-I'm currently applying to law school and I appreciate any help, whether small or huge. Thank you in advanced!
I currently live in Davis California, a culturally diverse community, but I spent the first 18 years of my life in Huntington Park California, just outside of Los Angeles. Even though L.A. is often described as a melting pot of cultures and perspectives, I never experienced that. According to the most recent census, the population of Huntington Park is 97% Hispanic, making it one of the, if not the, least diverse cities in the nation. As a result, my community was shaped almost entirely on the singular Hispanic customs and traditions. This exposed me to only one perspective that was never challenged. With it carried certain cultural assumptions about society. One of the most notable characteristics of my community is its negative assumptions towards the legal system and authority figures, since, the first-generation immigrants that live in Huntington Park had been exposed to corruption, in Mexico. They imposed similar culturally driven perspectives upon coming to the U.S. I carried those assumptions throughout much of my life.
Through much of my freshmen year at UC Davis, I felt as if there was a cultural barrier between me and others and that discourage me from being involved in extracurricular activities. The new environment was out of my cultural comfort zone and suppressing my ability to progress in the city of Davis. I realized that Davis was my new life; and adjusting was a new challenge I now faced.
During my sophomore year, I volunteered to help organize Ron Paul's presidential rally at UC Davis because it presented two opportunities: working with the Davis community, and challenging my singular perspective. Even though I have made numerous phone calls, the few times that I dialed the phone number of Ron Paul's campaign staff, the dial tone was a constant reminder of this overwhelmingly new and exciting experience; because I had never been involved in such an event in Huntington Park. In my hometown, the people largely associate with the Democratic Party, however, by participating in a Republican rally, I showed myself opposing viewpoints, along with their unique interpretations, on many issues that my community strongly supported, such as immigration reform. Soon, organizing the rally gradually adjusted my perspective because I understood the world beyond Huntington Park, significantly better.
In preparing for the rally, I was in charge of promotion, and I created various political pages, some attracting thousands of subscribers, to promote the event. The various perspectives of the subscribers increased my perception of perspectives beyond the Davis community and my time promoting, turned into a valuable learning experience. Through learning from the diverse set of political opinions, as well as working collectively with the Davis community, the barriers, which my single sided perspective created, were eroding and adjusting; I no longer saw discouragements justifiable.
My newfound commitment of adjusting myself to new challenges sparked my realization that I can apply it to other aspects of my life. During my junior year, I shifted my academic priorities and increased my workload, in an attempt to learn more concepts than I had previously known because I wanted to further develop my perspective. At that time I felt as if I by putting myself in an academically demanding situation, it would help me adjust to the academic challenges, and understand more concepts than I had previously had before. Through this, I discovered that History served to improve my conceptual understanding of the larger world that shaped my previous one perspective.
From this, my previously held assumptions, including the one about legality, soon took on many viewpoints and I no longer saw it as negatives. My adjustment to my new perspective showed me two things. First, it reassured me the best way to handle a new challenge: through adjusting and adapting to new environments. Most importantly, my adjustment had affirmed my sense of purpose: adjusting Huntington Park to the larger cultural world. I hope my capability to externalize my knowledge towards Huntington Park will help it adjust and challenge itself with new perspectives. From Huntington Park, to Davis, both environments have contributed towards my ever-adjusting perspective, and the study of law will further expand my perception of the larger world. I'm prepared to be challenged by the study of law, and prepared to debate and discuss the challenges that arise in our society, which will help me apply my new outlook of my life, and hopefully have a better understanding of the framework that shapes society and the many perspectives which thrive.
