enough my dad was exactly what he said he was going to be-a wrestler. A few years later he got married and had three kids. For a while he took a full time job to make sure he could support my two sisters and I and when I was in the fourth grade my dad returned to his dream. He started a wrestling school of his own. First the school started in our backyard in a ring that he constructed. The school began to have small shows at local halls and in the last 9 years it has grown from something small and seemingly aimless, to something that is very successful! My dad now supports the family entirely on his success in wrestling, he holds fundraisers for needy groups and holds anywhere from one to a half dozen of these shows every month.

The story of my father is not a story of how to start a wrestling school or become a wrestler, it is the story of how to be true to yourself. No matter how many people told him that it would not happen and no matter how many people have put him down, my father never gave up. If anything can be learned from my dad, it is not how to work magic in the ring, but how to follow your heart and make your dreams come true. In this world, people very easily and willingly let go of their dreams because they feel as though they can never become a reality. If there were more people in this world like my father, I really believe that the world would be a better place. A dream is nothing but a dream unless you make it a reality. So as I see my high school life come to an end and I see the unknown ahead. I know in my heart that no matter what happens, I should never let go of my dreams.

This was submitted by Monika Costa as a college essay sample in OCT. 2000 as she pursues her dream.