Why I Want to Be a Biotechnologist

I have attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for the last two years. I will be entering my junior year pursuing a Bachelor Degree of Science with a major in Environmental Studies. My career interests entail green energy and natural resource management. I was a young child when I started attending a summer camp program that emphasized nature and environmental conservation—ever since I have made outdoor activities into hobbies and continued interest in environmental sustainability. The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh focuses on sustainability through green building, alternative and solar energy, and curbing pollution.

In 2011, my parents and I came to America. The choice that my parents made had benefited my academic career. I have a better education here and schools in America helped me become a better 2learner. Education is an important part of one’s life. Without a good education, not everyone can achieve their lifelong goals that want to achieve someday. When I was living in India it was much more different studying there. The teachers in India, would not be as tough as the teachers here. Some teachers do not give any effort in wanting to help their students succeed. Eventually, my parents decided to come to America, to get a good career and help me succeed . When I came to America, it was an escape from the education that I was having before.

I was told, at the age of thirteen, that the U.S. was the land of opportunities. My parents came here from Peru, so we could pursue the American dream. Despite the challenges encountered, while incorporating into a new society, my parents constantly encouraged me to overcome any difficulties. They taught me the value of hard work, which is necessary to achieve my goals. Watching my parents work long hours in menial labor jobs for the past 11 years, has inspired me to strive for a professional education.

I have been interested in Technology and certain aspects of Science since I was a child. As I became older I came to a realization of how much I love Technology; I began to excel in my technology and engineering classes but not do as great in my science classes. I began to loathe science as I took upon the love of Engineering. As I have researched different types of engineering in previous years, I have stumbled across Agricultural and Environmental Engineering. I have decided instead of seeing science a challenge I cannot overcome I should work harder to be better at the subject. Therefore, I can combine my love for the planet and horticulture with my love for technology and engineering. Having an internship at USDA as a Senior will further help me achieve my goal of having a career in the STEM field. I feel having an Internship my senior year will cause me to further succeed as the research I will hopefully be doing can cause me to grasp a better understanding of the different types of careers open to me in the future.

My parents are Hmong refugees that immigrated to the United States after the Vietnam War in the 1970s in search of a better life. In their eyes, America is the land of the free and where dreams can become reality. In Laos, my parents lived an agrarian lifestyle with very little education. Despite their lack of education, they realized that education held the key to success. Throughout my life, my parents emphasized the importance of education and did their best to guide my siblings and me. This was not an easy task for my parents because of the cultural adjustment that they experienced, but they managed to instill in me invaluable character qualities such as patience, perseverance, hard work, sacrifice and courage. I am the third youngest out of twelve children, and I will be the first to receive a Graduates degree.

My childhood was split over two different and unique cultures. This special upbringing presented me with challenges that lead me to continually reflect on my life and identity throughout my childhood. I had to adapt to different educational systems as my family moved back and forth between Syria and the United States. However, that only motivated me to work harder and seize the opportunities that surrounded me at every point of my life. I learned to treat obstacles and hardships as chances for growth and development.

My journey involved not only me but many others. My journey started when my father let our home country to come to the USA, my mom didn’t want to leave so she stayed. I was left with my mom and was lonely and a bit mad at my father. At age 3 my mother left to go to the US to be with my father, I was left with my grandparent. I guess that being without my parents for 5 years changed me a bit; I can recall sometimes feeling lonely seeing how others had their parents with them going to place and enjoying being with them. Most of the time I didn’t really mind being with my grandparents because after all I couldn’t cry about it and if did, I knew that it wasn’t going change anything. Then in 2008 I came to the US, I started going to school and later on noticed that being in a new country didn’t mean that things were going to be well, I realized that no matter where you are in the world you still have to work hard to get to places, I didn’t feel like that at the time. After many things happened, many happy and bad times the journey that I have has made me become aware that one must work hard so that one can become a somebody. I have also learned that most people take things for granted, even

Three months ago I was studying my last moments of high school in Mexico. I had already planned the university I was going to and the major I wanted to course. Everything was happening really fast when my father told my mother and I that he had a job opportunity in the United States. He didn't wish to force us to go with him, although we did accept to leave because both of us consider that the most valuable thing in this world is family.

Anyway so I was in Kuwait, had left behind my family which included my Mom and Dad, a wife and two little kids to work as a typist (official title sales coordinator) . It was a period of great upheaval in my life, when I think of it; the upheavals had been going on for some time. But the stint away from home, being completely dependent on my own self for everything changed something in me in fact, everything in me. I could no longer claim I had any resemblance to the person who first set foot on that dry and unforgiving desert

During the Fall semester of my junior year in my Biotechnology pathway, I gained the opportunity to take City College courses as part of the dual enrollment program at my high school. I enrolled into the Briefings in Biotechnology class (BTEC 5), via my teacher, in order to scope at the potential of biotechnology from external sources.

I was born and raised in Cuba. My sister and I were raised by a single mother. Since my mother does not have a high education level, I am the first person in my family with the opportunity of obtaining a bachelor degree and enter medical school. Consequently, she could only offer restricted support for my educational development. However, she always strived to support our family. Nevertheless, I began to work to provide for them as soon as I finished high school. Therefore, I could not attend to the university at that time. Soon after, I got married and had my first child. Then, I moved to the United States of America with my husband and child due to economic reasons and to pursue the American Dream at the age of 26. Then, I got pregnant with

My story is neither the most adventurous nor the most interesting. I grew up in an environment, where opportunities were almost non-existent; I quickly got exposed to the rigors and challenges of life at a very tender age. At age seven, I was already selling household items with my older brother (Bidemi) in a big African market as a way of contributing to the family upkeep. He actually taught me how to persuade people to always buy from me which I found very helpful. Before long, I had become so motivated to succeed in endeavor, especially my academics. I was among the top five in my school at the time and was also made the time prefect for the whole school due to my discipline, regularity and punctuality.

Over the years I have thought of many different careers and majors that I believed I should do. Most of the time they were based on what I saw other people, who I looked up to doing. My cousin Courtney was a lifeguard, so I wanted to be a lifeguard, my mom was a nurse, so I wanted to work in the medical field. Then I would be watching sporting events with my dad, and I wanted to be a sports journalist/reporter. It wasn’t until high school that I really started to look at what I liked to do and what I was good at.

The process of life has always intrigued me. From the abundance of technology being created every day to new cures battling new diseases, the world of biology is continually changing. I have always dreamt of being part of a field whose main purpose is to help others and to improve the world around us; to me that is Biotechnology. Biotechnology is the field for future innovations that benefits an individual, but also the society.

Without the support of my father and the drastic change in my life, I understood that the only way to improve my quality of life was to study and find the passion to which I was going to dedicate the rest of my life. After careful thought, I decided to move to the United States. Leaving my family, I came to this country in search of knowledge, contacts and “greater opportunities”. During these years, I have been confronted with many obstacles, but I have been able to resolve them thanks in part to my dedication. When it comes to achieving my goals, I find it in myself to push myself until that goal it met. I consider that there is no lack of opportunities for someone that believes in their capabilities and is aware that nothing comes without sacrifice, meaning that hard work and dedication are required in order to achieve goals.