Life

Personal Statement                 My home is originally in Brownsville, Texas. The highest level of education for my parents has been middle school. My father was born and raised in Mexico and is currently a resident in the United States. My mother in the other hand is a U.S. citizen, but raised in Mexico. I am the youngest of three children. Fortunately I was born in the United States. I have always been aware that my family is of low income, and somehow I have always had what I have needed. My family and I have migrated for over 17 years now. Luckily, we have only traveled to Manchester, Michigan. Every May we would leave Texas to Michigan, and after 6 months of hard work we would go back “home”. I began to work in the fields at the age of 12, as well as my brothers. I never knew what hard work was until I actually began to work in the fields with my family. The work that migrant families do is not easy, and many people do not even know it is the migrant families who pick those fruits and cut those vegetables that are neatly placed in the grocery stores all around the country. For many of migrants, this has become a routine and part of each and everyone’s lives.                 School was never easy for me. I would begin school in September in Michigan and after two months of making friends and learning new things, it is time for me to return home. I struggled trying to make new friends every year, and understanding the content teachers are teaching. Somehow I always managed to overcome these challenges and learn the information in pieces. I have met people throughout my life who have inspired me to do my best and never settle for less than what I deserve. I have been very fortunate to have had a different experience that has taught me many things that others might not have learned at my age. I have gained the wisdom to know that if I am handed with an opportunity with the tools to do something, to do every possible thing I can to make the best of it. And this is because I am aware that it may be the only chance I have to change my life or even others. I want to go to where no one in my family has gone before. I was given the opportunity to attend college, and I am planning to make the best I can out of it. I am the first in my family to even attend college, and that itself has been a great accomplishment. I would love to give back to my community; I feel the need to help those in need. Someday I want to be proud to say that I have made a difference in others as well as in the community I grew up in. I want to show others that being a migrant is not an obstacle. I want to be a role model in my community and help other migrant workers believe that they too can accomplish their dreams for the future.