Celena Ambrose
Holbrook, AZ
Celena is a teacher at Nacog Head Start in Holbrook, AZ. Celena is currently a First Things First College Scholar recipient and graduated in May with her Associate degree in Early Childhood Education from Northland Pioneer College.
Read a message from Celena:
Within my family I was pushed to continue my education after high school. Through their words of encouragement, I was able to push through and achieve my first degree. When thinking about supports that helped me accomplish my goal, I think of my own determination. However, when times did get rough, I looked towards my sisters for motivation because they have been through it and have both received their Master’s Degrees. Due to the pandemic, the college I am attending closed to all students. When this happened, classes continued online and expanded our Spring Break for three weeks. Within the three weeks, I got used to not completing schoolwork. So, when the classes did convert to online, we had to make up for the loss of class days. With this, a lot of work was combined to complete the whole syllabus. I then had to push myself harder than before, which caused a lot of stress for me as a student.
The message I would like to pass on to my fellow scholars and future scholars would be that when the times get hard, because there will be a time, make sure to think of all the good things that will come when you finish. Also, if you have those free days when you want to relax but are unsure if you want to do work for your classes, DO THE WORK. Procrastination is literally your worst enemy out there. In the end, just do the work it’s worth the time and the trouble.