Katy

I have always wanted to become successful and always help in my community. For me I personally feel like this program will be really helpful to pursue in my journey. Coming from a middle child of a family of 5 I have to limit the things I get. Especially because my family is not considered the wealthiest. In fact I live in a one bedroom apartment with 1 sister, 1 brother, and both parents. My dad is a drop out and my mom doesn’t know much English. My sister is busy all the time hanging out with her friends, boyfriend or just sports and school things. My brother isn’t much help because he just plays games and does whatever. Both of my parents work all day, sometimes even 7 days a week. That leaves me to do all the house chores and everything. When I get home from school I prepare and get the food ready for me and my brother. However, sometimes I get home pretty late due to school activities or sports. Afterwards, I do chores and try to organize, but it’s really hard to keep clean when I live in such a small place with 4 other people. I always try to keep my belongings well organized and limited because I don’t want my place to be more crowded.

When I’m done with my chores I focus and study on work. I check my grades all the time and try to have all A’s. I want to have exceeding grades in order to achieve my dream. My dream right now is to become a teacher. I want to help kids like me take steps into the real world. I want to give them advice and encourage them to keep trying in school. I want all of my students to know that they can talk to me about careers or even personal life. I love to help in general so that’s why I feel like becoming a teacher would be best for me. As a teacher you can inspire and motivate students. You can also change their life for the better. Since 5th grade I’ve wanted to be a teacher because my teacher inspired me. I look up to him so much he doesn’t even know. I go back to my old school to even visit him. He would always talk about being healthy and made learning so fun. I remember we were learning about the nomads and he asked one of the children in the room to stand next to him. He was reading the text and they would act it out together. His favorite subject was history so he would make us recreate it a lot. It was fun to do and it would make our bond as a class stronger. I want to be a teacher to have my students think of me the way that I think of him. I want them to enjoy school and enjoy learning. I want them to feel excited and feel like they can’t wait to have my class. I want to give my students rewards, support and opportunities.

As a student, I love achieving my goals and getting rewards. I also love opportunities that could benefit my life. For math I keep getting a B, however that will change. I always try to push myself to get an A and to study even with my busy schedule. I have all A’s but one B. My school does award ceremonies and whoever has a 4.0 in both academic and citizenship gets a medal. My brother is really smart and is a good kid so he gets medals. Just thinking about him makes me push myself. I feel like he’s always ahead of me and I need to catch up. That’s why I will get all A’s and get a medal just like him. Having good grades can get you a lot of opportunities and one opportunity I got is going to seaworld! In about a week I get to go to seaworld because I’m one of the top kids in my grade. Even though I have one B, my teachers and counselor think I deserve it. I get certificates from my teachers and I’m involved with some things that are pretty important.

One of the important things I was a part of was my school's musical! Even though I wasn’t the main character I still had an important part of the show. I was the one who started the show and sang first. I helped many people backstage and organized where people would go, what scenes were on, and when to go on stage.

Another thing I did was Honor Orchestra. To get into Honor Orchestra you have to audition. They only pick the best players and people who are capable of playing the hard level music they pick. Every week for about a month we had 2 rehearsals. Each rehearsal was from 5 - 9 and it was tiring. Especially because most of the time rehearsal would usually be on Tuesday and on Tuesdays I had flag football practice. Right after practice I would head down and go to play my instrument. I would be all sweaty and everything but that won’t be happening anymore cause now my flag football season is over and Honor Orchestra is over. Just because these things are over, doesn’t mean the grind isn’t over. Now that flag football is over I can focus on Volleyball more. Also I have orchestra as an elective for my school and I am very competitive. I worked hard and got better at my instrument because I went down to 3rd chair. I played and practiced my quiz to perfect it in every way possible. I play the Viola and my school’s Viola section is really good. When it was my quiz day I played and got a perfect score. I felt so happy because I worked

so hard and I got to my head so many times but I told those thoughts to go away and now I’m in 1st chair. Now that I’m 1st chair I have to practice the music to play and look the best for my concert that’s coming up soon. For Honor Orchestra we had a concert and we played at the Jacobs music center. It was so beautiful and I love traveling.

Exploring new places just brightens my heart. This program will actually be really great for me in the college world because if I’m being completely honest, I don’t know anything about college. I don’t know what colleges to apply for or what college is like. This program will allow me to explore and learn about college on a deeper level. I also want to go to college to ensure my career of becoming a teacher. I want to explore colleges and experience it myself. I really hope that this program can help me achieve my dreams of becoming a teacher to inspire my students. I also hope that this program will support me through my high school years, in activities and in sports. I really want to be able to do many of these events with the help that this program provides for me. I want to thank everyone in the program that will help and support me and other students. I love this program even though I’m not in it because it helps others. It has helped my sister in many ways and my friends. I hope it does the same to me and others.