Walking into the locker room about to get ready to go to our last football game of the season. I could smell the sweaty equipment from the kids who never take their pads home. The Hempfield Spartans 7th grade team would be ending their season 0-7 if we didn’t win today. As I was changing into my pads my friend mike walked in the room. I said “you ready for tonight”. “Heck yeah” replied Mike.…
Here I am in honor classes, but why I’m not smart enough to be here. This is going to be too difficult for me. All I see when I look around are all these outstandingly intelligent people. The only reason I am here is because Mrs. Lee’s class was straightforward or maybe the other people in that class were not very bright. Whatever the reason, I am here and already homework on the first day of school, the other kids probably don’t have homework. I really don’t want to be here, I want to be the smart one again. I feel strange and uncomfortable when I have to speak out loud like if the people around me are judging me.…
When I was 13, I had to go through a transition that tested my character tremendously. Let’s rewind to my seventh grade year, which was four years ago. Talk was going around the little private school I attended in Ardmore, Oklahoma that my family was moving away. I had not heard anything about this, I had no idea what anyone was talking about, and I was definitely not happy with being the subject of everyone’s gossip. I heard stories about where and why my family was moving that you would not believe. I recall one girl who said that my family of five was moving to Australia because my dad was a Mexican immigrant who was running from the government. If you knew anything about me, you would know that story was completely bologna; my dad was not Mexican, he was the whitest white boy you could ever lay eyes upon, we were not running from the government, and we were definitely not moving to Australia. Eventually, I found out the rumors of us moving were true. We were moving to Durant, Oklahoma at the end of my seventh grade year.…
Moving on is easy but what you leave behind is what makes it hard. Once you get to a certain age in your life you know you have to move on sometime. I know times are hard but you have to push yourself toward what you really want in life even if it means moving away from what you love.…
In sixth grade, I stood before a podium that stared back at my English class. This was not how I envisioned sharing my love for reading and writing; however, it was required. My palms felt sticky, and I just knew that the entire class could see my heart as it was about to hop from the walls that kept it safe. I prayed that I would not forget the lines as I recited The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. In sixth grade, reading, writing, and I started a relationship. Today, we have yet to break up.…
Just two days after coming to this land, I was sitting in a large classroom trying to recite the pledge of allegiance in a large public school. My life in America took me by shock and I felt unprepared. I struggled with basic academic courses initially while my peers glided through easily. Moving to America has been one of the great challenges I have faced and still continue to struggle with. However, my grandfather’s words constantly reminded me of my purpose in life and with diligence and great perseverance, I accomplish and learn everyday.…
When I first came to the United States my whole life changed completely. I came from a very poor town where basic needs are privileges and even though I didn’t know the language, the culture, and the people. I was not scared about my new life, my new beginning. When my mom and I got here my dad rented a house which was in very bad conditions. At that time we didn’t have anything, we slept on the floor for almost a month, we didn’t have any furniture and not even a car to go buy groceries. My mom was very disappointed because my dad has been living here for almost 10 years and he didn’t have anything yet. Besides all the bad situations, I was very excited because I was here in this powerful country where opportunities everywhere. After couple weeks I asked my dad to do me a big favor which was start the paperwork so I can get into middle school. At first he was mad because he told me that I didn’t need that, I was devastated about his reaction because I really wanted to go, but he refused to take me. Sometime after what happened my mom decided to take me to the school and start my education. I still remember all the…
How could I have known when I dressed her in those cute butterfly tights and put her hair into two pigtails that I would never see her again? We walked to the park stopped for some ice cream at the stand right in front of the Empire State Building the one with the cute drawings on the sides that look like something Elizabeth would have drawn. She kept pulling at my hand, wanting to walk ahead, but I would not let her. I remember how the wind felt as if it was going to blow us away. I held onto her extra tight hoping that she would not fly away as if she was some piece of paper. We were at the park for about an hour when my phone rang and I looked down for just a few minutes. I’ve seen plenty of other parents do it.…
Growing up in an immigrant family shaped my view of life. Neither of my parents achieved their goals of higher education, so they enforced their beliefs on their three children; the oldest daughter (who battles with identity issues), a son (who grew up playing basketball to express his emotions of not knowing his biological father), and last but not least, the youngest daughter (who faces an endless battle of stress and depression). As a result of my parents forcing their beliefs onto their children, a competitive barrier formed around us. As the youngest child, I had to watch my older siblings achieve the most in their schools, while I was left as the “last child” to the rest of my family members; the “last child” to achieve something. They…
After my second year in high school, I made a decision that would turn out to be life changing. This decision wasn’t life changing in the way that getting married or going to college would be, but I really learned a lot about myself that summer. What I’m about to tell you is what happened when I switched from Marching Band to Football. I will explain to you why this switch was such a big deal to me and what I learned about myself from it. Switching from Marching Band to Football after my Sophomore year of high school changed the way I saw myself because I found I have a strong enough will to follow my heart despite controversy with others, I have a strong desire to be in control of my life, and I have an aggressive side that had not shown itself before.…
Ever since I was born, I was a military brat. Not knowing where to call home, or if any place could be home, I moved. I moved six times, four of those places were towns that nobody could think about. Germany, North Carolina, Alaska, North Carolina, Germany, and Alaska, yet no place to call home. May 22, 1999, my first day on this world; Kronach hospital had its first American baby in their hands, yet they acted like I was a different species. The only event I remember was when I was about one. While I was one, I grabbed everything in my reach, even a grill handle. As a baby, I did not know that the handle was moving, the grill top had smashed my thumb. Ever since that event, I now have a starfish mark on the side of my right thumb from where the stiches were.…
I was born in the city of Monterrey in Mexico. My family decided to move to the US in 2009 due to growing concerns of money and safety. Back then, Monterrey was considered one of the most dangerous places to live in Mexico, as the two main cartels were disputing over the territory. My dad had lost his job and my mom worked part time at a pharmacy. Because public school in Mexico is very poor, my mom had always had me enrolled in private schools. We were in a tight situation, we couldn’t pay for the house anymore and my dad was not having much luck in finding a new job. For this reason, my parents were practically forced to move to the US. After the long, expensive process of applying for visas and passports, we finally were able to move to the land of opportunity. We started from zero, there was absolutely no money in our pockets. I was a new student at a new school in a foreign country. I could not be more self-conscious at any other time in my life. All I could think about was how others saw me and how I fit in with…
It’s kind of funny to think that I’ve spent my last 3 years of education at a school where I was the only white kid. You see I felt like I belonged and never once felt like an outcast, but I stand at the gates of my new school in a new country, promising a safer lifestyle and a higher level of education and I’ve never felt so detached and nervous in my life. The funny part about that is my new school is quite multicultural but I’m definitely not the only white student attending yet I felt I belonged more in my old school where every student’s homeland was Papua New Guinea, which would make you think I’d be an outsider.…
“Graduation, the hush-hush magic time of frills and gifts and congratulations and diplomas.” You weren’t lying when you said that Maya Angelou. May 19th, 2013 I had dreamt of that day for almost four years. I know I can’t be the only person who feel this way. I remember it as if it was just yesterday. So many different emotions going through my mind all at once. Happiness, Sadness, I felt relieved because it was almost over but at the same time I felt anxious and overly excited to just leave and go far away. 389 seniors were going to walk across the stage and receive their diplomas. After all, our class had the biggest percentage of graduates who were actually…
“You don’t’ belong here, you people are just coming here for a free ride,” They would say. “I did not come her for a free ride, I came here for new and better life. Some say, I will never belong, well, I have something to say to them.” States Amria “The fear I’ve felt and the people I’ve lost, made me think I could never live a life without terror and heartbreak in my mind, every second of my life. I overcame many struggles for this new life. I had lost so much. What would you do if you were me?” asks Amria.…