Personal Statement

My name is Alexis Badillo-Moreno I come from a fast growing city of Merced,

California. This City is right in the heart of California. This city is very diverse with many

different races, religions and political differences. Merced is known for its farming but it is

rapidly growing into an urban city as houses are being built at a rapid pace. The UC has also

brought in a lot of attention to big business food chains to expand here because the market is

getting bigger. Another thing the UC brought was more people which is what triggered the effect

of the new housing projects. I will graduate June 6, 2024 and then become a realtor.

But even after all that “good” that there is in Merced there is still bad in the city that

includes a high rate of homelessness to drugs and violence. The amount of people that I have

seen in the streets here that are homeless is countless. It always hurts me to see them in the

conditions that they are in as some of them may have come back from the military never truly

being able to get back to the real world. Another reason people are homeless here in Merced is

because of the UC, as the UC was built the housing market skyrocketed making it difficult for

people to buy a house or even find an apartment to rent. The drugs that are on the streets of

Merced are so dangerous that we see on the news everyday a different overdose being reported.

Growing up in Merced in my opinion was pretty tough as I come from the southside of

Merced in which is the area that creates most of the violence that comes from Merced sadly. As a
younger person there were always things that I would see that I was not for, I always wanted to

make my community better. I feel like I want people from my community to come together as

one to make a difference and give the youth a better chance at succeeding in life. As I grew older

I saw kids that I grew up with fall into drugs or other things such as gangs and I always felt like

they had more potential that they never got to use as they felt a bigger need to provide for their

families. But personally I never got into that since I was a kid I made a few promises to my

mother two were never doing drugs and never joining any type of gang or affiliation. I don’t

frown upon those people that have done those things though because unfortunately we don’t

know their situation or how it was for them growing up.

As a First-Generation American I feel the constant pressure to make my parents proud by

having a good education. My parents raised me to go off of respect and integrity. I always try my

hardest to get the best grades that I possibly can but during the Covid-19 lockdown during my

freshman year I failed all of my classes. I felt just terrible as I feel as if we were learning in

person instead of online I could have passed all of my classes. My parents put in my mind that if

I don’t graduate high school then that would be the biggest mistake I would ever make in my life,

and I truly agree and thank them for pushing me to strive for the best as in my sophomore year

my grades got better but nothing compared to my junior year in high school in which I got the

best grades I ever had in my life. During the First semester of my junior year I had seven classes

six of which were A’s and one was a C, and during the second semester of my junior year I had

six classes five classes were A’s and the same class that I got a C in came up to a B. After many

hours of hardwork and dedication in school and summer school I was able to catch up on my
credits heading into my senior year. Now that I am in my senior year I reflect on that dreadful

freshman year and wish I could have done something different.

After writing this I can truly conclude that in a few years the city that I come from is not

gonna be the same little one that I grew up in. I see that if there isn’t major change in the housing

market or rehabilitation centers my city will be filled with homelessness. I know that if my city

isn’t taking care of the drug issue that they have on their hands there will be a drug epidemic. If

there is no change in the community in which we all come together then there will most likely be

more violence. I know that I can do great things in life as long as I set my heart out to achieve

not letting any setbacks control the outcome of my destiny. I also feel that after all that I have

experienced in my life has helped me become the quiet respectful person that I am.