Personal Narrative: Being Born Into A Latino Immigrant Family

Being a daughter of immigrant parents has never been easy here in America. Both my parents worked excessively hard to be financially stable. Unfortunately at the age of ten my life changed. I learned that my parents no longer loved each other. The arguing and fighting my parents had, only damaged me emotionally. I was too young to grasp the idea that my parents were separating which become one of the hardest times for my mom to maintain my siblings and I. Shortly after, I began attending church and fell in love with the idea of getting closer to God. Luckily, my life took an enormous turn the moment I gave my life to Christ. God has opened numerous opportunities for my education. I am proud of all the accomplishments I have achieved in high

My parents always wanted to give their children the life they never had. I am Mexican-American, both of my parents immigrated from Mexico to the U.S. before I was born. I have numerous relatives, including my older sister, who do not have the same opportunities I have to achieve success because they are undocumented. For them, college was only a dream that could never be attained. Being the first U.S. citizen out of my entire family affected the way I thought about life. It was expected that I would attend college because I was the only one who had access to all the resources granted to American citizens. Although, I agreed with my family, the pressure to succeed and be a role model to my younger siblings was overwhelming.

Much to my own embarrassment, my Hispanic heritage had been a thing I hardly thought of. My Father left my family when I was young, and with him went the hopeful wisps I had of learning about myself. It’s not to say that I wasn’t aware that I was Hispanic, but rather, growing up in a mainly white household I didn’t think I had any right to claim my ethnicity. However, the more I look around me and learn about the community Hispanics have grown accustomed to, the more I find that I understand where I came from. To me, being Hispanic isn’t about what you were told when you were younger, or the traditions you grew up with. Rather, being Hispanic is about learning where you come from, and learning about those who share your same heritage. ‘Hispanic’

It is challenging being the oldest child in every family. What is even harder, is being the first child of immigrant parents. From the obstacles I faced, I was able to become independent. My parents left El Salvador to go to America for a better life. When they left their country my mother was pregnant with her first child which was me. After I was born and I began to grow, the only language I spoke and heard was Spanish. Since both my parent spoke little English and spoke mostly Spanish I thought it was only natural for me to follow them.

What makes me unique is that I am not afraid of failure. When I set a goal I do not focus on whether I might or might not be successful; I concentrate on doing my best and putting all of my effort into the task. What separates me from others is the adversity I’ve been through, my diverse skills, leadership abilities, my contribution to the community, and my work ethic.

“Wow...there is no way you’re Latino. You’re way too white!” was the ignorant remark made by a one of my peers during my school’s annual Latin-American Fest. Initially, hearing this claim made me look into the mirror. I began to stroke my face and examine my physical features. Was this true? Was I not Latino enough? Did the amount of melanin or lack thereof deem me as Latino?

My Hispanic culture is exceedingly unique contrast to other cultures because we have countless of beliefs, holidays, lifestyles, etc. My world of Hispanic culture raised me to become an independent and determined person because being the first generation of a Hispanic family to attend college has my family beyond thrilled for me to put value to our heritage. Putting value in our heritage is a magnificent emotion because people anticipate Hispanics to fail; but, we prove them wrong when we accomplish our goals. The Hispanic culture’s strength is unbelievably astonishing because we are ambitious of our dreams and we don’t cease until we fulfill our wish. Including the Hispanic culture at University of Washington may open people’s mind that we

It is not uncommon to hear one recount their latest family reunion or trip with their cousins, but being a first generation immigrant, I sacrificed the luxury of taking my relatives for granted for the security of building a life in America. My parents, my brother, and I are the only ones in my family who live in the United States, thus a trip to India to visit my extended family after 4 years was an exciting yet overwhelming experience. Throughout the trip, I felt like a stranger in the country where I was born as so many things were unfamiliar, but there were a few places that reminded me of my childhood.

I am Mexican-American. It took me years to finally be able to say that with a sincere feeling of pride. Both of my parents were born in Mexico and moved here before they had a chance to attend college, so my entire life I’ve been exposed to both Mexican culture and American culture. Instead of seeing my multi-cultured world as unique and special, I saw it as a sort of disadvantage, but as time went on and I became more educated on the successes of Mexican-Americans, I had a newfound understanding and appreciation of the culture which consequentially influenced my future aspirations.

Growing up as a Latino child, I never realized the segregation within my community in the city of Baldwin Park. I attended public schools with students that came from the same background and struggles as my own. It made sense living in an area with similar Latino families because I thought that was the way things were supposed to be. Even today in America. communities are segregated and made up of people with similar backgrounds. I never questioned why we were not surrounded by people that were African American, Asian, or any other race differing from my own. As I grew older, I started to realize how this was a problem because it did not allow for the community to be diverse. Today, I believe that by not being exposed to other cultures at

For our families with Latino roots, we had four speakers; Jesse Farias, Elia Banuelos Padron, Kathleen Cifuents Nekumanesh, and Eduardo Fabian Paramo. Indeed, Jesse, Elia, and Eduardo mention how their parents including themselves had to migrate to the United State for a better life from Mexico, Elia and Kathleen mention how their religion was Catholic, and within Elia’s family they would exhibit male supremacy with strict gender role. I was easily identified with all speakers because I am also a Latina. My parents migrated from Mexico to the United Stated for a better life to obtain the American Dream. I was happy to hear from Jesse that his dad is from Michoacan because my dad and mom’s family are from the same state. Even though I was not

Growing up, my parents or grandparents never told stories about where they came from. Unlike a lot of people, my family has been around for quite some time. My mother’s side has been around longer than my fathers, but both still go back quite a few generations. There are some unknowns and gaps of information from my mom’s side that no one today in my family even knows because of how far back this story goes.

Everything changed when I turned ten when the Recession impacted the United States. My dad was laid off from his job, which left my mom with the responsibility to pay the bills with her high school education level job. It was during this interim where I learned how to survive on bare bones. I remember rarely seeing my mom since she was always working, how we couldn’t use the air conditioner in the dead heat of summer because we couldn’t afford to pay the gas bill, and how we had to make personal sacrifices such as moving from our house to a somewhat less humble abode. Fortunately, we were able to recover, and by the time I turned eleven, my dad was able to find a job at Davita Dialysis and we were able to move out of the hole we were living in. When I got to high school, I was exposed to more people of different ethnicities. While Whites and Mexicans still were the majority of the school, Galt High School had a far more diverse student body than Lake Canyon. I remember befriending Muslims, Filipinos, Indians, Japanese, Vietnamese, African-Americans, Native Americans, Chinese, Russians, and Germans in addition to the Mexicans and Whites I

For most of my childhood, my whole world was comprised of people that shared the same ethnicity, culture, and living style as I did. But after leaving El Salvador at the young age of seven and undertaking the most difficult journey of my life, my world was split shattered. In school, I had to assimilate to a culture where I was surrounded by kids who had been born speaking English and teachers who taught with voluminous books instead of dirty chalk boards. Meanwhile, at home I had to meet my mom’s expectations while also serving as her intermediary between our old world and the US. Aside from school and home, I also had to struggle making friends, having difficulty creating and maintaining relationships with the people of my age group. Having

When a person reflects on their childhood, they often remember it filled with events that reflect comfort and delight. My childhood was unique in the aspect that I was immersed in a culture that was different than my own. I was a Latina growing up in a predominantly Asian community, where I was surrounded by a culture that was foreign to the one I was exposed to at home. I did not think much of this until I grew older and began to notice slight differences between the lives of my friends in comparison to my own. Although we had grown up together, I began to notice there was times where people begin to doubt my academic abilities. People underestimated what I could academically achieve simply because I was Latina. I came to realize overtime that I could not change who I was, despite how difficult