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
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
My mom immigrated from India to America in her adolescence and later was the first in our family to attend college and get a degree. I want to follow in her footsteps and go and get a college education and prove to her that I did not take all the back-breaking hours of work that both my mom and dad put in for granted, and to prove that I am willing to work hard. My parents both came to America with a couple dollars and a dream, and they were able to provide for me with little outside help. I am fortunate for this situation, and many, like me, have not had such lucky childhoods, and this has shaped my aspirations and goals in life. I want to go into the medical field in order to one day help other people. I want to make a living out of helping
At the time, I also happened to be undocumented, waiting for my long-anticipated green card. Thus, when I applied to college, I was denied acceptance everywhere only because of my immigration status and my inability to afford a higher education.
Knowing the struggles my ancestors have prevailed upon to provide me the opportunity to pursue my dreams is humbling. They’ve taught me that education is power. I was able to understand its magnitude by becoming an English teacher to students from a local underprivileged public school. I had been capable of reminding them that they are entitled to dream, simply by giving them the knowledge and opportunity to think outside of the box. As I move on to college, I hope to continue to empower individuals through education, providing them the opportunity that my great-grandmother wished for but did not have. Despite the tumultuous path to accepting and understanding myself, I know that college will be another colorful fragment to the patchwork of my
College had previously seemed like an unrealistic dream but now it seems very realistic. My lineage goes back to Mexico. My mother was born and raised in Chihuahua, Mexico; my father was born and raised in Matamoros, Mexico. They each attended two years of elementary school and soon after dropped out. This was so they could help provide for their families. They both had farms with a lot of animals. Their everyday work was hours of unruly heat and manual labor. They were not compensated but got worn hands and strong backs. This was necessary so everyone could get fed, and so that there could be a roof over their heads. They have struggled for most of their lives.
Why do you deserve to attend LEAP? Every since I was a child my parents always spoke about college.A dream of theirs has now become a huge goal for me, to be the first in my family to attend and graduate college. In the third grade, after getting a good grade on my tests their faces would light up and would tell me how proud they were of the intelligent young lady I was becoming and how they wanted me to make something great out of myself, but most importantly impact and change something in the community. As a little third grade girl I smiled and noded without fully grasping the meaning of what they were talking about. By the age of ten I knew what they meant and that’s how I knew that pursuing law school and becoming a lawyer is what I wanted to do with my life,
As the youngest among 5 siblings, I was born in Sierra Leone and migrated to the United States at the age of 7. Specifically, my parents first settled in Brooklyn, New York. During this period, my parents and I alternated between shelter homes and section 8 housing across Brooklyn and
My father migrated to the United States from Mexico in the 1980s, due to the impoverished conditions including the high rates of unemployment. As a result, my father became a United States permanent resident, which granted him with the opportunity of petitioning for his entire family. In 2000 we obtained our United States permanent residence cards and my family and I migrated to United States along with my father seeking the American Dream. In the midst of all, my father, my sister, my brother became United States citizens, however, my mother remained a permanent resident. Furthermore, both of my parents have been my utmost role models for my siblings and I, where we lived in a pleasant civil house. My father worked incredibly hard to maintain
I was born and raised in Tijuana, Mexico. But when I was eight years old, my life transformed completely. I was no longer the smart little girl sitting in front of the class, but the English learner in the back of the classroom. My transition to the United States was
I moved to United States an year ago since my family immigrated to US in 2013. Initially, I struggled to get adjusted to the new environment and culture. But within months, I adapted to the new environment, which boosted my confidence in myself that I can react positively to a change and make most out of it. In Texas, I live by myself as I attend South Plains College and work two part time jobs. I believe the decision I have taken to move to Texas, leaving my family in Missouri, helped me to be an independent and strong woman. I earned a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Math and Physics from the fourth ranked University in India. Furthermore, I was honored to work as a Student Director as well as the Script writer of my University Theater team
For many, after graduating high school the next big step is college. I never asked myself why or if I even wanted to. Yet, since I was not yet ready to join the work force, and didn’t want to disappoint my parents, I simply followed the path that I was
Why College is Important to Me Ever since I was a child, I had always been bombarded with the same question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”. I was quite indecisive so my answers changed from astronaut to scientist to lawyer to president almost every other week. Regardless of what I had responded, my mom would always remind me about how essential a college education would be to obtaining that goal. My parents and I had immigrated from El Salvador when I was two years old, with my parents giving up any chance of them obtaining a college degree just so that I could get access to the best education. My parents do not work high paying jobs and I witness the sacrifices they made for me everyday with their hard work, their long hours,
When I was a kid, school for me was waking up early in the morning. I also have to study a lot in school, then after school I have to do homework. I remember my first day at school. My mom and dad, both were so happy and prepared but I was so nervous and cheerless. I didn’t like to wake up early in the morning for school , but as time flew by I started loving school which made me wake up with energy instead of tiredness. I began to enjoy the school as I made new friends and I got to know how it is like when you meet people out of your neighborhood. With my friends I had lunch together and study together. I started to understand what the purpose of the education system. Based on what I understood I think the purpose of education is really aimed at helping students get to the point where they can learn to be on their own. In this journey of education I had a lot of positive and few negative experiences,but the negative experiences also helped me growing. Positive experiences are my teachers helping me improve, and I improved more when I moved to the United States.
Lizette Ayala Student ID # 000802911 Task 3 My Educational Journey This story has to begin in my middle school years. At this age, I was already being tested annually amongst my peers. My parents had already received grades from the prior year letting them know that I was excelling in math and science. This year was different, this year they kept emphasizing on how it counts. And how it did. The grade I had received on these standardized tests statewide were enough to push me to the next level.