1. What would you say is your greatest talent or skill?

How have you

demonstrated and developed that talent over time?
9/15/20
My greatest talent or skill is my work ethic. I believe that I have the best work ethic out of
everyone in the whole entire school. I first started to develop this talent when I was 8
years old and my Mom signed me up for my local football team called the “Merced
Bears.” I was always the first one out on the field and fell in love with the sport instantly.
Once the season ended I asked my Mom if she could sign me up for football camps so I
can still be in shape as a young kid at the time. So she signed me up for a training
football group called “Get it football training” and that's when everything started
happening for me. I learned new things every time I was there. I was always on time and
never late. This football training group helped me develop my work ethic and ever since
then I have played football every year of youth and highschool. So I have had work ethic
my whole entire life and I also applied it to school and sports. I try to achieve the highest
grades that I can and try to be the best that I can at sports. This skill showed me that
nothing is given to you, you always have to work for what you get and I have learned
that. I knew I had an amazing work ethic once the rewards starting coming with it. Like
for example my sophomore and junior year I have received defensive player of the year
two times in a row. My rewards for my work ethic in school are I currently have over a 3.8
total GPA and have been accepted for CSF all 4 years in high school. I have came so far
and I appreciate my Mother for doing all that she does and for teaching me work ethic
and that is my greatest skill that I have learned my whole life.

2. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the steps you
have taken to overcome this challenge. How has this challenge affected your
academic achievement?
9/15/20
The biggest challenge that I have faced in my life I would say is when my Father left my
family. This happened in the summer of 2020 which was very recent. With my father
leaving it really took a hit on our family because we never saw it coming. One day my
Mom, and my three siblings came back from our grandparents house and saw all his
belongings gone. We couldn’t believe it and everybody stayed there in shock. We all took
slow steps and have been overcoming it. We first coped but then proved that we only
need us and not him in our lives. We have each other and that is all that matters. This
really hasn’t affected my academic achievements because academics is always
important to me and I would never let a person effect that even my own father. He did
reach out to me and my siblings and we have taken our relationships slow and not fast
because we still don’t trust him for what he did. I believe that I helped my family the most
with his leaving because I have had to give my brothers and sisters rides everywhere and
also been the oldest so I have more responsibilities than anyone in the house. But it’s
alright because I know I can handle it because I have been going through tough
situations my whole entire life so this isn’t nothing new to me. But to get things off my
mind about my Dad I have been hanging out with my friends more and been doing a lot
more exercising. I workout 6 times a week because I also want to get in shape for the
upcoming football season coming up in January because its my senior year. But nothing
can stop me from my academic achievements and I hope nothing stops yours as well.
Thank you for reading this!!!
3. Beyond what has been shared in your application, what do you believe
makes you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University
of California?
9/16/20
There are a lot of things that make me a strong candidate for the admissions of
University of California. First of all I have over a 3.8 GPA. I have taken more than one
college classes while in high school. I have been in sports all 4 years of highschool and
three years varsity for football as a sophomore. I have been involved with CSF for all my
years in high school as well. This club basically recognizes your hard work and grades
and is very good at recognizing them. But last but not least I have over 100 community
service hours because I go to my Mom’s work and help them with festivals and move
nights and also did the book orders for them. The list can go on and on but I am overall a
really nice person and hard worker that will do anything to get into colleges and have
more than the basic standards to do it. I am the first born son and I am expected in my
household to do everything first. So I am getting my driver’s license first and I got a job
first out of all my siblings and I feel like its a lot of weight on my shoulders but I know I
can handle it because I overcame everything that came in my way. My Dad recently left
me and my family so things in our house hasn’t been the same and its really taking a toll
on my family. But I’ve been trying to cheer everyone up and tell them we don’t need
anyone but our family to help support us through these tough times. We still have our
grandparents and our aunt and uncles to give us mental support and especially me the
oldest to help out my younger siblings. This is why I believe I am a strong candidate for
admissions of the University of California.

4. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have

positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes or contributed to groups
over time.
9/15/20
An example of my leadership experience would be when football season comes around. I
am a senior now and also one of the captains but I was also a captain last year as a
junior and I know how things worked and how us leaders were supposed to run them. So
it was just a typical day for practice for us, all of us went to the locker room and started
putting our pads on for practice. So we headed out on the field got in our lines. I was the
leader so we would always be in front. We first would always do our stretches and then
head out to our groups. I was the starting running back or fullback so I would always be
on the field. We were practicing our offense but everybody noticed loud noises coming
from the sidelines, I ran over there to see what was happening and there was a fight that
broke out. I jumped in the middle of it and then pushed the two guys off of each other.
And then said “We are a team, and a family, there’s no reason at all that we should be
fighting.” They then stopped and walked there separate ways to cool off. As they were
walking off, the coach then says to me “Good job Manzo, no one else said anything but
you, keep on doing what you’re doing and you are going to be even better next year.”
This really boosted my confidence because it proved that it didn’t matter that I was the
youngest one on the team, it proved that I leadership skills at a young age and ever since
then I’ve been boosting my teammates confidence and helping them out with tips for
there football skills and games. Sometimes even things they need to approve on but its
all positive.