Response #1
The most significant challenge I have faced in my life was starting high school. Going through the first few months of high school was really hard and I had to learn how to manage my time better and do all my work to keep good grades. I got through my freshman year of high school with these lessons. My life at school and in general has changed through this by making me think more about my future and my academics. At home, my life has not really changed besides the fact that i have a lot more homework than before. High school also changed my life with the sports I play now. They were also challenging at first but once I started playing basketball and running track and cross country, they changed my life by making me faster, stronger, and more athletic. I am currently still working through my goal of gaining speed and building up more stamina for track and cross country. This changes my life at home by using up some of my free time for running around the neighborhood. Going through these experiences makes me a better person physically and academically. These challenges took a lot of work to overcome but it was all worth it at the end.
Response #2
When I was 4 or 5, i would always stay at my grandma's house while my mom would go to work. My grandma had a huge impact on my education. I took advantage of a significant Education opportunity by having her teach me basic things a student needs to be prepared for kindergarten. She was like my preschool teacher. She would teach me how to read and have me read books and stories to her. She also taught me shapes and colors with different patterns and made everything fun. I remember once I got better at math, she would buy me books that would have math equations in it every summer; now math is one of my best subjects in school. My family was pretty much summer school for the first few years of elementary school. It felt like having homework over every break, but it was really worth it. I enjoyed some of the activities because they were for kids so they had to have something fun about it like puzzles and games with every math section. I would also watch educational programs on Tv with my grandma like animal planet or the discovery channel to help educate me about the real world and nature. These are the few things that gave me an advantage in school and in my education. Now i'm taking AP and honors classes to help me get into and prepare me for college. I have been doing well so far in high school and hope that I will in college too.
Response #3
I would say my greatest talent would be basketball. I have been playing basketball for 3 years now and have developed my skills and gained love for the game. I was not very good at it until i started going to a trainer in oceanside. He was a really good coach and increased my skills quickly. Although i was always a very good shooter, now i am more consistent than ever beyond the 3 point line. I had to work tremendously hard in order to have the skills I have today. It took a lot of free time, almost all my free time playing and practicing basketball. My dribbling and defense skills got a lot better too. On defense, it is all about how hard you want to try, it isn't a skill or talent. For that part of basketball i had to become more athletic and conditioned to keep up with whoever is on offense, it takes a lot of energy. On offense, I have developed my game and have more options on what i can do to score now. My first ever basketball team i was on was my sophomore year of high school. I have never made a basketball team at my schools before because i was not that good. It took me a couple of years but all that training i did with my coach from oceanside paid off. I had a good season and an even better season my junior year when i made the team again. I am now more conditioned and more athletic than i used to be back in middle school.
Response #4
I have expressed my creative side in problem solving. Many times when my friends and I face a problem they always find a simple way to solve it. On the other hand, I create a plan. For example one time my friend and I got in a situation where his car was stuck in the middle of the street for a reason we did not know. He was thinking of just calling his mom or anyone that could help, but I was thinking of researching on my phone about the car. So I did and found out what was wrong with the gears. It was simple to fix so we did, and we got the car running again. This is just one example of how I think in situations like that. Another time was when my friends and I were going to cook a pizza in the oven. None of us knew how to work it so we were guessing. Something went wrong with the process of cooking it so they just wanted to cancel the plan. What i wanted to do was keep trying and messing with the oven hoping that it wouldn't blow up. I thought the solution to the oven problem was to try and make it work, not give up on it. I think my passion for sports and athletics is what makes me have this mentality. A mentality that doesn't let you give up and have others do something for you. I've been taught that at home and during sport activities and it has affected my whole life.
Response #5
What makes me me is everything I have accomplished in my life, my way of thinking and learning, and my personality. My identity was built throughout how I have been raised and how I learned things through my elders. I feel like race and ethnicity make someone's character somewhat different but not much because everyone is raised differently but latinos like myself always seem to have similar personalities. I take after my grandparents and parents who taught me to always be a respectful person and to share everything I have. That really built up my personality to become a kind social guy. I also was taught that education is super important in life to be successful. That impacted me a lot because my mom did not go to college even though she had the opportunity to and we have struggled over the years with money. Education has always been really important to me and going to college is one of my main goals in life. I have also always wanted to do sports since I was young. I feel like my background of fast latinos on my dad's side helped with my athletics. I have been most successful during track and cross country because I have a hard work ethic, My parents always taught me to not give up when you want to accomplish something. I have only experienced the beginning of my full life yet and there are many things my life would not be complete without. The way i make friends so easily is not something I picked up from my parents, it might have been just that i was born with the ability to be social. My friends are also a part of why I am who I am. I chose to hang out with a good group of kids so they help me keep focus on the important things in life like education, athletics, and having a good time. Hanging out with friends relaxes me and that is important to my identity. I am a really lay back kind of guy that does not get angry or anything like that. I just deal with problems calmly. Living with only one parent, my mom, is also something that can influence a child to be unique and more like the one parent they live with. Altho I do see my dad once a week, I take after my mom more. She teaches me everything she knows and I follow what she does by example. Everything about me makes me unique. No one in the world is exactly the same as me, all my different types of likes and dislikes are what make me different. No one likes something just as much as me or vise versa. My personality, looks, and activities I like to do all make me different from everyone else. What makes me different is the way I was raised and where I grew up. The environment around me gives me the positivity I have in my life.