My parents are my greatest supporters, especially when it comes to my education. However, they aren’t the most reliable resource given that they never had the opportunity to get a college experience nor a high school diploma. Through the beginning stages of my academic learning, I was thankful enough to be a part of free torturing classes that helped me improve my learning capability. I took advantage of each class section and tried to learn as much as possible. It became difficult at times because I wasn’t very fluent in English. Therefore, my parents sent me to extra classes where I was taught the basic. This helped me improve my speaking and comprehension skills. Throughout High School I’ve learned to manage my time wisely. Every morning and afternoon, I am either in a teacher’s classroom or at Starbucks completing my homework. I live to the philosophy that if I take the extra time and focus on what will give me the intelligence over the others, I can take advantage of every opportunity. As a freshman in high school, it was difficult to leave my comfort zone and join clubs. I was afraid to look ridiculous in front of the upper class-men. After days and weeks of debating whether I should join clubs or not, I finally stood up for myself and attended one club meeting; Adventure Club. There were lots of people, in which I did not know anyone. Through time I gradually became very familiar with the club’s system but yet, only spoke when I had to. I was in no way satisfied with my level of confidence, therefore, when I joined soccer, I was determined to interact with others to build my self-confidence. As a result, I was capable to get the confidence I need to present level 4’s, join honor clubs, join honor classes, and raise my educational level. Thanks to these life learning experiences, I will be graduating with honors and pursue my educational goals as an opportunity seeker.
Family support
Over the summer, on weekends, or on any holiday, my family loves to spend time together. I loved to be in charge. I felt I was able to do anything. I was the leader of the family. Together we tend to put our ideas together in order to think and acknowledge our potential to be creative and enjoy all the moments we have together. We love to craft new objects for decoration in the house. There were times when we painted our house five different colors in the inside and three different colors in the outside. Every time we had a day off from work and the house was clean, we remodel the furniture. I was always the one who drawn out the blueprints. It was either adding another cabinet or removing furniture we no longer needed. Before starting, I took pictures so I can see the difference afterwards. With new paint and new objects, the house looked stunting. Also I love to build new cages for my pets. Even if they do not manage to stay together, I love to try. It doesn’t hurt to try. I am extremely creative when building. There was a time I made cages for a hamster I had. He was the cutest creature alive. I wanted to make a bigger and more entertaining cage for him. Therefore, I got old pieces of carbon and plastic to put them all together. When I was finally done, I put him in and saw him run through his new plastic wheel. I was always able to manage handling the problems. If my siblings argued or made a mess, I took charge and made sure they would stop causing problems. I love to help anyone in need. It feels great full and I am blessed with the results. I believe I got this gift from my mother. She has been the one who inspires me to do something different. No matter if it wasn’t proper, she supports my decisions.
Challenges
We all face challenges in life such as mine with family issues. During my childhood I was unfortunately to have grown up with an alcoholic father and a mental brother. I remember my father coming home very late. My mother would come up with excuses that he was at work or he is stuck in traffic to make us sleep. It was challenging because I did not understand the situation. I did not understand why he would come home. As time passed I’ve realized he was spending his afternoons and weekends drinking with friends. I always saw my father as a strong and hard working person, which is why I would believe my mom when she said he was at work. I came home every afternoon to either clean the house or make food for my siblings. Growing up I started to notice my dad bring men into the house and they would make lots of noise. From there on my mother and father argued so much. There were times where I would hide under the bed to above hearing their discussion. My brothers began to learn him my father’s aggressive words. They become very rude and poor my mom had to deal with this. Our family was full with problems and no solution. I remember the day my uncle dead trying to cross the border. My father was taking us to school when he received the call. He shredded into tears. When we got home from school he was still crying. We all hugged him but he feel into depression. My mother looked from help at church. Guess speakers came and shortly he was recovering, this time it wasn’t with the use of alcohol. I encouraged him to look for a way out and together we were able to manage his alcoholic addition. This was a great lesson for my future encounters. From there on my father encourage me focus on school and become something better than what he was.
My talents
Over my years in school and outside of school, I’ve learned to develop a positive attitude towards education in order to help others. It started when I was in elementary. As one of the oldest child in my family, I felt it was my responsibility to pursue a higher education to give my siblings the best role model they can have. Focusing on learning and understanding the importance of education, has lead my thoughts to helping others, develop for future situations. I had the desire to learn more than the common requirements by asking questions in order to fully understand what goes on around me. Asking question has been the strongest form of demonstrating my talent to assist others. The more I learned, the more I was able to teach. As a kid, I stuck to the idea I would become a teacher. Therefore, I tended to take my teacher's place and set next to anyone who needed help. I felt extremely proud of myself when I knew the students had passed their exam because of my help. Growing up and prompting into High School was a big challenge. There were tons of students. However, it did not stop me from learning. Slowly, but then quickly, as I become more familiar with the performance base system, immediately, I worked ahead of pace. My talent has always been helping others. Because I have was always been head of pace, there was no bother sharing my knowledge with others. In fact, I was awarded for my support. It paid off by learning how to become a better guidance for my classmates as well as to my siblings. A side from helping others in academia, I also put my talent to work by supporting and motivating my teammates into doing the best they can. This has lead me into become a leader. It is now a habit to help anyone in need, whether it is personal or academically.
Autobiography
My name is Silvia Vasquez and I am the second oldest of five siblings. If one includes my parents we are seven. I live in a fairly small but friendly town; Lindsay, CA. I grew up here and pursue my education to the fullest every opportunity I get. When I entered high school, I struggled to fit in but when I stepped out of my comfort zone and joined school activities such as clubs and sports, I realized that I was not the only one. During my time in Lindsay High School, I joined 13 different clubs, participated in three different sports, was team captain for one, completed community hours that surpassed the minimum, organized club meetings, helped tutor, coached soccer teams, worked over summer, joined honor societies, and became a leader in many of those activities. Sports have been a major impact in my leadership abilities. As I became captain of our varsity high school soccer team, I’ve learned the importance of my actions because they influence all who to look up to me. It is my responsibility to demonstrate extraordinary dedication to my team and do anything to have a better team as a whole. Regardless if it is a soccer team, club, or any other organization, a great leader would have integrity, vision, courage, creativity, trustworthiness to maintain a successful united team. I participated in the Scicon Camp twice as a counselor where I learned to become a better leader and be more responsible for my own actions because I am a person who many people admire. My community has given me much, so it is my pleasure to return the favor. From picking up trash to helping rebuilding the baseball field, I’ve enjoyed giving my community my time and effort. It is my home after all. Throughout my high school years I’ve learned how to become more organized, help others without expecting anything in return, and learned how to motivate new members into participating in club events. It’s been an honor becoming a part of 13 different clubs that receive members who are willing to put in the time and effort to help our communities become a better place. I will graduate with honors and hope to get accepted to UC Santa Barbara, my number one choice, to earn my BS degree in Ecology. I plan to complete this in four years and continue to study in order to become a Marine Biologist. I also wish to study abroad in Spain where I can research the oceanic environment and compare it to the U.S. a coast and bay environment. After those studies, I will continue school and major into a similar major as ecology. UC Santa Barbara is very expensive and in order to enroll, I must pay tuition and once there, I would need to pay for all my expenses as a student. My parents will not be able to provide much help financially and I need this scholarship to help me pay for my dream school. I now have the opportunity to become the first person in my family to attend college, although I have excellent grades, I am still struggling with money issues. I will overcome any obstacle in my way at college and succeed in my future education. I will continue to apple the same diligence to my collegiate studies as I have to this point of my life, making education my top priority.