Describe the world you come fromfor example, your family, community or schooland

tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

In 1995, there was a film released by the name of Mi Familia, or My Family. In it,
described the story of the Sanchez family and the political and social struggles each generation
faced from the 1940s through 1980s. The movie is told through the eyes of the eldest son, Paco,
and is cut into segments focusing on one character and their backstory. I feel that this movie did
a very good job in representing the deeper personalities found throughout Mexican-American
culture compared to the lazy, violent stereotypes other movies depict - even after many years
have passed since the movie was released. Throughout the movie, it was the parents who were
focused more on - Jose and Maria.
Both of them were depicted as hard-working, strong-willed adults. Their story
symbolizing the life of many Mexican immigrants. I can stay that Jose and Maria are good
representations of my parents. However, one thing that the movie did not show was the parents
motivating their children to go to school. My mother would always tell me to go to school and
get good grades so I can get into a good college and then have a good career. She would say that
in the end it will pay off because I would have a nice house and a working car. Out of the two, I
would say that my dad is the strictest on education. Ever since I was small he would always
expect me to be doing something educational. If I was watching t.v. it would have to be either
the news or documentaries; if I was reading something, it would have to be a textbook or
something scientific. The only games I was allowed to play on the computer were math related
games or scientific games. I wasnt even in school yet, but it seems like I was since I was always
studying. When I entered kindergarten my father expected me to know how to add and subtract;
by second grade he expected me to know how to multiply and divide. When I said I did not know
how to do these things he bought a lot of math books and had me learning these concepts during
the weekends. Another thing my dad wanted was for me to get straight As. For him anything
lower than a 90% was unacceptable as it was considered failing for him. Because I was always
getting As on my grades he considered me to be really smart and when he found out that there
were other students who had better scores than me, he was devastated.
Due to all of this I despised school so much. However, during the summer that I was
finally going to be in highschool, my dad got really sick. He spent one month in the hospital and
later stayed at home to recuperate. During this time my dad lost his job due to missing so many
months. In addition, he was the only one who worked so we really struggled with money. That
whole year - my freshman year - was the most stressful year of my life. It was at this time that I
realized how important school is. Both of my parents never made it to college. My mother only
made it to middle school and she was the one that stayed behind to take care of us and do
household chore. While my father only made it to eleventh grade and worked minimum wage
jobs. All throughout this time, my mother would tell me to please go to college so I wont have
to go through this again.
Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is
important to you. Why does this make you proud and how does it relate to the person have
become?

I sat at my desk doodling on the margins of my notes. The teacher was lecturing the class
on math, probably the pythagorean theorem. Some students were clearly not paying attention;
others looked like they were but were zoning out. I looked out the window, the P.E. class was
outside running in the sweltering heat. The teacher had just changed the slide. Time to go back to
my notes I thought to myself as I began to jot them down. Then I went back to my doodling.
If one were to look at my notebooks from every grade level, one would come to find that
most of them have little drawings all over the margins. Most are extremely tiny - about the size
of a dime. Some are erased because I tend to draw over them or because they did not come out
like I wanted. The ones from my elementary years ranges from drawings of flowers or dogs. As
time passed on, my drawings became more abstract. Patterns, texture, lighting, reflection and
space were incorporated into my drawings. I see something that catches my attention, so I draw
it.
Fast forward to high school, I decided to sign up for the painting class. It was difficult at
first because I had only worked with pencil before then; however, I would practice on scratch
paper until I got the result I wanted. The next year, drawing, was much easier for me. However, I
realized that although my artwork for both classes came out good, they did not portray my best.
My doodles in my notes were better. It was these doodles that I put a lot of effort in. The very
same doodles that I would draw when I was studying the notes.
I take pride in my doodles. I consider them to be my greatest talent. All of my hard work
and experimentation can be seen through these drawings. All of the tiny details and patterns that
would go into them. Even now, I am still experimenting with them, improving my techniques.