We are interested in learning more about you and the context in which you have grown up, formed your aspirations and accomplished your academic successes. Please describe the factors and challenges that have most shaped your personal life and aspirations. How have these factors caused you to grow? (800 word limit)
I am a high school senior preparing for my first year as a college student with an interest in Engineering, Accounting, and Law. I believe in each of these fields because I aspire to one day through my educational experiences care, protect and provide for others. I was born in Waco, Texas and I grew up in a single parent home in Houston, Texas where my mother was the care taker and bread winner. My father left my brother, my mother, and myself when I was five months old. He has been in and out of my life, mostly out but definitely absent from his role and responsibilities as a father. I could describe him as a puppet being up and down and mostly funny, never serious, emotionally and financially disconnected from my life. I didn't wait on him to be a part of my life, why should I he's grown and fully aware of the choices he'd made and definitely has to live with them when he looks in the mirror each day. My mother has always been our protector and provider. She is strong and taught us that we could make it through our struggles as long as we stuck together and took care of each other.
The context of my aspirations have come from my traumatic experience of being attacked by a sixty - five pound Rottweiler and growing up in a single parent home without a father. It was this experience that helped me realize that "Life is like a Dog Fight". I learned this at the age of seven, when the bell rang, school let out and I walked to the front of the school looking for my brother. When I found my brother we proceeded to walk home just as our mom had instructed us to do each day. My mom worked long hours and couldn't pick us up from school. As we begin to walk down the long stretch of white side walk under the big oak trees my brother and I walked side-by - side looked up and saw a man outside playing with a huge dog. We walked and watched as the man threw the dogs' toy and as the dog would fetch the toy and run it back to his owner. As my brother and I drew closer the owner threw out the toy, but only this time the dog didn't stop for the toy he kept running straight towards my brother and I, but as the dog got closer and closer he ran towards me and knocked me flat on my back, biting me in my face. My mother wasn't there and couldn't protect us this time. She would always tell my brother and me that we had to always take care of each other and that the only way we could make it was if we always took care of each other. That day when the dog attacked me, my ten year old brother pulled what we later learned was a sixty - five pound Rottweiler off me after the dog pierced through my jaw with his teeth. That experience changed my life and after all my doctor visits, I realized that I needed to be tough, overcome my fears, and family takes care of each other. We were struggling at the time and my mom couldn't protect us that day because she was doing the best to provide for us all by herself. The stitches in my face were removed, my wounds healed, it took years to get over my fear of dogs, but the one thing I learned from my brothers actions and my mother's words with us family takes care of each other. My brother could have easily ran out of fear of the dog, but instead he protected me by fighting the dog off of me as he grabbed the dog between his legs and wrestled him up off of me. There have been many times throughout my young life that I've seen how life is a dog fight through peer pressure and classmates committing suicide. I had to choose not to allow myself to succumb to those pressures but to overcome them by dog fighting through my emotions with my mind choosing what's right. I accomplished my academic success by choosing to not be defeated by the trials, tribulations, temptations and the peer pressure that come with life. The challenges and factors that have most shaped my life are staying mindful that life is a dog fight, the absence of my father and my mother's positive influences and drive. I have grown through most of my experience through having many conversations with my mother. I've learned to care for others, to think first, make good choices and stay away from dog fights.
