Personal Statement : Camping Trip

Attending camp neuro would be extremely helpful for me to continue exploring the healthcare field. I have been interested in the healthcare field ever since I was young because both my aunts were nurses, so when I was little my sister and I always played doctor or nurse with them. I started exploring the medical field by volunteering at the Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis over the summer. I looked forward to volunteering every week because I spent 3 hours holding infants and playing with patients and their siblings. While I was there I was able to observe doctors, nurses and a few physician’s assistants. In addition, I just finished an internship with an Orthopedic surgeon. I valued this opportunity to shadow him for a day in his clinic

During the summer before my Freshman year I went to hell and back, and by hell I mean Philmont scout ranch. Just a little background, Philmont scout ranch is 140,117 thousand acres of big rugged, dry, mountainous terrain. I knew what I was getting into, Ever since I joined boy scouts Philmont was regarded as the ultimate scouting experience, so of course i was pressured into that. Eventually summer rolled around and before I knew it I was on a train to New Mexico.

I was born very early and had teenage parents who did not really have their life together at that time. My parents were both high school dropouts. My dad dropped out because school was not for him and he just wanted to work and get money and my mom dropped out because school was not for her also and she was pregnant with me and did not want to deal with school. My dad worked everyday to keep our family moving and my mom just stayed at my grandmas house with me because obviously she had to take care of me. So we were living by paycheck to paycheck. One year later my sister was born and two years later after that my other sister was born. Since my parents really did not have that much money to get our own place we would live at my grandmas house to my papa’s house but at times we would have to camp out at the beach because we had no other choice. When we would live at the beach I would think that we were just camping for fun but I did not realize that we did not have any place to stay. My parents clothed me and my sisters, provided food for us, but we did not have a house over our head. So

I was nine years old when I moved to California from Japan, all the way across the world. Moving to California was quite possibly the weirdest experience that has happened to me as a child. Trying to move from a place that I pretty much spent my life in than literally going across the world without knowing anything about it was very foreign to me, however my parents used to live in california for about one or two decades.

I was in second grade, we were living in Searcy at the time, and I loved my home. I never wanted to leave. I felt safe there, at my home.

Growing up as a military brat wasn't easy, there were many places we had to go to and we didn't have a choice. One of those places was here ,Illinois, and I was ten when we made the move here.This move was probably the hardest thing I have ever physically gone through considering all of my mom and I's stuff was lost in the ocean because the place we moved from was Hawaii.So, when we got here me and mom both didn't have our stuff but the rest of my family did.To make matters worse my dad was being shipped out to South Korea and we didn't have a house. For a whole year we were homeless,we put what was left of our stuff into storage and moved in with grandma. As terrible as that year was, it taught me a lot about what some people actually live

Me and my family moved to Wisconsin when I was nine years old since I was so young at the time I really didn't understand what the purpose of moving from California to Wisconsin was. It wasn't until later on when I was around the age of 12 that I found out that we moved here because financially it was more reasonable. Moving here allowed my mother to become a homeowner, something she wouldn’t have been able to do in California because of the high prices. I guess you can say that at the age of nine I really didn’t have a purpose to move here apart from the fact that my mom was moving. However, over the years I realized that moving to Wisconsin was the right thing to do.

I don’t remember much, I just remember not wanting to leave. The place I would be spending the rest of my life I had only visited a few times. I, only being two at the time, was absolutely terrified of moving. Moving. It seemed like the worst possible thing that could’ve happened then. At first, when we left, it felt the same as the last time I had gone there. Then the realization that I would be gone forever kicked in, and the fact that this time, my dad wasn’t coming with us. Just my mom and I.

For the past 2 years I have been part of the San Francisco Police Activities League as a Cadet. As a Cadet I’ve had many opportunities that I never thought I would have. We, Cadets, help the San Francisco Police Department with any assistance they need in big Bay Area events or fundraising. I’ve gotten the chance to also meet the Chief of Police, Greg Suhr, and now Retired Deputy Chief, Lyn Tomioka. Never in my life did I think I would have the wonderful and honorable opportunity to meet 2 excellent people and many more amazing Officers. In the 2 years, I was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by Chief Suhr for the work I’ve done as a PAL Cadet.

cultured home, having nobody to ask for help due to the fact that my parents had not much

Our first few years in the United States were difficult and full of struggles. We lived on an unlicensed construction worker (dad) and a housekeepers (mom) salary until I turned 16 and was legally allowed to work.

Let's start back when he started having his early stages of his complications. Something that he loved to do during the summer, was to take us camping at Joe Pool Lake for the weekend. Whenever we would go camping, he would also bring our pontoon boat with us to either go swim out on the lake, go tubing, or go fishing. This day was different though, he didn't seem like himself at all. Some of my mom's friends came out to the campsite, so we were all wanting to go out on the boat, and usually he is the first one to ask us if we want to go out on the lake, but he was nowhere to be found. My mom went into our camper, where he was laying down in bed, and asked "Do you want to take the boat out on to the lake with us?" He said "No, I'm not feeling good. My stomach hurts, but you all can take the keys and go." When he said this, we didn't think much about it because stomach aches and pains can be a normal thing that can come and go. Well little did we know, this was just the beginning of the most terrifying and tragic journey that we have gone through. We proceeded to take the boat,

My parents after having me and my sister had set their hearts, and minds set on moving to the United States they felt growing up in the U.S. would give us a better opportunity. When I was nine years old they had finally saved up enough money and completed the necessary paperwork for us to come to the states and be on our way to citizenship. When we first made the move I was deeply confused and upset with my parents. I had many close friends and family that I had to leave behind I felt as if they had stripped me away from my home.

As a child, I grew up many places, my dad’s old job moved us around a lot. I was born in Hayward, Ca. and moved to Red Bluff as a baby and stayed until I was like 5 or 6. Then I moved to Taylor, Arizona and lived there until I was 8. I moved to The Dalles, Oregon and turned 9 shortly after, we lived at the very top of Oregon, right next to the Washington border. I could see Washington driving down certain streets, but by the time I was 10 I had been somewhat homeless. I lived in a car with my 3 other siblings and parents for a month or so. It wasn’t like it was horrible, we never slept in the car. We stopped at motels and we drove highway 101, because we were struggling and the beach solves everything.

It was the summer of 1977, and my father decided to pack the station wagon and drive from Fort Worth to Tampa, Florida. Besides my parents in the vehicle, my two sisters and brother also joined us for the long journey. I was young and excited and did not realize the distance my father would be driving on this trip. We made two stops on the way down and the first one was in Mississippi at a Holiday Inn. My first time spending the night the night at a hotel occurred on this vacation, and I was excited. We had adjoining rooms with my parents, and we spent the evening in the pool and watching television all night. I was never aware of my parents’ finances but I know now, we did not have a lot of money. From Mississippi, we stopped again in Tallahassee, Florida and we swam in the ocean during the afternoon and hit the hotel pool in the