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Laisha Ramirez

Mrs.Merriott

Senior Capstone- Final Draft

April 18, 2022

My Pathway To Success

Throughout high school, I thought that it would all become more accessible, but as I

moved on, now I realized that it was more complicated. I started to feel pressure on myself and

had to understand what I needed to focus on at this moment. Now that I am a senior, I tend to

focus on my school responsibilities; it can be overwhelming. I have learned that anything worth

having is worth working for, even though it can be overwhelming.

I am Laisha Ramirez, a 17-year-old senior at Lee High School. I like hiking to different

places and driving cars. I hope that I get to buy my car and travel to many other cities in the

future. I enjoy being around my friends and family, even though I often like to be alone and have

some time to myself and relax. I have a closer relationship with my mom, and I am thankful that

she is in my life. I also have four siblings and my stepdad, who I am grateful to have in my life.

They inspire me, which motivates me to get through all the hard times I have had in my life. My

parents are from Zacatecas, Mexico, and came to the United States to have a better life, a good

education, and a better future. I am the second oldest of my siblings. I have one older brother,

one younger brother, and two younger sisters. Even though I tend to get into arguments with

them all, I am still grateful for having them as my siblings and having them in my life. They

gave me support and advice to not give up even on the hard times that I went through when I was

little until now. They gave me the motivation to get through school and cheered me on so that I
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could do this. My older brother graduated high school; however, he did not finish college,which

made my parents sad because they planned to have us all be able to think and focus on going to

college. However, both of my parents look up to me and give me good advice about going to

college because they want the best for me. They hope that I can have an excellent promising

career and life once I am older. They give me advice, and they tell me to go to school to learn,

not to play around with my friends. Taking school seriously is something that I had promised

them; I wanted to focus on my education and not just be in school to get distracted because they

didn’t want me to struggle like they did when they were younger. Once I graduate high school, I

want them to be proud of me, not just me but all of my siblings, for all the hard work that we are

doing and pursuing our dreams. I am thankful for all the advice they give me, whether they

pressure me. I’m still grateful that I have them in my life, like all of my family members from

here to where my parents are from.

As far as my future goals, I plan to know what I want to do with my life. Currently, I am

planning on attending Grand Rapids Community College. As a future first-generation college

student, graduating and achieving my dreams will be a great accomplishment. I want to focus

more on what to expect when going to college, like what will be required. I am trying to become

an interpreter; this is a career that I want to pursue because I am a bilingual person. My primary

language is Spanish, which I am proud of knowing and proud of where my parents and I come

from. My second language is English. I plan to help other people in need because having to grow

up with my parents was hard because they were not able to have the same experience and

education as my siblings and me. It was hard for them to learn English, which I know from the

experience of other people coming from a different country to the United States, to have a better

life for themselves and their children. I’ve always liked to help out people and just make them
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feel satisfied, just like I want to when I have my career that involves being able to help people

out and children. Another of my goals would be having to form my own notation system and

having to take notes of what should be done correctly and things that I need to fix.

My pathway for my future career goals is having a career that involves helping people

out and the community. I plan to pursue being an interpreter because they are constantly helping

people and families;being a bilingual person, I know that this is a career I can excel in. Knowing

that preparation to become an interpreter would take some time, I would like to stay positive but

still take risks to pursue my goals. When working towards achieving my goals, taking risks will

be necessary so I can be better for myself and for the people I will be helping. “Everything varies

from one location to location, so it can be a supreme struggle to deal with people who are

speaking in unusual dialects and accents, even if you’re fluent in the actual language that they

are speaking in” (Haigh). Interpreting is not only translating words but having knowledge of the

culture and having the proficiency needed to translate in the target language. “Although

interpreters and translators typically need at least a bachelor’s degree, the most important

requirement is to have native-level proficiency in English and at least one other language” (U.S

Bureau of Labor Statistics).

I will need to know more about myself, plan for my future, and the steps I need to take to

achieve my goals. I know that there will be some struggles along the way, but to face them and

keep moving forward, knowing that success is going to be a key to everything in the future,

knowing that I want to make both my parents and myself happy and proud of the

accomplishments that I am doing ,and just trying my best to be more of a hard worker in school

and outside of school. So far, I want to pursue everything shortly and have a good and successful

life, and just seeing all the struggles that I have been through and knowing that I am going to get
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through the next subsequent efforts that I am going to be facing again. But I will try my best to

accomplish my goals and have to achieve them as well. “ Working through an interpreter

provides an opportunity for patients to present symptoms in their own language” (Fear).
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Works Cited

Haigh, Chris. “10 Things Only Interpreters Would Understand.” Lifehack, 31 July 2015,

https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/10-things-only-interpreters-would-unde

rstand.html.

Farooq, Saeed, and Chris Fear. “Working through Interpreters: Advances in Psychiatric

Treatment.” Cambridge Core, Cambridge University Press, 2 Jan. 2018,

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/advances-in-psychiatric-treatment/article/worki

ng-through-interpreters/A87D3C81EFB3096BBC84BEDBBF9D329D.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Interpreters and Translators : Occupational Outlook

Handbook.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 18 Apr.

2022,

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/interpreters-and-translators.htm.