Personal Statement

My name is Uriel Estrada-Chavez . I'm from Merced County which is an Agricultural

community located in the center of California. My county has grown since UC Merced
opened to 90,000 residents. Merced is a really diverse community, Merced is also a
rural community, there is a lot of flat land used to grow fruits, vegetables and keep
livestock. Most of what is produced here is beef, almonds and tomatoes. I go to El
Capitan High School and will graduate from it in June 2024. After high school I plan on
going into the Air Force, the career goal I have in mind is in law enforcement working for
Merced County Sheriff’s Department as a Deputy Sheriff.

I had a normal life growing up. I was born in Merced but went to Mexico for a bit. I lived
there for a bit until my dad went back to Merced. After some time my mom, brothers and
I also went back to Merced and lived with my Grandma for sometime until we got an
apartment. Everything was going fine until one day while I was getting ready for school,
this was during 4th grade. My mom told me that she always calls my dad at work to
make sure he’s fine and this day he didn’t pick up. When I got back home all my aunts
and uncles that live in Merced were there and I never understood why until I found out
that he was killed by multiple gunshot wounds. I was pretty young so I never understood
what death was so I didn’t understand I’d never see him again until the day before we
would have him buried. I saw him one last time in his casket, the next day when he was
being buried I did understand what was going on and I cried so much there. After that I
did stop crying.

From the day my dad was buried I never really did get over it, there would be
sometimes I would get sad about it. I never told anyone about it until one day when I
was around in 6th grade I asked my mom who killed my dad. My mom didn’t tell me but
instead she asked me why I wanted to know that. I got pretty emotional about the whole
situation and started to cry. My mom called one of my uncles and they talked to me
about it. I don’t remember what we talked about exactly but after that I was able to get
over it. I still don’t know who killed my dad and I wouldn’t want to know but if I do find
out who did kill him okay, I won’t get mad I may get sad but I’ll accept it.

Today whenever I think about my dad I do sometimes get sad, I don’t cry like I used.
Whenever I hear about someone else who lost a loved one I always try to be
considerate since I know what It feels like. I always listen to whenever someone talks
about losing a loved one and don’t make fun or make jokes about that happening to
someone else.