Personal Statement
Virginia Aguilar
September 23, 2015
AP English Lit.
Period 1
There are many factors that are involved for my well-being which are community, ethnicity, beliefs, and background. I live in Lindsay, a small rural town with a population of about 10,000 people. I live in an apartment with a mother who works in the field, where she has to struggle to make ends meet. The workers wake up every day at four a.m. and work up to fourteen hours, whether it’s in 100 or 40 degrees, not even receiving minimum wage, and having little time to spend quality time with us. As a single mother, she has to scrape money together just to afford to live in our apartment every month, which has decreased my hope of one day having the opportunity to attend college because of our financial struggles. I am afraid to go to college because I know my family may not be able to afford it and I will have to be all on my own.
Many Hispanic families go to work picking oranges, grapes, olives, or whatever the fruit is for the season. Parents expect us to join them in order to realize how much work they put in to provide us with what they can and to become hard workers ourselves. Though I understand their point of view, my own opinion is that I see this as motivation to work harder in school so I won’t have to work in the fields. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard my mom tell me that the more time I spend performing extracurricular activities, the less time I would have to work in the fields; which means less food on the table. The fact that my mom did not support me from the start, by not encouraging me to focus more on my studies than with work, only brought me down even more.
On the other hand, work has taught me responsibility, independence, and the value of a dollar. Now that I have obtained that knowledge, all I need is the education part. This is where my financial status hit me hard. I thought that I would never be able to attend a four year university. Being first-generation in my family puts me under a lot of pressure. If I don’t make it to college, I will be a complete disappointment to my family. I want the sacrifices my mom made for me such, as risking their lives to come to America, be worth something. Now I have a chance to prove that I am worth all those sacrifices.
When I wasn’t working or at cross country practice, I always had to take care of my little siblings, nieces, and nephews because the oldest child in the household is in charge when the parent is our working or just simply not home. I adore children and enjoy taking care of them, which made me realize my future career; becoming a pediatric nurse practitioner to help toddlers in need. To begin my journey of becoming a nurse, I will go to a four year university using the motivation I have obtained from my past experiences and help form financial aid. Once I become a nurse, I can aid those in my community. From there it all depends on the other future obstacles that will keep me from obtaining my goals, but those obstacles won’t be impossible to overcome.
Virginia Aguilar
September 23, 2015
AP English Lit.
Period 1
There are many factors that are involved for my well-being which are community, ethnicity, beliefs, and background. I live in Lindsay, a small rural town with a population of about 10,000 people. I live in an apartment with a mother who works in the field, where she has to struggle to make ends meet. The workers wake up every day at four a.m. and work up to fourteen hours, whether it’s in 100 or 40 degrees, not even receiving minimum wage, and having little time to spend quality time with us. As a single mother, she has to scrape money together just to afford to live in our apartment every month, which has decreased my hope of one day having the opportunity to attend college because of our financial struggles. I am afraid to go to college because I know my family may not be able to afford it and I will have to be all on my own.
Many Hispanic families go to work picking oranges, grapes, olives, or whatever the fruit is for the season. Parents expect us to join them in order to realize how much work they put in to provide us with what they can and to become hard workers ourselves. Though I understand their point of view, my own opinion is that I see this as motivation to work harder in school so I won’t have to work in the fields. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard my mom tell me that the more time I spend performing extracurricular activities, the less time I would have to work in the fields; which means less food on the table. The fact that my mom did not support me from the start, by not encouraging me to focus more on my studies than with work, only brought me down even more.
On the other hand, work has taught me responsibility, independence, and the value of a dollar. Now that I have obtained that knowledge, all I need is the education part. This is where my financial status hit me hard. I thought that I would never be able to attend a four year university. Being first-generation in my family puts me under a lot of pressure. If I don’t make it to college, I will be a complete disappointment to my family. I want the sacrifices my mom made for me such, as risking their lives to come to America, be worth something. Now I have a chance to prove that I am worth all those sacrifices.
When I wasn’t working or at cross country practice, I always had to take care of my little siblings, nieces, and nephews because the oldest child in the household is in charge when the parent is our working or just simply not home. I adore children and enjoy taking care of them, which made me realize my future career; becoming a pediatric nurse practitioner to help toddlers in need. To begin my journey of becoming a nurse, I will go to a four year university using the motivation I have obtained from my past experiences and help form financial aid. Once I become a nurse, I can aid those in my community. From there it all depends on the other future obstacles that will keep me from obtaining my goals, but those obstacles won’t be impossible to overcome.