How Hustling Changed My Life

My mother, Norma, immigrated from Mexico in search of a better life. While here in South Carolina, she met my father, Hector, and got married shortly after. Unlike my mother, my father was a citizen. Whenever I reached the age of 7, my dad passed away. This struck us hard. Fortunately, my mom received a monthly check for my brother and I that gave her plenty of help. But she knew that wasn't going to be enough. She knew she would have to look for a job and that it wouldn't be an easy task. Being undocumented in the United States and in search for a job wasn't easy. But that didn't stop my mom. She was constantly changing jobs not because she was fickle, but because of her issue. Something about undocumented immigrants that many people are unaware of is the unjust treatment they receive. Because of their necessity and knowing the difficulty of finding another job, the only choice they really have is to say nothing at all. My mom was in a position like that and I couldn't bear it. I begged her to quit. She mentioned "being treated like slaves" and that just upset me. Upon seeing my anger, my mom constantly reminds me "that's why you have to study, go to college, and have a good job to avoid being treated like an animal". She is currently out of that job but she did have something to say about it before she left. My mother has proven to me that through hard work you can strive forward no matter

I was on my way to pick up a pizza I just ordered, and I was driving my roommate car. It was a black 2007 Cadillac CTS. So as I’m driving down the street I notice that they are a lot of police cars and I’m telling a friend of mine that was riding with me something isn’t right. I get to the last block on the street and I spotted another cop car and he flashes his lights and gets right behind me. Right before I know it about 10 plus police cars pull up flashing bright lights and blocking the entire street off. My teammate that was riding with we was so scared I had to calm him down. They had us sitting in the car for about 20 minutes and also have red beams all over the car, so now I’m getting a little nervous then finally they speak and give me all these direction to get out the car and when I finally turned around it was so many guns in face. I instantly get mad and filled with anger. They told me turn around and walk backwards then someone cuffed me and put me in the car. They did the same to my teammate. The cops were so scared it freaked me out. Then they rushed the car with their guns pointed at each angle of it thinking whoever they were looking for was in there. Once they realized we were good they asked us questions and let us know that they were looking for two black males in a black Cadillac. The two guys they were looking for had shot somebody. What’s crazy is, none of

From a very young age, I contended with countless setbacks, but the vitality placed on our income at home was the leading factor to my family’s problems. I remember when my parents chose to buy me a new pair of running shoes over paying the electricity bill or when they stayed up all night making tamales to sell so they could afford to pay for medical bills. There never went a month without my parents constantly arguing over the monthly rent or not having enough to buy groceries for the family. I grew up with five siblings in addition to two cousins who were sent from Mexico by their parents and placed under the legal guardianship of my parents. Naturally, learning to adapt to unfortunate circumstances was not rare and I quickly understood

My mom came from a poor family. Her family didn’t have a lot of money. She was the oldest of five kids. Her mom had to work a lot to provide for all of them. Her mom kicked her out when she was 13. She’s been on her own ever since. She didn’t have any money or a job. She had to stay with a friend. So, she finally found a job when she was 15 and she has been working ever since.

Throughout the seventeen years that I’ve been alive I have witnessed all the sacrifices my parents have gone through ensuring I have a better future than they did. I come from immigrant parents that weren’t fortunate enough to continue studying. I myself was brought into the country when I was two years old so I could build a different path than the one my parents had to take due to financial reasons. Short after, my sister was born my mom got remarkably ill with Diabetes. I would watch in terror as my mother would lay in bed barely able to move. I held her hand, wiped her forehead, with a cool wet towel, and longed she would get all better. Being the oldest in the

I was born in El Paso, Texas to Mexican immigrant parents who did their best to raise me and my three siblings. Growing up in El Paso I never even saw myself applying to college, but then my dad made a bold choice to start a career in homeland security and that was when we moved to the DFW area. Ever since we moved to DFW every grade in junior high, i was talked to about college: how to get there, how to pay for it, and how to make it a reality. The thought of going to college never even crossed my mind before coming here. Now as a Senior in high school I'am doing everything in my abilities to make my dreams come true, to go to college and graduate to make my parents proud and prove to them that all their sacrifices haven't gone by without

Leaving home at the age of 18, loving on my own, figuring how to become an adult, and moving out to college, there were many things being thrown at me in which I was not fully prepared for them. Moving out at 18 is normal for any high school graduate in The United States. Being a Mexican American women it was more than just the net step to life , but a huge accomplishment. Being ascribed into a poor family increased the desire to move forward. My parents did not want me to follow their footsteps into the world of low waged labor, they wanted more. Growing up all I heard from teachers and family members was to go to college. For many it’s the normal thing for a high school graduate to do. For me it was more than socialization it was the path

My parents Immigrated from Poland to the United States in search for better opportunity for the children that they planned to have. When my parents finally made the move, they started with nothing and no one to turn to; they did not even know how to speak English. All my parents knew for sure was that they were going to raise three children in America and do all they could possibly do to motivate and make them passionate for school. My parents have always wanted their children to achieve the careers of their dreams and be able to support their own family as well as be happy with their lives. My parents have struggled with money their entire lives, which is another reason why they did all they could to get to America and motivate their children for schooling. They did not want their children to struggle with money the way that they did. But this led another issue, affording college. My parents did not have enough money for their children to attend college. Because of this, I have done my best in school to earn outstanding grades and do my best to earn scholarships.

My parents always wanted to give their children the life they never had. I am Mexican-American, both of my parents immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. before I was born. I have numerous relatives, including my older sister, who do not have the same opportunities I have to achieve success because they are undocumented. For them, college was only a dream that could never be attained. Being the first U.S. citizen out of my entire family affected the way I thought about life. It was expected that I would attend college because I was the only one who had access to all the resources granted to American citizens. Although, I agreed with my family, the pressure to succeed and be a role model to my younger siblings was overwhelming.

In the summer of 2013, my mother told me that I would be moving to the United States, for reasons that she didn’t disclose to me. In the Dominican Republic, children are raised to never question the decisions of their elders, so I did as I was told. Later, I understood that my parents knew that it didn’t matter how hard I worked in school, we would never have enough connections or money to find me a good job or for me to assist to a good university in my country.

Just like many immigrant families, my family had to encounter many adversities in the United States. My mother had to live the harsh experience of walking long hours and starve as she battled to cross the border of Mexico and the United States. Nothing, not even the fact that she was 5 months pregnant was going to stop her because her dream of giving me a better life was stronger than any hardship. My father was a legal resident of the United States but during this period of time it was very hard for an immigrant person to aspire for a good job. He was destined to work in the fields for many years. I grew up and went to elementary school and since my father was working out in the fields I was signed up to the Migrant Program. As a small elementary

As undocumented immigrants, my family and I have faced much adversity. My parents and I immigrated to the United States when I was eight months old. When I was nine, my parents informed me I was undocumented. They explained to me that we had crossed the border illegally, and would get deported if the government found us. They also explained to me that being undocumented meant I would not have the same opportunities, but it wasn’t an excuse to not try. To the contrary, it meant I had to work twice as hard to achieve my goals. We thought my grades would be my pass to scholarships. We prayed every night but, I knew that I couldn’t just pray about it, I had to act.

My family comes from a humble background. My grandmother started working at the age of 13, with small jobs in order to feed her siblings. My grandfather worked many hard labor jobs in order to provide for our family. With my grandfather’s hard work, he was able to bring my grandmother, my two uncles, my father, my mother, my brother and I into the U.S. My grandparents decided to migrate to the U.S because in Mexico, they had nothing. They had enough to eat but they were still struggling to come out of poverty. When my grandparents migrated into the U.S my grandfather would still work a blue collar job, until he fractured his spine and couldn't work anymore. Nevertheless, that did not stop him from working. He began selling in swap meets, selling

As an immigrant, life was very difficult financially. With just the clothes on their backs my parents left their home country, Haiti, and came to the US in pursuit of the American Dream. They wanted a better life for my sisters and I, however, we faced many challenges growing up. It was difficult adjusting to a new country, language, and culture. My parents did not speak English nor did they have a formal education, so it was difficult finding a stable job to sustain us. We became dependent on public assistance in order to survive. We lived in a low-income, underserved area and attended low performing schools. Our family income was well below the poverty level but this did not stop me from pursuing my dreams. I was determined to not let my

My parents did not come to San Diego with a lot of money, they only had ten million dong when they came, which to me sounded like a lot but my mom laughed and told me it was a thousand dollars in the U.S. For my parents, this meant they would go homeless in two months if one of them did not find any sort of work. For the first month, it was very difficult for them to find a job because they did not know how to find one. My mother would tell me how my father was a very strong man and yet no one would hire him because he would not know what to say during the interview. My mother would tell me how there were many nights she would fall asleep crying because she would think back to Vietnam when she was with her family and friends, where she did not feel limited or restricted by anything but money, and how now that she was here in San Diego, it was not only money but also her opportunity to socialize and communicate with many of the people around her. Even with my father by her side, she felt helpless and excluded from the community, like she no longer had a voice. Fortunately, near the end of the first month, one of the Vietnamese neighbors actually noticed my parents and greeted them. This man had a family and welcomed my parents greatly. He even helped my father find a job and get access to government services such as rent assistance, Medi-Cal and Food Stamps. Many immigrants share the same experiences my parents