Garth Roland Segroves (son of James Roland Segroves)1 was born April 09, 1974 in Tullahoma, Tennessee1.
Notes for Garth Roland Segroves: Sometimes during Garth's senior year in high school he had to write a personal letter to send in with his college application. This was Garth's: As yall have probably already read, my name is Garth Segroves. I've been asked in this here application to tell 'bout where I've been raised and what an impact it has had on my life. Well, I guess I'd better start from scratch. I wasn't born in no house like my dad was. I was born in a local hospital down the road a ways. I came out as a healthy, bouncing baby boy. I didn't come with no shoes and never wore none, 'cept to church of couse and 'till I had to go to school to get some learn'in.
From the time I was no bigger than a popcorn fart, up to when I's sixteen, I lived on a nice piece of land in Moore County. Cows and horses were 'bout as popular as people. Didn't have no playmates 'cept for first, second, and third cousins who came over, but 'em don't count much. I also never really had any friends till I started school.
Be'in out in the country didn't mean I didn't learn nothin. I learned 'bout death early when we had a still birth in the family...took near a week for me to get over that calf be'in born dead like'at. I also learned good morals from attending church since I could open my eyes and have'in a good set of parents. Also, I learned to read, write a little, and figure a little before I started school.
As I started school and slowly went from grade to grade I learned to read better, write a little better, and figure better. I was placed in one of those gifted classes as a fifth grader. I don't really know why, I have always considered myself 'bout average. Ever since I started school and up to this point, my senior year, I have loved being the center of attention and probably always will, either by being quick with a joke or getting serious and wanting a position to lead. I have learned many new things since starting school. I hope to continue learning and understanding new ideas by attending college.
The older I have gotten, the more I have noticed people wanting to be accepted by the crowd. Not for who they are, but for something they are not. I want to think that my friends and peers like me for who I am, not what they think I am, someone a person can trust and talk to, that is how I want people to think of me.
I credit my self esteem to my raising my parents gave me and where I grew up. Although, I do not still live in Moore County, I can still smell the sweetness of sour mash from Jack Daniel's being poured onto the fields as fertilizer, the dread of hay drying, because someone would have to load it when it was bailed, the feeling of being needed by feeding cows in the dead of winter, and the peacefulness of just taking long walks in the woods for no particular reason. The impact of my upbringing has been very significant on my life, because, I can always look back and smile and feel something indescribable inside.[garth roland segroves.FBK.FTW]
Personal Essay for law school entrance:
My name is Garth Roland Segroves. I have been out of college for about a year and a half. During this time I have come to many realizations about myself and about what I want to accomplish in life. The realizations began to hit me when my parents cut me off financially and my income was not very self-supporting. Working with my father in the real estate business was very enlightening because it gave me an idea of how hard it was for him to make a living. Being twenty-four years old and having no experience in real estate and having a mortgage, along with every other type of monthly bill, I began a search for some type of fixed income where a commission was not involved.
I went back to school part-time, at night, while still working with my father. Paying for school myself I found a new respect for going to class and trying to do well. I retook two classes that I had done just well enough in to graduate before. Making the grade finally, I decided that getting my MBA might help get a better job. I began all procedures of entering Middle Tennessee State University's requirements for entering graduate school.
While I was doing all of this, my uncle Harold Segroves, who is very out spoken and thinks that what he says is always correct asked me what I was doing. I told him my plans of entering graduate school and he proceeded in telling me that it was a stupid idea, that I did not need an MBA, and that I did not really want one. I had hoped that he would pat me on the back and tell me that I was doing the right thing, but that was not the case. My uncle's statement really cut to the bone, I did not like the idea of somebody telling me that something that I really thought would help me was foolish. As a result of his blasting, I decided he was not my favorite uncle anymore.
A friend helped me get an interview with State Farm Insurance. The interview was very personal and made me think about just not the immediate future, but about the far future. The interviewer asked what my major at the University of Mississippi had been when I entered school. I told her that I had majored in history with the intention of attending law school, but with my grades after two years being low, I decided to change my major to business so that I could get job if I did not go law school. The lady then asked where I had applied to law school. The question kind of stumped me because I had not tried, or even considered going. Somewhere along the way I just told myself that law school was unattainable and I believed it. The idea of being rejected must have been too overbearing for me to even try.
On the way home from the interview I began to try and think of any real reason why I should not try to go to law school. There was none. I talked to my father about the interview a few days later. He, as always, helped me with a decision that would be one of those decisions that is a turning point in one's life. We talked about why I had not attempted to go, and why I should not try to go now.
As a result of our conversation, I moved to Murfreesboro and started working at the Blue Raider Book & Supply, an off campus bookstore that sells textbooks. I had worked part-time there all through my undergraduate stay at Middle Tennessee. I worked full-time and began studying for the LSAT. When I take the LSAT in December, it will be the biggest test that I have ever taken in my life. Having spent five years in college, I have realized that my time was not well spent. My grades were not a reflection of my true ability. I hope that LSAT will prove this to a certain degree.
Having an uncle who speaks his mind and father who has helped guide me through life is something that has finally made me realize that sometimes you have to try and defy the odds and try for a dream that was lost somewhere along the road of life. Going to law school is something that I have embraced with more tenacity than I have anything else. I have since thanked my Uncle Harold for honesty. Upon telling him of my plans, he told me that he thought it was a good idea. Since then, I have learned that he told someone else that I probably would not succeed if I were accepted. I want to prove to that bastard uncle, and to myself that I can excel at anything that I put mind to. I hope that this will enlighten you into how and why this means so much to me.
Garth Roland Segroves (b. April 09, 1974)
Notes for Garth Roland Segroves: