Dreams and Pastelitos by Emily

Dreams and Pastelitos by Emily - April 2021 Scholarship Essay

Dreams and Pastelitos

The scent of Cuban sandwiches, café con leche, and my favorite: guava and cream cheese pastelitos, engulfed my five-year-old senses. I looked around the small, familiar Cuban bakery, in the heart of Miami, until my eyes focused back on Abuelo and Abuela, my grandparents. I listened as they spoke, laughing, about good memories and old times. At that time, I didn’t realize how these bakery chats would teach me a life lesson that continues to impact me to this day. If I could go back and give myself advice five years ago, it would be to follow those lessons with assurance that they work.
Growing up as a third generation Cuban American, the place I called home was a diverse community in South Florida. I was especially shaped by the time spent with my grandparents in that little Cuban bakery, as they told me the stories of our family history over pastelitos and café con leche. My grandparents risked everything for freedom and a chance for their family to thrive. In Cuba, in 1961, Abuelo was imprisoned for his views supporting freedom for the Cuban people. At that time, Abuela, a courageous woman expecting her first child, was only a year older than I am now. In prison there was little food, and she feared for her newlywed husband. Visitors were allowed to bring sweets, but nothing substantial. Abuela once brought a cake with meat hidden in the center for Abuelo. Her heart raced as she and her belongings were searched. A guard turned his attention to the cake and poked a stick through it to see if anything seemed suspicious about it. She knew she had been caught by the look he gave her, but to her relief the guard had pity and let her pass. My grandparents endured this difficult time for three long years before Abuelo was released from prison, and they were able to leave the country.
I have recalled those bakery visits and pastry-time chats many times throughout my life, but if I could go back five years, with the knowledge I have now, I would tell myself that following those lessons would prove to be a success. The importance of having courage and perseverance would be invaluable. I would remind myself to remember my grandmother’s brave cake deliveries when I encountered bullying from a classmate, for a time during middle school. It would be a challenging situation that would test my courage and perseverance until the issue was resolved. It would be useful to remember my grandfather’s time in prison and know that if he could endure a difficult struggle, then so could I. And I would! Later in my life, I would be able to use this life experience and advise a friend that was also dealing with something similar.
I would also share with myself from five years ago that I would also apply the bakery lesson I learned when starting a new adventure, homeschooling, during high school. I would face a new, challenging situation that was unlike anything I had done before. I would have a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach on the day I would join a tight-knit group of homeschoolers, who had known each other since preschool. Homeschooling would require a totally different level of persistence, focus and drive. I would have to help choose my curriculum and classes and have to find a new community through co-ops and homeschool sports groups. I would tell myself to hang in there and that applying courage and perseverance would succeed. I would, eventually, be proud of the effort I put into my studies and still be very close to the friends I would make for years. I would also tell myself that eventually I would, nervously, take a college placement exam to participate in dual enrollment at my local community college. My test scores, in all subjects, would be well above the range needed, and in that moment I would know that I was ready to tackle college and the future.
Many years have come and gone since the bakery visits and pastelitos. Although Abuela continues to be a source of inspiration, Abuelo isn’t with my family anymore. I will never forget those bakery chats and how much they meant to me, although it was not apparent just how much until recently. As I begin college in a new state, there will surely be unfamiliar faces and challenges. I will carry with me the lesson my grandparents taught me over pastelitos: to have courage and perseverance in spite of life’s difficulties.
It would be an absolute honor to receive the Varsity Tutors Scholarship to help me achieve my college dreams, and you can bet that I’ll eat a few pastelitos along the way!