My Educational Journey: From My Migration To The United States

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

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.

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

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

Approximately 200,000 to 225,000 undocumented immigrants enroll in American institutions of higher education and represent 2 percent of all students in college (Suarez-Orozco, Katsiaficas, Birchall, Alcantar, & Hernandez, 2015). Undocumented students have low rates of enrollment to programs of higher education in comparison to documented students. When undocumented students begin college, they go through struggles to adapt and assimilate to college life. As a result of feeling disconnected to the campus they attend, undocumented students may look for different options for support, such as clubs and centers offered for students. In recent years, there have been legal changes set in place to support the success of undocumented students enrolled in higher education, which include in state tuition, financial aid, and scholarship opportunities. These changes have given undocumented students more choices and access to

I am a first generation Latino student to go to college. Escaping the mafia and poverty, my parents traveled to America in 1997. I am a representative of the millions of immigrants who have traveled to this country for a better future. I maintain an American dream, and I strongly believe that I am capable of achieving great success and prosperity through hard work and dedication. My vision has encouraged members of my Latino community; They have recognized that we are capable of bringing success to future generations. I carry a strong sense of responsibility, confidence, and leadership, and am a person who is fully committed to academics and service. I have been able to overcome many obstacles in my academic life. I entered school not knowing

I remember all the meetings I had during my senior year. They were all suppose to help us prepare for college. All my friends knew what careers they wanted and what they wanted to be in life. Then there was me, I had no clue what career I wanted or what interested me. Knowing that, I was scared to even apply to a college. I was able to overcome the fear of attending college by talking to my 12th grade english teacher and forcing myself to apply to college.

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

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

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.

I began my journey of writing on May 7, 2017 when I began taking English 1301 at Texas State Technical College. When entering the course, I did not feel that the course was relevant to complete my educational journey. Writing was not one of my strongest points, so this journey was a difficult one. During the course I learned how to better prepare myself for writing and composing assignments, how to construct an outline, proper sentence structure, and punctuation. I feel this journey will better prepare me for continuing my education and help me to communicate better as a professional.

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 supposed to take. For a while I had no direction, but through the loss of my high school English teacher and my dream of making my family proud, I discovered that college was the place I wanted and needed to be.

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.

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.

Hello Ashley it is a great pleasure to meet you and I'm looking forward to working with you throughout this eight week journey. I applaud you on wanting to open a daycare and work with children, people that teach children do you have a very special place in their hearts for them. Being a teacher or even being around children at a daycare you get to see different reactions or side effects of a child's behavior. I currently raising a child who has a disorder which I think it is bipolar but that is yet to be determined. Good luck on your research paper and your educational journey.