My name is Maiwand Salehi, I am 14 years old and part of the first generation in my family. I live with my Parents and 5 brothers and no sisters. I moved to America from Afghanistan when I was eight in 2016 due to the war in Afghanistan. It was a hard switch for me. The American culture was way different than the Afghanistan culture. My Parents risked everything for me and my brothers. I tried my best to switch by learning English in school and trying to fit in. My parents worked really hard for me to have a successful life in a country I was new to. One thing that helped me to adapt from Afghanistan to America was soccer. In Afghanistan, I played a lot of soccer and when I moved to America I did the same which helped me adapt and interact with the people here.
When I used to be younger I wanted to be a doctor. I believed that it was a high-paying job, but I did not think about it thoroughly. I would not feel happy, so recently I decided to become a real estate agent. This job would fit my skills and needs perfectly. The skills that would be perfect for me are speaking confidently, good stable pay, and having an open schedule which is most important for me. I like to be free and not be held back by anything. To achieve this I would like to go to UCLA which has real estate programs but if I don’t get accepted or something happens I would try to go to UCSD as a backup plan.
I believe becoming a part of ABFK would help me out greatly. I would use the money to first buy myself a laptop because I do not have one at home that I could use. I would also buy myself school supplies to help with my education. I would buy money for soccer cleats to help me with my favorite sport. I would also be able to try new sports like swimming and most likely shoes for running. I would also buy clothes with the scholarship money. The financial part of the scholarship is not the only thing I could benefit from. The academic support would greatly help me like the tutors could help me with my math which is hard due to me skipping a grade for math. The SAT prep can also help me greatly with trying to enter UCLA with this sponsorship, my family and I would not have to worry about my financial and academic support to help support my education for the years ahead. Thank you for taking the time to read this!
If you are interested in making a life-changing difference for Maiwand through an A Bridge for Kids sponsorship please contact Grace Jo at gjo@abridgeforkids.org.