College App!

Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.

I come from a world in which I have learned that I either have to depend solely on myself or on my family for moral support. From a young age, I learned that it is hard to trust many people in your life. People are never how they seem to be and situations change most of us.

Through tough times, my family is the best thing that I have in this world. Without them, I would not be the person that I am today. They are the people who fulfill the entirety of my life.  

My mother and my father both inspire and motivate me to do my best. Both of my parents have always wanted me to do the best in anything I do. They both have set very high expectations for me just like any parent would for their children. Although my parents are divorced, they still never fail to make me and my sister feel loved and supported. They are both the rock in my life. Without them, I would have been lost for a long period of my time, but throughout the years, my parents have taught me that I have to be strong and independent in order to get very far in life. In order for my life to turn out successful, my family has taught me that you must believe in yourself before anyone else. I learned to trust myself to go far and I have learned to fight for myself in any situation.
I am as strong as both of my parents. They have toughed out many situations in their lives and so have I. Most kids cringe to think that they will someday turn out to be like their parents, but I honestly do not mind having the same characteristics as my parents because I have learned to be a warrior.

It is strange to say, but my sister motivates me each and every day. It sounds crazy that an eleven year old girl is my motivation in life, but it is true. Emily motivates me to do my best in school. I want to be successful not only for myself, my mom and my dad, but also for her. I want her to be able to see me in less than 2 years graduating from high school and going on to college. She would know that I have a very successful life and that I already have goals set for myself. I want her to be proud of her older sister and hopefully, she will follow in my footsteps one day.
I have been very successful in making my sister proud of me. She sees how hard it is to be in high school especially at the rigorous high school I attend, ASTI and she is already taking initiative to be just like me in the future. She wants to be able to have good grades in high school as I am doing at the moment. Already, she has a 4.0 grade average in 6th grade and she wants to go in to the medical field such as myself.  I am happy to see that I inspire my little sister when truly, she is my inspiration.  

When I was 8 years old though, my little sister almost died. If she wouldn’t have made it in to that surgery room in time, I would not have a little sister right now. Before, I used to fight with my little sister even though she was only 3 years old. Even now when I argue with her, I think back to the time where I could have lost her and I begin to apologize. Her near death experience made me appreciate the fact that I have a younger sister. For that reason, she is also my inspiration. I want to make her proud. I want to be that role model older sister. I wish that one day she would be proud to say that I am her older sister.

Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are?

My parent’s divorce from when I was 9 years old completely changed me as a person. Due to this, I had to move to a different environment from what I was used to and it taught me how to love both parents even more. Their divorce made me a stronger person because I had gotten used to establishing myself for 9 years in one place, then I had it completely change in such a short period of time. Divorce taught me that through horrible circumstances, I can still rise to the top. My education has always been my number one priority and even when times were tough, my grades never dropped.  

 

My ethnicity inspires me. I am Mexican and Salvadorian; I am Latina and I am proud. Throughout my life, I have seen the dark sides of racism. It has been around me ever since I was little. Although I grew up in a community where it is primarily Latino, I see that even the same kind of race do not believe in each other. My culture is beautiful, but others out there stereotype us and try to keep us down.  I want to beat that stereotype that Latinos cannot get far in life because we can. My inspiration is to my culture because I want a better future in order to prove people wrong. My family has a history of not being able to go on to college because of their poor grades and the lack of tuition money, but I know that I can beat the odds and turn out successful.

Comments

Peter: I think that that at the begging of your essay you should make it cleat about what question you are going to be talking about. From what I read in the beginning of your essay it seems that the question that you write about is to describe a character. You do a hood job specially by going into their background and orating pus know how her life is like. Try tk get in more into the charecter. I really like how you ended your essay it was really strong it helped support the question you were talking about

Shiyun: I really do not know what question you are talking about.it seems like if you are just describing the book. Also you need transitions when you move on to the next paragrsph. I also like the description of the book. I already read this book and I think you did a good job of describing it it helped me understand the book beter. You should focus a litle more on the characters you should had spent a litle more time on them. Overall you did a really good job on ur essay.

Ianna: You seem to have no transition between your paragraphs. You did s really hood job of answering the question. You did a good job by telling ous how the purpose of writing the book was to show of his life and to inform ous about his lifestyle. I also thought you did Good job on telling ous the weakness of the boom. Overall I think that you wrote a good essay.

Book Review Rough Draft

In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, it speaks of what our future world will look like when the government takes control of everything in a monarchy way. The story takes place in the futuristic North America.

Some background info about the Games is that North America is divided into 12 districts and during the Hunger  Games, 2 teenagers from each district (a boy and a girl), ranging from the ages of 12-18 are chosen to take part in the games which take place ion the Capitol. The main goal, the challenge, is to fight until the death;the last man standing wins it all: that is food for their district.

The main character Katniss, steps in to go to the Hunger Games for her sister who was originally chosen at random. Her act of replacing her sister in the Games shows courage and strength. Throughout the first section of the book, she shows that she is an independent girl fighting for her survival. While actually in the Games, she learns that she has to fight independently and that was the only way she would truly survive. Even Peeta, the boy that was also chosen from her district, abandoned her. Katniss is a passionate and loving character. Her main focus is to win, not only for herself, but for her family: her mother and her younger sister, Prim.

In my opinion, the strengths of the book is honestly how the author chooses to characterize the main character Katniss. Usually, it is strange to see a girl actually being able to fight and fend for herself. Collins does a great job of adding a lot of detail as well so the reader is able to really get to know the main character after they're done reading. Another strength of the book is the overall story and theme. The Hunger Games is a metaphor for the government thinking they can control everyone around them and turn everyone in to their puppets. This is what our future might become like if the government takes control of each and everyone of our lives. Overall, the Hunger Games is one of the most compelling books I have read so far.


Whoot! I finished the book! Overall, I thought Hunger Games was really a great book and sort of kept me on the edge in terms of it being really exciting for me to read. I think I'm capable of reading the other two books by Suzanne Collins,Catching Fire and Mockingjay because I really enjoyed reading Hunger Games.

On my last book review, I had some comments saying that I should expand on my ideas more. The end of the book is very good! Throughout the games, Katniss had only one ally, Rue, but after she was killed, she was all alone. The Gamemakers had announced that they would be letting the two people from one district survive together and they would both be victors. With that in mind, the main character, Katniss, had to team up with the boy from her district who survived, Peeta.

Before arriving at the games, all of the members of the games have to meet up at the Capitol. There, Katniss' and Peeta's mentor, Haymitch had trained them. Right before going in to the arena, Haymitch told Katniss to pretend to be madly in love with Peeta in the Games because everyone would be watching and that gave them a better chance at survival.

The last couple sentences in the book is :

"Already the boy with the bread is slipping away form me. I take his hand, holding on tightly, preparing for the cameras, and dreading the moment when I finally have to let go," (374).

Peeta, throughout the entire games was not pretending to be in love with Katniss, but Katniss was. This shows how much a person would do to stay alive. In the Games, it's all about survival of the fittest, and in this case, Katniss survived by putting on a great show for her audience. The Capitol and the makers of the Hunger Games in the book demonstrate how they are the puppet master for all of the tributes in the game.

In my opinion, I still stand by the idea that this book was intended for an audience between the ages of 12-18, or maybe even younger. My little sister who is 11 years old read this book and she also enjoyed it. The book is appealing to all ages and there is a good reason behind that.

Hunger Games DONE!

Whoot! I finished the book! Overall, I thought Hunger Games was really a great book and sort of kept me on the edge in terms of it being really exciting for me to read. I think I'm capable of reading the other two books by Suzanne Collins, Catching Fire and Mockingjay because I really enjoyed reading Hunger Games.

On my last book review, I had some comments saying that I should expand on my ideas more. The end of the book is very good! Throughout the games, Katniss had only one ally, Rue, but after she was killed, she was all alone. The Gamemakers had announced that they would be letting the two people from one district survive together and they would both be victors. With that in mind, the main character, Katniss, had to team up with the boy from her district who survived, Peeta.

Before arriving at the games, all of the members of the games have to meet up at the Capitol. There, Katniss' and Peeta's mentor, Haymitch had trained them. Right before going in to the arena, Haymitch told Katniss to pretend to be madly in love with Peeta in the Games because everyone would be watching and that gave them a better chance at survival.

The last couple sentences in the book is :

"Already the boy with the bread is slipping away form me. I take his hand, holding on tightly, preparing for the cameras, and dreading the moment when I finally have to let go," (374).

Peeta, throughout the entire games was not pretending to be in love with Katniss, but Katniss was. This shows how much a person would do to stay alive. In the Games, it's all about survival of the fittest, and in this case, Katniss survived by putting on a great show for her audience. The Capitol and the makers of the Hunger Games in the book demonstrate how they are the puppet master for all of the tributes in the game.

In my opinion, I still stand by the idea that this book was intended for an audience between the ages of 12-18, or maybe even younger. My little sister who is 11 years old read this book and she also enjoyed it. The book is appealing to all ages and there is a good reason behind that.

Hunger Games Part 1

In The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, it speaks of what our future world will look like when the government takes control of everything in a monarchy way. The story takes place in the futuristic North America.

Some background info about the Games is that North America is divided into 12 districts and during the Hunger  Games, 2 teenagers from each district (a boy and a girl), ranging from the ages of 12-18 are chosen to take part in the games which take place ion the Capitol. The main goal, the challenge, is to fight until the death;the last man standing wins it all: that is food for their district.

The main character Katniss, steps in to go to the Hunger Games for her sister who was originally chosen at random. Her act of replacing her sister in the Games shows courage and strength. Throughout the first section of the book, she shows that she is an independent girl fighting for her survival. While actually in the Games, she learns that she has to fight independently and that was the only way she would truly survive. Even Peeta, the boy that was also chosen from her district, abandoned her. Katniss is a passionate and loving character. Her main focus is to win, not only for herself, but for her family: her mother and her younger sister, Prim.

In my opinion, the strengths of the book is honestly how the author chooses to characterize the main character Katniss. Usually, it is strange to see a girl actually being able to fight and fend for herself. Collins does a great job of adding a lot of detail as well so the reader is able to really get to know the main character after they're done reading. Another strength of the book is the overall story and theme. The Hunger Games is a metaphor for the government thinking they can control everyone around them and turn everyone in to their puppets. This is what our future might become like if the government takes control of each and everyone of our lives. Overall, the Hunger Games is one of the most compelling books I have read so far.

Vanessa, Pedro and Marco! yeahhh...

A pattern that I have seen between two other stories similar to mine was Pedro's story and Marco's story. I have noticed that we all write about the same thing: our families hometowns.

In Pedro's story, he writes and tells us of how his family is from Mexico and the history behind how his grandfather establishing a small town in Mexico.  I remember this one story she told me about how my grandparents started a village that is now well known.  

 "I remember this one story she told me about how my grandparents started a village that is now well known."

Pedro's family story tells of how his family came to be in his hometown and his families hometown of Mexico. Later in the story, he talks about mini-stories that his cousins used to tell him about La Llorona  and the Devil. I can relate to those same small stories my family once told me.

In Marco's family story, he talks about how his grandfather was really from El Salvador and how he moved to Honduras when he was really young. The thing that I related to with Marco's story was that his grandfather died when he was only three years old and he never really got the chance to meet him.

"I did not even know my grandfather was from El Salvador, and I found out years after of his death. I never got to spend much time with him. I have only one memory of him with me. I was too young to remember more about him. He died when I was three years old." 

I can relate to Marco's story because for a while when I was younger, I never really knew who I was in terms of race.  Finally, at some point in my childhood, I learned the difference between my family's ethnicity and my father's ethnicity. I learned that my father was Salvadorian and I later learned that I have a Spanish background. At the same time, I never got to meet my dad's father. I never got the chance to meet him and spend time with him like other kids do.

Our cultures each interact. We are all Latinos and we have similar backgrounds.  If I were to actually sit down with both Pedro and Marco, then we would each find that we have many simmiilar things in common.  I like the feeling of being able to relate to two other people based on our cultural background.

Cyclical Stories in the Joy Luck Club

In the Joy Luck Club, there are many cycles that repeat themselves beginning from the mothers and ending with the daughters. The children of the four mothers do not appreciate having their mothers until they do not have them there for them. There is also that factor of bad marriages. I believe that the purpose for the cyclical stories is to express the reality that daughters eventually turn out to be just like their mothers no matter what. It is unavoidable for the daughters to have a life similar to their mothers. 


Inappreciativeness for the mothers leads to them not being there any longer. In The Joy Luck Club, the chapter Rules of the Game discusses how a mother, Lindo Jong, pushes her daughter, Waverly Jong to play chess and the daughter finally gets tired of it. As a result, she tells her how she feels, "I wish you wouldn't do that,telling everybody I'm your daughter" (99). When Waverly gets the chance, she ends up running away and doesn't come back until later at night. She comes home from her family ignoring her and her mother saying, "We are not concerning this girl. This girl not have concerning for us," (100). Waverly pushed her mother away and it ended up with her not having her mother's support anymore when it came to even acknowledging her as a daughter.


In Two Kinds, Jing-Mei Woo disappoints her mother, Suyuan Woo, when she fails at a piano recital and decides that she does not want to play from that point on. When the mother fails to force her daughter to keep playing, the daughter tells her something unbearable to hear. From then on, Jing-Mei never got better at anything

 "In the years that followed, I failed her s many times, each time asserting my own will, my right to fall short of expectations... And for all those years, we never talked about the disaster at the recital or my terrible accusations afterward at the piano bench, All that remained unchecked, like a betrayal, that was now unspeakable,"(142).

Jing-Mei's mother eventually died and she never got to appreciate how much her mother had done for her and how much hope she had for her.

Another cycle in this book is that of marriages ending up wrong either from the start or towards the end. In Red Candle, Lindo Jong is forced to be married with a man who she does not feel any sort of attraction towards whatsoever. Instead, he was a big kid who grew up to be a bad husband to Lindo, "I knew what kind of husband he would be, because he made special efforts to make me cry," (53). Lindo Jong was forced into a bad marriage and stuck with her for some time. The same cycle repeated with Lena St. Clair in Rice Husband where she didn't marry for love in the end. From her childhood, her mother had already warned her that she would marry a bad and it ended up happening. All in all, bad marriages are a cycle throughout the Joy Luck Club.

Although women everywhere try not to be exactly like their mothers, it is inevitable that it will happen. The cycle of a mother's life can lead in to be the cycle of her daughter. It is obvious that the apple does not fall far from the tree.