Intercultural Personal Statement

Growing up, school was not a major factor in my life. I come from a hard-working, middle-class military family. My mother, a Filipino immigrant, was a homemaker. My father was a 21-year United States Marine veteran. They were my first impression of what I thought my future would be. Being the youngest of four children, I was expected to fall in line behind my siblings when it came to education. I was never pushed to excel in my studies, so I did just enough to get by. As I watched friends escape the grasp of a military town and ascend to their respective colleges, I was left wondering what was next for me. I attended my local community college for a brief period of time. I treated college no different than high school. I

Starting college in August of 2008 was completely different than what I was expecting. My parents loaded up my car and sent me on my way to gain a college degree and experience life on my own, but looking back over the situation, I tend to ask myself numerous times do I think I was ready for college and the responsibilities that were to come along with it. Each time the answer was no. Being the first person in my family to go off to college away from home, I had no idea what to expect, or how to handle the things that come along with college life. Needless to say, it took me several major changes and me leaving my first university and transferring to one at home for me to get a handle of the situation.

I came to college knowing, that so much of what I was over the first eighteen years of my life would be put to the test. Not simply because I was a conservative, in a liberal environment, but because I would be faced with four years, in a place that was in such

As I have blossomed into the individual I am today I have developed a significantly different outlook from most of my peers. My mother migrated from Colombia to the United States because she wanted to create a better life for my older brother and me. Her journey inspires me and it a journey which many individuals with Latino backgrounds have to undergo to have the polity to give their children education possibilities. The sacrifice that my mother and those like her have bared have revealed to me the importance of what it means to work hard. As a family of immigrants I have developed an appreciation for those close to me. Living in the United States I see my grandparents and all of my siblings every two years, I understand what it is too mean

I was always the class clown and would never receive satisfactory grades on my report card. For a short period of time, I was the “disappointment” in the family. But after watching what my cousin went through, I realized that dropping out wasn’t an option. My cousin motivated me to change my ways in school and work harder. Although I had wished he never dropped out of high school and instead excel in an institution of higher learning, he turned me into a better student. Him dropping out made me realize I didn’t want to end up gangbanging in the streets, I would rather excel in academics and eventually attend an institution of higher learning. I made attending a four-year university my goal for the next four years of high school and I eventually accomplished that goal as I am now attending Syracuse

I spent endless days and nights thinking about my future. What was I going to do? Where was I going to go? How was I going to do it? I didn’t know why I was stressing about it since I knew that I really didn’t have to make any permanent decisions until the end of Junior year. I guess the fact that I am a first born in the United States has always influenced me to try and surpass my peers when it came to academics. My goal in life was to make sure I would live the ‘American Dream’, but what I wasn’t aware of was that I was already living that dream thanks to my parents. As I’ve said in this article, I wouldn’t even be here writing this article if it wasn’t for them. I would’ve not had the infinite amount of perseverance, courage, and bravery to be writing this article. At some point in every teenager’s life, including mine, there’s that moment where you just want your parents to leave you alone. Trust me, I’ve been there, but in the end, your parents are always going to be there for you. This year for me involves many college visits and tours, stressing about AP classes, extracurriculars, and finding that one college (but let’s be real here, more like a list of ten), that is perfect for me before applying next fall. I know for a fact that every step of the way there my parents will be with me leading all the way to when I receive my diploma, to dropping me off at my dream

The most significant challenge that I faced is culture difference. Born in Indonesia, continuing education on America and being an international student has not been easy on me. This has been an issue for me when I leave high school early and when to a community college in Seattle. At that time, I was not even 18 years old and having difficulty when communicating with people.

I was born in 1978 in the Southeast of China. I grew and received a formal education in China before I immigrated to United States.

Culture is beauty. The incredible variation in language, religion, thought, art and cuisine that exists in our small planet among our fellow human beings is simply breathtaking. I desire to meet individuals from as many cultures as I can; to experience as many places and foods as possible; to learn of all the religions and understand their ideas; to speak and understand as many languages as I possibly can and to see the natural beauty this entire planet has to offer. This is why, with the help and support of my family, I have begun to work towards these ambitions to live what I feel is a fulfilling life. I have been incredibly blessed to experience some of these things thus far.

Coming from a Hispanic family with very limited education, I've gone through many experiences that have made me realize that I don't want to go through the problems that my family has faced and that I want to be successful in life. Before my existence, my father immigrated from Mexico to the United States, and my mother moved from Puerto Rico to here as well. They both came to the United States in search of opportunities and a better life. For

In the beginning of my education battle, when it came time for me to go to college, my father placed a huge responsibility on me to finish school because I would be the first child to go to college and complete it. Though I have always carried a lot of accountability in myself in being a role model for my siblings, after graduation I had no time to think about myself in terms of what college would mean for my future. This is because I didn’t know actually what I wanted out of my experience at Western Kentucky University; however, because of the push that I had from my father and step-mother to go to school, I want out of respect to please my family.

Many people like to describe their cultural identity as parties, hip hop, and many other activities that are meant to make someone enjoy life. I tend to be a bit more on the religious side than others. My cultural identity is, a Nihang willing to give his life to defend justice, a human who loves spending time with his family, and a Sikh who learns and teaches his heritage and language to others. As a Sikh, it is my duty to protect everyone from tyranny, and to fight against injustice. Many people tend to question me. “Hey, why is that thing on your head?”, “Why don’t you eat meat?”, “Aren’t you an Arab?”. But as a Sikh, it is my responsibility to teach everyone about who I am. Why don’t we start now? I wear a turban because it symbolizes pride and honor that was given to me. I don’t eat meat because of the torture

From as early on as I can remember, I was not an enormous fan of school. I’d much rather spend my free time goofing around with my friends as opposed to studying for quizzes or doing my homework. Throughout high school, I would say my grades were mediocre at best. I was not even planning on attending college; I was planning on going to a trade school to become a mechanic. It wasn’t until I experienced higher education firsthand and had a few talks with my parents when I realized that, to have the greatest possible quality of life, one has to attend college.

When I was six years old my parents decided to move to the U.S. I was placed in first grade after taking two placement exams. For approximately six months, I attended the Newcomer Center in White Plains, NY. I remember sitting on a red carpet and spending a lot of time listening to the teacher read stories. I also remember doing phonics every morning. I excelled in math, but struggled in language acquisition. After several evaluations I was assigned to a public elementary school within the school district. In second grade, I was placed in a monolingual classroom. I was later assigned to a pull-out ESL program, which I benefited from immensely. I started to enjoy reading in English when I was with my ESL teacher, Ms. Cello. Learning a new language

Throughout the first unit we have explored the reasons as to why college may not be the best fit for some. I believe that, like a majority of children, I was raised on the basis that a college degree was needed to be successful. Many may think of higher education as a giant Ponzi scheme, where students are lured into the promise of receiving high-paying jobs due to the fact they attended University. Today I realize that a college degree isn’t a guarantee that you’ll be successful rather it is a way to gain the edge against peers. In this paper, I am going to further evaluate why college was the best fit for me, and how I came to that conclusion.