How has your family history, culture, or environment influenced who you are?

How has your family history, culture, or environment influenced who you are?

With three unforgettable years of high school under my belt, the end of another milestone is in sight. But as one door closes, another one opens with new experiences and opportunities in store. Throughout my life, my parents have always tried to prepare me for the future by always pushing me to achieve my fullest potential, be it in academics or athletics, while also instilling good values and morals. As college exists as the next big step in life, I feel that through the influences of my family, culture, and environment that I am ready to accept the new challenges and responsibility that college entails.

Before my parents moved to America, both of them went through tough childhoods in the Philippines as they both of their families had little money. My mother especially had it rough as her single mother died by the time she was a young teenager, leaving her to take care of her four other siblings. As both my parents struggled, they studied and worked to get the best grades possible in hope of getting well-paying jobs to support their families. Through their hard-earned grades, both my parents received scholarships from numerous schools which helped them get the best education possible. Their perseverance not only got them well-paying jobs, but also the opportunity to move to America and work here.

Through their rough experiences, my parents have ingrained their work ethic into me as they taught me to never take anything for granted and to seize every possible opportunity to better and challenge myself. Whether in the class room striving to achieve the best grades possible, the weight room adding more weight and repetitions to my lifts, or the music room perfecting a difficult guitar technique, I always put 110% of myself into everything to obtain my highest potential. For this to be possible, these actions have taught me to exercise restraint, perseverance and maintain my morals when distractions or bumps in the road appear to hinder my capabilities. I am proud to say that I have kept drugs and alcohol away from myself for my entire life and don’t plan on ever getting sucked into them. I know that giving into them would go against everything that I stand for while it would only hold me back from accomplishing my goals. When faced with difficulties in life I’ve always embraced them and persevered through them as in doing so builds who your character as a person. In the prayer of the “Direction of Intention”, it states “…I offer to you all the good that I may do, and except all the difficulty I may meet therein.” Through the influence of my parents and their history, this statement sums up how I have handled my life.