Interior Design: Personal Statement

Growing up, school was not a major factor in my life. I come from a hard-working, middle-class military family. My mother, a Filipino immigrant, was a homemaker. My father was a 21-year United States Marine veteran. They were my first impression of what I thought my future would be. Being the youngest of four children, I was expected to fall in line behind my siblings when it came to education. I was never pushed to excel in my studies, so I did just enough to get by. As I watched friends escape the grasp of a military town and ascend to their respective colleges, I was left wondering what was next for me. I attended my local community college for a brief period of time. I treated college no different than high school. I

Education is very important to my parents and it is not just a means of obtaining a good job in the future, but it serves as a way to get respect and social standing in a world that is so heavily focused on societal and class statuses. Being the first generation to have gone onto higher education, the pressures, put on by my family, can sometimes be overwhelming. In fact, at times I think my parents are more excited and ready for me to graduate than I am, which can be quite comical.

Because of my parent’s humble beginnings in the south and being ever so present during the Civil Rights era, education was very important in my household. My father would often say that education and knowledge could never be taken away from you once you have acquired it. He himself, only had a 3rd grade formal education but yet at the same time was a modern day math wizard. He was the second to the oldest out of eleven children so he chose to continually work the fields so that his younger siblings didn’t have to and they would have the opportunity to attend school during the day. My mother continually pursued higher education and received her Associates of Arts degree as an adult. Later in life, as a senior citizen she also attended South Suburban College in South Holland, Illinois and enrolled in a couple courses in Computer Training and

Fortunate to be a first-generation university student in my family of loving and caring supporters. I have wonderful parents who work day and night, to provide for my education, as well as my sister, who is soon going to become a freshman at UNLV. My mother, who worked as a porter at a Las Vegas casino since before my existence, as well as my father, who has been in the transportation industry for 25 years, work hand in hand to save up for my siblings and my education. Education is a key factor in my household. If my father and I aren’t talking about current events or the Bible, there’s no doubt that he’ll bring up anything related to school and education, and lecture me for hours about how he wasn’t granted an opportunity like I was. He has always wanted to be an engineer, and had the full potential to do so, but due to the adversity that he as well as my mother had gone through in their home country, their only choice was to flee and start a better life for my siblings and I in America. They couldn’t imagine raising a child in horrible conditions. They were a few of the fortunate one’s who have made it alive and well in America and now they work continuously to provide a better life for us.

Education has always been highly valued by my family but opportunities for academic achievement were not always available to every member of my immediate family. My mother was the first one in her family to go to college and get advanced degrees. My father did not pursue anything further than high school. I keep these circumstances in mind as I further my learning and strive for a better education through hard work. In doing so, I can help pave paths for future generations of students in my family. Opportunities at NCSSM and other outside sources will push me even more to gain as much knowledge as possible; ultimately leading to a higher educational career. Additionally, I have completed a majority of my education with the aid of my mother

For me, and probably many of my fellow students, higher education always seemed like a foregone conclusion: I never questioned if I was going to college, just where. No other options ever occurred to me. After working 12-hour shifts in a factory, the other options have become brutally clear. When I'm back at the university, skipping classes and turning in lazy re-writes seems like a cop-out after seeing what I would be doing without school. All the advice and public-service announcements about the value of an education that used to sound trite now ring true."(Braaksma,

I am a first-generation college student. My parents never got passed high school. They were both faced with hardship and had no choice but to get a job to deal with the responsibilities of home. My dad left India at the age of 16 to build a better life for himself and my mom in America. In my household, education has always been a priority. Since my parents have felt firsthand how life is like without a degree, they made it their mission to ingrain in us a value for education like no other. However, there have been many situations in which I have found myself lost and looking for answers about college. Sadly, by being a first-generation student, my parents could not help me. Not only could they not help me, but being the first to attend college

This is a reflective essay concerning my READ 3423.01 with Dr. Reid in the fall of 2016. As I wrap up my first semester at Texas Women’s University I am awed and thankful. I am the first person in my family to attend University. Some find this surprising because I do come from a family that has done well professionally, but that was due to grit and personalities. The fact is, I was never even spoken to about attending college while I was growing up. I believe this is because no one before me had this experience to share or encourage. The truth is I tried my hardest to not be at school from middle school on, I just wasn’t engaged in the process. Of course, there were a few teachers I connected with, like the business and history teachers, but I hated the rules and structure of the environment. I amazedly graduated with my high school class, as my friends went away to Universities I took some classes at the community college. What I found was that when I got to pick my classes I flourished. Even the classes that others said were too hard to take during summer quarter, I excelled in those as well. As life unfolded I got married, moved out of state and had two daughters. When it was time for my daughters to attend school I was pretty apprehensive about the idea of it. I opened a preschool in a mother-in-law apartment we had on our property and decided they could learn there in a small community. That preschool led to homeschooling, and large educational co-ops. I lived in a

I am fortunate enough to have parents that can afford to send me to college, and support my choice to pursue a higher education. By attending college, I will eventually graduate with a degree and later earn a high paying career. Along with this, I have found college to be a way to discovering who I am. I have been able to move out, take over my own bills, and earn responsibility by doing so. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to attend college. Financial reasons typically hold individuals back from attending universities, and that later may affect their lives. Although I attend class daily, the true effect college will have on me in the future goes unnoticed. An education is something that is highly valued, and so important. Everyone should have the chance to have an education, but unfortunately, it does not happen. College for me, is a privilege. Therefore, I will work hard to earn my degree, and later put it to

Growing up in a less privileged household has not only offered financial and academic challenges, but has also helped me to realize the value and power of achieving a higher education.

Seeing people that will be graduating with me this year not able to go to universities or get further education made me realize how great of a privilege I have. I have been fortunate to have been born in a family that can afford to send not only me, but my other siblings to college as well. This is why I want to go to college, in order to make the best of my education not only

I grew up in a single-parent, low-income home outside of Santa Rosa, California. The idea of college wasn’t introduced to me until long after I had already become just another statistic. I dropped out of high school when I was 17, in the midst of a teenage rebellion, thinking I already knew everything and didn’t need anyone’s help. I left home, got a job at a fast food restaurant, and stayed with friends off and on until I realized that maybe I didn’t know everything quite yet. After a severe reality check, I found a sense of responsibility that encouraged me to get my G.E.D and find a great job. I was very determined to take everything I learned as a child and use it as a what-not-to-do guide. By the time I was 19, I bought my first house and quickly realized I could either set limitations with excuses or achieve goals with endurance. The

Even though I gained admission to all the colleges I applied to after high school, my parents were not able to raise enough money to cover for my school expenses. I stayed home for some time trying to help my parents raise enough money for school. I’m the first generation student in my family and coming from a family living under low income and struggle to put food on the table, we knew the only way to come out of this situation is through college education and that is what I'm committed to do.

My interest in interior design commenced in middle school during a project on various careers. Since then, it has become an ever-developing passion. Interior design has manifested itself into my daily thoughts. I constantly look at my surroundings, wondering what I could do to change the room into a more practical space. This fuels my thirst for further knowledge. The only way to gain this knowledge is to get a degree and learn through practical application. My educational and professional career objectives are to obtain a bachelor of fine arts in interior design and to succeed as a commercial interior designer.

Growing up in a family in which both my parents had master's degrees, it was naturally expected that I would go to college, and for both my own benefit as well as pleasing my parents, I chose to pursue so-called "higher education". Stepping up to this "higher" plateau is no small matter, however.