Sponsored! Jazmine
Imagine your parents separating when you were 4, constantly getting evicted, and moving schools. My mother is an immigrant from another country and raised 5 children in San Diego. Like many immigrants, my mother grew up in extreme poverty. She grew up in a household never knowing where her next meal would come from. She has 7 siblings, so she understands the struggles of needing to get by and was faced with many difficulties raising my siblings and me as well as her own siblings. She was the only person in her family who somewhat knew English. Therefore, I knew my mom wouldn't be able to give us all the necessities we needed. I never wanted to add to her financial burden. I am one of five children in my family. It is extremely hard for me to access school supplies and books that I need. It makes me feel guilty and irresponsible to use my mother's money for things that only benefit myself.
Hello, my name is Jazmine Nguyen and I am currently a Freshman at The Preuss School UCSD. I’m a young Asian American student with ambitious dreams. I am my family's first generation to be born in this country. I live with my mom, three older sisters, and a younger brother. I was raised by a single, low-income mom.
As a student, I'm a diligent worker who will prioritize my academics. I’m a 4.00 student and it’s extremely difficult to balance my academics and extracurriculars. However, I’ve recently been introduced to the sport of squash, and instantly fell in love. I got introduced to the sport of squash by the non-profit organization Access Youth Academy. This program allowed me to open up as a person and tremendously impacted me. Throughout my years of elementary and middle school, I had difficult times at school. I never felt like I had a solid group of friends, I was constantly bullied, and always felt out of place. I had always resorted to school to find a safe place since I’d struggle a lot at home. Getting bullied caused me to fall into a deep depression. Being able to finally play a sport helped with everything I was going through. On top of things, my peers in the program, and the other athletes, were extremely welcoming and made me feel like I belonged in the program. Eventually, I finally started to gain happiness. I found a community with friends I now consider family and am able to play a sport I enjoy.
I am aware that I still have a long way to go, but I intend to stay on the right track in order to succeed at a four-year university. I am very goal-oriented and determined to follow my dreams. In the future, I hope to become a Forensic scientist! Since Preuss doesn't offer many opportunities related to this, I hope Bridge For Kids will provide me with an outlet that does, including programs that offer support and education about this topic. As well as prepare me for my dream career path. My realization that I wanted to pursue this professional path was aided by seeing short films on YouTube and discovering documentaries on Netflix. Criminology has always sparked joy in me. I’ve always been curious about criminals and what motivates them to commit crimes. I wonder about the thought process of criminals, as well as why they would choose to commit acts of crime on people they don't know. Although criminology is something I would like to study further, medicine is another one of my significant interests. I believe this is a promising career path for me because I love to help people. I have a constant desire to always support the ones I love. I believe that health is the most important aspect of living and determines how you live. As a result, whether it's through preserving lives, saving lives, improving the quality of someone's life, or educating someone on how they can improve their health, I believe that this may be one of my life-long goals. In whatever career I choose, my main goal is to be able to make a difference in someone's life.
If I were given the opportunity to participate in this program, I’d spend the money to become a more well-rounded and active student. Since I play the sport of squash, I would benefit from squash shoes and a racket. Along with funds to play in tournaments and private lessons to improve my skills since playing pro is something I'm interested in. Not only this, but I’d also join other clubs and sports teams. I hope to take soccer lessons and sign up for piano lessons since I’ve recently taken interest in it. I could also use this sponsorship money to purchase a new laptop for myself. I've owned my laptop for a while. In order to keep more of my academic work and images, I plan to purchase a laptop with larger storage. I believe getting a new, better-running laptop would inspire me to learn much harder. Additionally, ever since I can remember I’ve always enjoyed art. Receiving an iPad would develop my digital drawings and sketches. I would like to try out digital art as well because of my passion for the work I've done on paper. Overall, this sponsorship will help with school supplies, such as notebooks, textbooks, folders, etc. Thank you for considering me as an applicant. I appreciate you taking the time to read my story.
If you are interested in making a difference in the life of a teen through an A Bridge for Kids sponsorship please contact Grace Jo at gjo@abridgeforkids.org.