Personal Statement

I was in Kindergarten when I was bullied.​ I remember being bullied by two fifth graders, I was

a little innocent¡ girl at the time that only knew her primary language (Spanish) but because I

didn't know English I couldn't defend myself. ​I remember walking to that lunch room all the time

and those girls would sit behind me they would always look at me with a stank face and whisper

into each other ears. ​Worst part is these girls would ride my bus too they would sit right next to

me they would pull my hair, they would pinch me, they would put there legs across the aisle so I

wouldn't be able to get off the bus.​ That was my first year of school….I thought the first year of

school for me was going to be something like making my first little friends, I thought I would

always have fun, and just be a normal child but I was totally wrong.

During that moment the best I could do was stay quiet like I said earlier I couldn´t defend

myself but I have many regrets now because I never speaked out I never told any adults about it

till now. I didn't do anything about the situation I just stayed put, every day that passed the girls

would bully and bully me even more.

This situation affected me a lot I was doing very bad in school, I wasn't learning the language

quick enough so I had to go to summer school. ​I remember summer school helped me a lot, it

changed me a lot, I remember actually loving it because I knew for a fact that I was somewhere

where there was no bullies around, I felt relief in me.​ I remember one day we had show-and-tell

I remember bringing in a stuffed butterfly, the reason I brought that butterfly was to represent

how at first I felt like I was in a cocoon where I was trapped, where I wasn´t seen by anybody, I

felt loneliness but then I felt like that butterfly where I changed, I was coming out, I didn't feel

that tightness in me anymore, I felt freedom and happiness for the first time.
 Now that I know that I made it ​thru ​this situation, I was happy, now we can say I knew the

language (English). That has been my struggle most of my life not knowing english till I got to

first grade and also I´m the first in everything in my family which makes it difficult for me. I

remember i would sit down in due my homework and I would literally cry because I didn't

understand anything the assignment would say.

But this whole life story taught me to be brave that there are going to be hard moments in my

life, that doesn't mean I have to give up, that doesn't mean not to speak up, this means work hard,

to give it my best, to be the true person that I am. Now I am very proud of myself because I have

learned to for myself not be afraid, I have changed. I´m brave and here I am standing proving to

my family that I can do it.