Personal Statement

Hello my name is Ricardo Ruiz and I live in Merced, California. I will graduate in the
class of 2024. I moved around here in the 4th grade after a while of moving around. I didn't
move around that much but it was a couple times when I did end up moving around but I'm
happy my family finally settled down and stayed in a spot where we are okay with and I could
start and finish school without having to move anywhere else or worrying about going to a new
place with a new school.
,Living in San Jose at the time was hard but it was fun because we lived by my grandma
and we would always go to her house and watch tv like spongebob and she would always take
us to mcdonalds and get us happy meals. It was hard for my parents to provide for all of my
brothers and sisters because I am a family of 10 kids. 7 brothers and 3 sisters. When we were
younger we moved from garages to garages, to my parents van where we would all sleep. It
was bad sleeping but my younger self was happy because I was always with my whole family all
together and because I didn't know what was happening, why we were sleeping in garages and
my parents car. Everytime my dad came back from work he made sure he could get us anything
that he could, stuff that we wanted and also needed like putting clothes on our backs, socks on
our feet, new underwear and food in our stomach. He also took us to trips like Disneyland so
him and my mom could not stress and for my brothers and sisters to go places so we could all
be happy. But it was hard doing that with all of the kids and a low paying job. Finally everything
changed. My dad finally got a good paying job at construction and that moved us out of my
cousin's and my parents' friends' garage into our first apartment. We always got complaints from
everybody in the neighborhood because everybody did not like us and I never knew why. Since
we were hated by our whole neighborhood, when I tried to play outside, other kids would try to
mess with me and make fun of me and always try to fight me so I grew up fighting kids around
my neighborhood every other day for tryna mess with me. But since I would fight so much their
parents complained and got us kicked out. We moved out and moved to Los Banos and after 2
years we moved out here in Merced when I was in the 4th grade. When we moved out here we
were happy at first but everything changed and family started to separate a little and more
problems came. My mom and dad would argue away from my brothers and sisters and then my
mom moved away from my dad because of all the arguing so my brothers and sisters had to
stay with either my mom or my dad. She moved to the next block which was close so we could
walk and still be together to see my brothers and sisters. During covid year my dad lost his job
and his house so we all moved into my moms house where I am now. While we were tryna
figure everything out, my grandma and grandpa died that year in the same year 6 months apart.
My grandma died of cancer and my grandpa got shot. Those were my moms parents so it made
it harder for her. When my dad lost his job and the house I didn't know what to do because
there's nothing I could do so it hit me hard also with my grandma and grandpa passing away
during that time.
My whole life since I was 5 I played football and football was the only thing that I had to
make me happy and help me overcome all of the negative things that happened in my life and
also negative things that still are here with my life right now. I still play to this day but I'm a
senior which means this is my last year and I actually get to play football but I'm scared that this
will be my last year that I actually get to play forever in my life and stress might interfere with
my life. I'm scared that I won't make it to college and play football in college because that's what
makes me happy and I want to play football in college and the NFL.
From when I was little to now, really looking at it my parents did everything they could for
us so we can have a good life. They never did it for them that always did it for my brothers and
sisters. With barely any money helped me become the person I am today by making me happy
without having any money because it showed me I can be happy with whatever and be grateful
for everything I have in my life. .When I was old enough to know what stress and depression
was made me realize that life is really harder than I thought and anything can happen in life with
a blink of an eye. I try to be as happy as I can and I always think there is brightness to every
dark thing in life and it can lead you in some way good. So thinking about it like that I try not to
let little things bring me down. Especially since I have a girlfriend now makes me forget about
the hard times I had growing up. She really brought my life together which will help benefit me
because when I have my own family I will be able to provide for her and my kids without having
them go through the things I went through and not bring stress into their life. But I'm not happy
where I am in life so far, so I still push everyday to finish school and head to college next year.