Personal Narrative: Being A Brazilian Woman With Syrian Heritage

When I was growing up, I’ve always thought I could be independent on myself, rather than my parents. This impulsive thought showed reason why I was one of the millions of naive people out there. To be honest, I didn’t really understand the world because I always thought of it to be some sort of joke. I took it for a joke and never heeded my parents’ warning about colleges and education. When 7th grade came around the corner, I started to heed their advice and started to take education, seriously. I maintained all A’s, however, my parents’ told me that the way I acted can really change the outcome. I never knew that academics wasn’t the only thingy colleges cared about. As a kid, I always thought the smartest prevail in the world.

In “Higher Education and the ‘American Dream’: Why the Status Quo won’t get us there” by Sara E. Keene asserts that in order to achieve a successful life, college should be able to make students become intuitive, studious and persistent . In Keene’s first attempts in college, she came to a conclusion that the “American Dream” has become unattainable to numerous amounts of students. The reason behind Keene’s statement is that most colleges do not challenge the minds of their students for the sake of saving students’ dignity in themselves. Therefore, these students can not achieve their full intellectual potential. They are not able to climb up the socioeconomic ladder of their careers, which subsequently harms their chances in obtaining the “American Dream.”

My mother worked four jobs at once to make financial ends meet, while always stressing the importance of education and financial independence to my brother and myself. My grandmother only achieved a second grade education due to the financial constraints on her family at a young age, but still in the end managed to make certain that of her children and grandchildren had what was needed to flourish and become successful, educated members of the community. The tenacity and history of these two women I still carry with me today. Their struggles have inspired to me to only want more from life, but also serve as a positive role model for the younger members of my community. I observed from other family members how an education can open a multitude of doors and opportunities. I want to make the biggest and most significant on my community and on my family as possible, and the only foreseeable path is to achieve a college education to gain the necessary skills, knowledge and connections needed to flourish and implement positive

Everyone has a different story and background, but we all hold similar aspirations for the future. We can either let our background draw us into an inescapable black hole or use it to thrive over any obstacle. For many minority students as myself, the shot at college is the only chance we truly get to overcome our situations. It’s true that not everyone needs a college education to succeed, but the truth is not everyone has the resources to make something of themselves without the valuable education which a renowned institution like the University of Illinois has to offer. I come from a low-income family which had their share of struggles from an early age, which impacted our lives greatly. My decision on what major I possibly might be interested in pursuing might not have been directly linked with my family history, but the overall aspiration of attending college has. At the age of eight I faced the sad reality that I would be left without a father figure. My dad would be incarcerated for the next seven years for dealing drugs and at the end of his sentence he would be deported back to Mexico. This incident left a heartbroken family and a mother to fend for four kids all by herself. This overall incident was a wake-up call to better myself and not let myself be defined by the mistakes, which my father committed. I saw the struggles, which my mother had to endure.My mother is one of the most

Who knew that dreams would come true? When I was a child, attending college was a big fantasy of mine that later became a reality. At the age of eleven, my family and I immigrated to the United States in the search for better opportunities. I came to this country with no knowledge of the language. My educational journey was not easy because of the language barriers and my immigration status as undocumented. At the beginning when I started middle school, I felt frustrated and useless for not being able to communicate with others. I was placed in ESL classes where I was taught English and basic math and science. I wasn’t learning anything new. During seventh grade, I was accidently placed in regular English classes. They were challenging at first because I was still an English learner. However, those classes helped me improved my English, and my knowledge was expanding. Even though it was hard to understand what was being discussed in class, that did not stop me from getting good grades in those classes. I would stay after school and asked questions to my teachers and read the readings carefully while taking notes. Eventually, my counselor

I am the first to go to graduate college in my family. As such, I faced many struggles in my undergraduate career in that I did not have family or peers to turn to for support and resources that would help me in college. Yet, that adversity taught me about perseverance—moving forward when all seemed lost—and my schooling at CSU East Bay taught me that my struggles form part of a larger history of struggle by the poor, disenfranchised, and marginalized, many of who are today, unfortunately, African Americans. These experiences, in turn, play a significant role in my decision to pursue a graduate education and they now form a critical component in my ability to find ways to overcome barriers to higher education.

My opening movement revolved around the theme that college was a lost path, however it was the path I desired to endure to give back to my parents. Growing up in a Hispanic community, I was raised with a preconceived notion that college was not vital for my future. It was merely an alternative path to choose from. No one in my family had received anything higher than a high school diploma. Consequently, I lacked motivation to go to college. All I knew was that I didn’t want to struggle with an

Education is arguably the base of the American Dream. Any person can start with nearly nothing, but through education, he or she can become successful. In Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodriguez told the story of how education allowed him to change from a boy who was “...able to understand some fifty stray English words”(9) to a scholar working in the British Museum. Obviously, Rodriguez appreciates the doors that education opened for him over the course of his life, but his autobiography reveals a dark side to the pursuit of higher education in America. Over the course of his autobiography, he admits that the more time he puts into his studies, the more aspects of his personal life he loses. His autobiography offers insight to the hidden effects of education. Education, specifically in America, allows an individual to receive significant opportunities; however, education forces an individual to surrender aspects of personal life in order to obtain the rights that come with education.

At some point I knew that something immense was missing in my life. I never got the experience of having my abuelos in proximity of where I live. My abuelos from both sides of my family are separated and weren’t with me for the majority of my life. My abuela from my father’s side doesn’t get along with my mother; therefore, my availability of seeing her is limited. It was then, by surprise, that my abuela from my mother’s side came to spend time with us on Christmas. That void within my heart filled with ecstasy after not seeing her for more than a decade. Having her there was meaningful. My desire was to have my abuelos with me. I always overheard people talk about their discoveries and adventures with their grandparents and couldn’t help but feel distressed.

At one-hundred years young, my grandmother passed away. As the matriarch of our family, we felt both saddened and relieved to see her go. She was an independent, educated, hardworking woman who cherished her family and friends. Stories she shared about her youth and her numerous life experiences supported me and guided me. Much of my personal identity formed in connection to her. My grandmother’s landscape, traditions, and identity lives on through me and my family. We, as people, construct identities to both give life meaning and to make meaning of life.

In conclusion, my mother has inspired me to attend college through the example she sets. I am constantly learning new facts about college and how it has changed since she attended Kutztown University. Even her pursuit of knowledge and the knowledge that she has obtained throughout the years is a testament to the power of college. College has helped her refine rudimentary skills and strengthen old skills, while teaching her different aspects of the education profession. One day, I hope to be as successful as she is and show the power of college through my knowledge and success in my chosen

It seems that no matter how isolated one makes itself, there will always be a prevalent aspect of life that cannot be escaped. It is of course the tragedy of death, a dark and frightening end. Fifteen-year old Mariam was no exception to this unfortunate truth of life. One spring day in 1979, a chauffeur started yelling at Mariam to turn away and go back. It was a desperate cry to shield the young girl from what she was about to see in her home just after returning from her stay at a family friend’s home. Her home, a small house near Heart, Afghanistan; isolated from the world. Now had her lifeless mothers body hanging inside. The mother - whose name is not disclosed per request of family – had reportedly been in unstable mental conditions.

When I was born, my parents made the tremendous sacrifice to leave me in China while they returned to the United States to finish graduate school. I never fully understood how big and difficult this choice would be for my then-new parents to leave their two month old daughter nearly 7,000 miles away from where they were. A few months ago, I found a diary my mother kept while she was in Texas back in 2001, featuring a collection of emotions and dialogues between phone calls with my grandparents and I, along with some sketches of me from photos. These diary entries inspired me to create a piece dedicated to my mom’s sacrifice all those years ago.

Ever since I can remember, I have been motivated to become as educated as I could. I love school, and I have put every ounce of myself into absorbing everything I could and making the most of my experiences. As I move on to college, it is my goal to maintain my passion for learning and use all of my experiences to grow as a person. I’m driven by much more than wanting career success and a higher paycheck. More than that, I want college to be the place where I experience what the world has to offer. I want to find out my true potential and become the best me that I can. Through hard work, long nights of studying, leadership exercises, world travel, and so much more, I want to gain insight into the world, and more importantly into myself.

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.