Kayleen Soto Research Paper

Kayleen Soto, despite having a rather melancholy life, has conquered any problem that stood in her way and has evolved into a strong, brave, and respectable young woman. Kayleen’s legacy begins on August 3, 2002 at Denville Hospital in New Jersey in which her mother, Mirella Soto, gave birth to a baby girl with chocolate colored hair and eyes, and tan skin. Kayleen is the middle child of the Soto family, the oldest being her 16 year old sister, Destiny, and the youngest is her 9 year old brother Henry. Kayleen’s name was the first one Mirella saw on a baby naming website and thus, that’s how her name was decided.
Kayleen’s early life was pretty ordinary, she was a very happy and energetic child who started developing a passion for playing Soccer and Basketball when she was 5. That is
until her father, Edwin Soto, was sent to jail for six years for was selling drugs. At the time, Kayleen was 8 and she was already beginning to detest her father for constantly cheating on her mother and jeopardizing her family’s happiness. After Edwin was sent to jail, Kayleen started to loathe him even more. Due to Edwin’s absence, Mirella was left to raise Destiny, Kayleen, and Henry on her own with little income. Once Edwin served his sentence, he acted like nothing happened and he didn’t apologize for leaving his family in such an awful position. Surprisingly, he expected Kayleen to be remorseful for being so unsympathetic to him while he was in prison. Needless to say, she wasn’t guilty in the slightest.
Currently, Kayleen is 14, 5’1, and 130 pounds.
Her interests include sports, preferably Soccer and Basketball, sneakers, Gatorade, music, being around people, and food. Her favorite food is Arepas which is made of ground maize dough or cooked flour and is very popular in Colombia and Venezuela but she hates sweet foods. Her choice color is baby blue and she spends her free time on her iPhone and on Netflix watching her favorite show, Grey’s Anatomy. Her favorite stores are M.A.C and Victoria's Secret and she likes learning about Math and History in school. She also loves listening to Hip-Hop and Latino music. Kayleen’s goals include being a high honor roll student and graduating high school with a high G.P.A. Kayleen’s most interesting day was when her aunt Carolina asked her to move to Hawai’i. Kayleen agreed because she didn't want her aunt to be living alone. Her parents then signed the custody papers over to Carolina and Kayleen has been living with her ever since. Her happiest days are on Wednesday because we get out of school early and her saddest day was when she moved from New Jersey to Hawai’i. Moving away from New Jersey also meant moving away from her best friend,
Daija. While interviewing Kayleen, I noticed an abundance of traits she has that I feel connect to her experiences as a child. One example is that she tends to be very frugal with money which I presume is because she watched her mother struggle with finances throughout her childhood so it’s a learned behavior. Another example is that she hates asking for favors because she’s so independent, she doesn’t want to feel like she’s bothering anyone. Which I also believe is from being exposed to Mariella’s financial problems, she never asked for favors when she was younger because she hated bothering her mother when she was so stressed. I also noticed she’s very ambitious and determined to succeed in order to get a nice income which I also believe is because of her early life. She wants to make her parents proud and have a better future for herself.
Due to Edwin’s absence in Kayleen’s early life I also feel she’s very emotionally strong and outspoken, she took a bad situation and she made the best of it which I respect immensely. In regards to her best, worst, and most interesting day, I believe her worst and most interesting day represents her personality very well. I observed that Kayleen is a very selfless person, she values other people’s wishes more than her own. She makes up that by voicing her opinions on anything and everything. For her best day, she gives the impression that she isn't that fond of school, which is perfectly understandable, and she prefers extra curricular activities instead. Finally, for her worst day, I observed that she develops very close relationships with others and is very resilient. Despite leaving all of her friends from New Jersey, she came to Hawai'i with an open mind and craving a fresh start.
As you can see, I believe that Kayleen has faced many challenges in her life and has overcome every one eloquently and with grace. Despite having such a rough childhood it only shaped her to be the strong person she is today. I have such a growing respect for Kayleen and we’re friends now so it makes matters even better. Her childhood has also given her major selfless tendencies which she still carries to this day. Overall, Kayleen is an amazing person who I respect immensely.

Bibliography

Soto, Kayleen. Personal Interview. August 4, 2016
Soto, Kayleen. Personal Interview. August 5, 2016