Personal Background

I come from a world where people look down on me.  I am targeted as a young man of color where people doubt me as being a successful individual and accomplishing my goals in life.  I am surrounded by negative people on a daily basis. But while many may assume these negative influences come from friends or the outside world. On the contrary, these negative individuals happen to be my family.  Because both of my parents are gang affiliated, I have been labeled as such.  What my family doesn’t know is that their negativity only adds fuel to my fire of wanting to be successful.

One way the negativity drives me is wanting to do well in school. I have learned the value of education and leadership. I have been on the honor roll since the 6th grade. I have maintained a 3.0 since my freshman year. I push myself harder and harder each day so that I will not fail and prove these cynics wrong.  I have never received a fail on my report card.  One of my goals is to always have at least 2 A’s on my report card each semester.

The constant negativity has also taught me responsibility.  As a young man with limited parental and family guidance I have learned courage and to be brave; to let nothing interfere with reaching my goals.  I have also learned the responsibility of providing the basic needs in life; food, clothing, and school supplies.  I sell candy in order to purchase these items. I also get myself up in the morning on a daily basis to arrive on time to school.  

I come too far in life to let family negativity stop me from achieving my goals.  I can be successful and the negativity has turned me into a good student and positive goal oriented individual.  In achieving these goals, I plan of pursing a degree in Psychology and also transforming my own family from a negative influence to a positive.