Career Essay: To Become An All-American

In the article Making it in America Adam Davidson takes time to interview different employees at Standard Motor Products to determine how it is treating them and how factories are changing in time. Adam is receiving a tour of the plant by manager Tony Scalzitti where he sees many factory workers in blue lab coats, hair nets, and protective eyewear. This is where Adam first runs into Madelyn Parlier.

I was born in a middle class family in China and my parents care about me very much. Before I was even born, my farther adjusted the business hour of his clinic to make more profit by accepting more patients and my mother was a nurse who worked in my dad’s clinic, so they saved the money to send me to school and prepare to move to the U.S. Most of the members of my family already moved to the U.S. Moreover, once my aunt got her U.S. citizenship, she, as the sponsor, was able to apply for us to come. When I was 15, we finally got our immigrant visas and my parents told me we were ready for move to the America. Therefore, we sold everything we had in China we were staying at my uncle’s house in Hong Kong because we need to take the airplane from Hong Kong to Missouri, U.S. I still remember what my uncle said to me because he looked at me with a very serious face that caught my attention. “Qianxin, the America is different from China. I’ve heard people said life in the America is harder than China. However, if you work hard enough, you will get what you deserve.” The words are always in my mind. I tried to do my best in school and in everything because I want to be the person who can help my family.

On February 28, 2005, I experienced one of the most exciting events that anyone could ever experience – winning a State Championship. The day my soccer team made history is a day I’ll never forget. However it is not just that day we won the title, but the whole experience of the preceding season that got us there. From start to finish, my team’s 2004-2005 season taught me that the platitude is true. You can do anything you set your mind to.

Life is about making choices, but some of them can even change our life. Two years ago I decided to come to America for my higher studies in Western Kentucky University. Although I knew it was really a challenge to me, this significant decision that I’ve made was going to change everything about my life and me. There are many things in life that can change the course of a person’s life. It can either make a positive impact or a negative impact on a person’s life. It’s always best to have the positive impact though. For me I have had a positive experience that has changed my life forever and that is coming to a different land and culture.

There are many significant parts of my life that have had a huge impact on my personality, but there is one that has not only affected me, but has changed me for the better. My personal life changing experience was coming to America. For me, this bridge between my old life and new life is a shaky bridge that I attempted to cross and entered a whole new realm of life which changed everything. The decision about coming to America has taught me how to respect other people, be more responsible, and be more loving towards various friends and families. It has also helped me adapt to the new life that I’m about to begin. It was so unexpected. Out of nowhere my parents broke the news: “We’re going to America!” Living in a big town of Bhopal,

What it means to be American? Everybody you ask this question to will have a completely different response. Some responses might have similarities but none will be exactly the same. In the beginning of the year my response was “To be an American means having a rich history, having opportunities to better ourselves, and having freedoms.” Unfortunately not everyone has had the same opportunities or freedoms. Native Americans, who are indigenous, dealt with having their freedoms taken away, less opportunities even though they had rich history in this land before it was taken away from them. Look at what Zitkala-Sa endured. Not only that, but African Americans have fought long and hard for freedom and equality as well. W.E.B. Du Bois stood for

An American is someone who doesn't rely on others for their individual happiness. Someone with the freedom to independently make decisions towards becoming a better person without conforming to society's standards/sentiments. Americans have equal rights no matter where they come from. “Of every hue and caste I am, of every rank and religion... I resist anything better than my own diversity,” (Whitman) Walt Whitman is saying that no matter the color of your skin, your rank/wealth in society, or your religion, you are just as equal as everybody else. We are all so different and diverse yet so equal. Although we are equal, we cannot rely on one another for our own happiness. “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in

Many mornings i would wake up to the mouth watering smell of Sancocho, a traditional latin hot stew with chicken, carrots, plantains, corn and potatoes.Loud Bachata would be playing in the kitchen as my mother cooked. The warm,rolled and cascading sounds of the guitar filled the house . “Llora guitarra llora!!” my silly father would say scream off the top of his lungs, enjoying the music as he read the morning paper and family would all laugh at the comment.

I waited weary in anticipation of what name would break out of the happy-go-lucky collegiate cheerleader’s boisterous mouth as he was announcing the two lucky 2017 National Cheerleading Association All Americans out of all 4 Belton cheer squads. I replay this moment in my most vivid dreams, feeling the excitement of the halcyon moment grow greater and greater as the nerves and emotions grew stronger and stronger. A moment as imperative as this showed me in the most transparent way that hard, continuous work and growth pays off in many more ways than one.

Imagine needing to move to a new country because of violence, limited job opportunities, or an oppressive government. Now imagine finding out it may take up to 20 years to get out of that dangerous environment. This is the reality millions of immigrants trying to come to America face every day. In order to become a US citizen, one must first possess a Green Card for at least 5 years, be at least 18 years of age at the time of filing for citizenship, be able to read, write, and speak basic English, submit an N-400 form, take the US Naturalization Test, and have a personal interview to determine if said immigrant is a person of good moral character. This process takes at least 5 years, and that’s if said immigrant does not run into any troubles with filing. Because of this lengthy process, millions of immigrants, many with

How does our generation define what it means to be “American”? Being in America gives us the freedom to become who we want to be and, to do what we want to do. We are using technology to get places or to make a point. We want to support things we don’t know anything about. For example, Black Lives Matter. I’m not saying I know everything about it but I know enough. So one day as I was scrolling through Facebook I came across a post. The post was about a 9/11 “Never Forget” picture. A teen one or two older than me had said something along the lines of “When is our never forget day?” along with the hashtag “#Blacklivesmatter”. I got pretty upset by that. Not to mention it was said on 9/11. I was thinking about how they have a whole month to

Let’s all be honest, when in a tight situation where a lot is on the line, having someone say, ‘No pressure.’ is the worst thing that could be ever said in that moment. Regardless, this is what was said to me and my 10-year-old baseball team, The Oklahoma Kaos before hitting the field to have a chance to get to finals in the State Championship. It was June 18th, 2010, and we had clawed our way out of losers bracket to get to the semifinals. We had come too far to give up or fail now. We came across a team called the Pawhuska Huskies, a team we had creamed in an earlier tournament 23-3 in one whole inning. The team joked back and forth about how easy this would be and how we already made it to the finals. But while

“This recognition by the Southern Collegiate Athletic and Midwest Independent Conferences of nearly half of our student-athletes is testimony to their dedication to their academic programs and the support of the coaching staff and faculty of the college,” said Centenary Director of Athletics and Recreation, Dr. Bob Bunnell. “We are very proud of the culture of academic excellence that is a part of our athletic

Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 of the United States Constitution states that no person except a natural-born citizen shall be eligible to run for President of the United States. This was due to John Jay, the presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention, who wrote a letter to George Washington in 1787 arguing that the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army should not be anyone but a natural-born American (Schneider 6). The Founders were concerned that subversive enemies could force the fledgling republic back to foreign monarchical rule. Delegates did not want the United States to suffer the same fate as Poland, which in 1772 had been partitioned among Austria, Prussia and Russia after agents of those countries bribed Polish

The team was ready, we had been working extremely hard for the past seven months for this. We were all in great shape and very rested. A few of the returning players were meeting me at my house to carpool to the final game of the state championship tournament. Everyone knew that the hard work had paid off when we won the semi-final game the preceding day.