My Interest In My Life

My life before enlisting into the military I was very different. I was a gregarious person, always wanting to go out and meeting new people. My childhood, and school memories were those of happy moments. I had many friends, went and had sleep overs, went on school trips, had fun at amusement parks,

Moreover, the military also gave me the opportunity to travel abroad. Living in countries such as Korea, Spain, and Germany and immersing myself in their cultures has given me perspective on the differences between the United States and other countries. Each place I have lived has been unique in some way, from the different languages to the variations in cultural practices. Dealing with individuals with different backgrounds has helped me develop a good rapport with people.

As a child dealing with domestic abuse, this is the first time I faced adversity. Later, being abandon by our father, made it difficult for my mother falling on hard times financially, along with raising three children as a single parent. I was the first to graduate from high school out of my immediate family, at this time I was content

Living as a military dependent has changed my perception of the world. Since I have lived in many different places and experience different cultures, I have been able to develop a better global understanding. I understand that people around the world are all different

With the fighting that seemed endless, I became oblivious to the people around me and myself. I closed myself off, and did not notice the personal struggles that some of my family members were going through. As I grew up, I learned to be more aware of my own feelings, as well as those around me. I have also become a less confrontational person because I never want to have to go through fights again. I feel like my family has always been dysfunctional in a sense, but I would not change them. Yes, there were tough times that I went through, but I did not become a person who was afraid to make friends or experience life. I became a strong young woman who pushed past the difficult points in her life. If you have experienced a difficult time in your life, would you change it even if it helped you become who you are

Discuss the origin and development of your interest in social work; include any influences that your family, personal, educational, and vocational experiences may have had on your career choice.

I've changed a lot through my life but nothing has changed me more than an obstacle that my family and I had to over come. My family and I were homeless for awhile, some can't bounce back to where we were. We didn't let that stop us to get to where we wanted to go. I've been through so many conflicts I feel I have grownup way too fast for my age, but there was one conflict that has helped me grown stronger, not just as a person but mentally too.

I am a military brat. With that, there are a few aspects that have fostered me into someone who I believe to have high merit. For one, moving every three years isn't a walk in the park, but I learned to adapt. I am a people person, which originated from constantly meeting new people with each and every move. Meeting tons of new people created a trend, people with similar personalities, likes, dislikes. It became easy to put people into categories and to figure them out to the point where fitting into any social group wasn't a problem. The military has made me confident in who I am, it has forced me to come out of my shell, and it has taught me to overcome difficult times and keep pushing forward.

I have spent my entire life as a military child. When you move every three years, and take at least a year to begin making friends, you tend to spend a lot of time alone. By the time I finally had a few good friends, it would be time to move again. Each move brought a new home, new neighborhood, new school, new church, new scout troop, and more old friends left behind. By the time I finished the fifth grade, I had been through three elementary schools and

In my life, I have had to overcome many obstacles and difficult things that have come my way. I feel that these events have made me into the person that I am today.

Change is a recurring motif in my life. It taught me things that I would not have learned had I lived normally. I am now strong, adaptable, and extremely intuitive. I am ready to truly follow my heart and live my life the way I want to, not the way I am expected to. And although I love my name, and I do not mind my gender, I still do not share my family’s religious views, and I most definitely do not want to become a doctor.

For ten years of my military career, I was stationed at the same Air Force base in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I had originally joined the military to see the world and meet new people. However, I did not get the opportunity to do so for a long time. I worked with the same people day in and day out and never really got to experience different cultures. Not being able to have those experiences changed two years ago when I received orders to do a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) to Geilenkirchen Air Base, Germany to work for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

My desire and passion for helping others is intertwine with my personal and professional life experiences. Growing up in Guatemala, a third world country, helped me become the person I am today. My first twelve years in my native country taught me lessons that changed my perspective and shaped who I am and who I want to be in the future. From a young age, I had this great admiration for nature and in Guatemala I was able to admire it. I remember endless nights looking at the stars and patiently waiting for a shooting star. Nature was my play room. Life in Guatemala was beautiful but it wasn’t easy. It was not until I came to the United States that I begin to realize how much my mother had sheltered me from the violence and poverty that surrounded us. Sadly, my beautiful country is fill with corruption. The rich exploit the poor and laws are created to protect does in power regardless of their wrongdoing. In Guatemala, women are treated unequally because our society has rigid gender roles and has created a culture that takes pride in masculinity and machismo. It was well known in my small village that if a man found a female attractive and wanted her for himself he could “robarte” which translates to “steal you.” My mother and many other women in my family experienced this. My father was a policeman in Guatemala and he was attracted to my mother. My mother, on the other hand, was not looking for any serious relationship because she was only 17 years old. The city closest to

Almost all little girls start their primary schooling years wanting to play school and wanting to learn. At home they act like they are teaching their own classroom and leading their group of students in front of them (most likely a stuffed animal), but their imagination, creativity, and eagerness to learn is at the peak when they begin their first day of school. Ever since that day I still want to be an educator and to make a difference in this field for the better. I have always found that the most intriguing thing for me in life is conveying knowledge and skills onto other people and watching in their eyes when the switch finally clicks that they understand what I have been trying to teach them. Knowing that the impact you made for just that short amount of time in that child’s life may never be forgotten.

I have many hobbies that I fill my time with. I enjoy reading. Ever since I was little my dad has called me a “voracious reader”. I am open to reading any kind of book, but I especially love realistic fiction, action adventure, and nonfiction. I also love playing sports. I did track for one year, softball for two years, gymnastics for three years, basketball for five years, and soccer my whole life as well as camps for tennis and swim. I find that playing sports has taught me many important skills including teamwork and reaching out to others as I’ve played with new people. These sports have also taught me the importance of staying healthy and fit. One of my other hobbies is music. I love music and find myself dabbling in piano and guitar whenever I have free time. I also play the trumpet and sing in my church choir. Lastly, I love baking and cooking. Although to my parents dismay sometimes (because they complain I’m making them fat) I always find myself gravitating to the kitchen and have acquired quite the collection of pans, sprinkles, food coloring, and other tools. My hobbies have taught me the importance of hard work and dedication and a love for trying new things.