My Dreams, Your Dreams by Quisi

My Dreams, Your Dreams by Quisi - June 2017 Scholarship Essay

As little kids, we imagined riding fire breathing dragons or climbing giant castles. We could not imagine any other kid having a dream different than ours. Then we started to go to school and learned about presidents, teachers, doctors and many other professions. For many, this was the time where they realized what they wanted to be when they grew up. My childhood was different than most. At six years old the idea of becoming a professional and having a career was nonexistent but as I become older I realized I wanted to go to college and have a career.
My childhood was different than most. Mainly because I come from a family of immigrants and the idea of having a higher education was not common. My first language was Spanish and at the age of six, I was struggling to understand English in my classes. Due to the language barrier, I struggled learning content taught in my classes and my grades were awful. This was all discouraging and I started to believe that I was incapable of succeeding in a career. I stopped making an effort at school because even when I tried to get good grades I failed.
I had no intent of pursuing a career until I was eight years old. Going to school was something I dreaded every single day because I felt incompetent in my classes. I had the mentality that I was never going to be successful at school. That all changed when I got Honor Roll for the first time. I knew it was not the highest award I could get but it was my first award and it was Honor Roll. This was awarded to me because I had good grades and a good GPA at the end of the semester. When I received this award I could not believe that I was the one who earned this award. A was in shock and even double checked that my name was on the certificate. This award not only showed me that I maintained a high GPA it also made me realize that I could succeed in school. This award gave me the motivation to make an effort in school.
I knew that I wanted to seek higher education after high school but I did not know what I wanted to do when I grew up. That all changed when I was doing an essay for Youth Day at my middle school. Youth Day was a day in which a couple students could go and visit a professional with a career. I was applying for this and one of the requirements was to write essays. One of the questions that I had to answer was: what would you like to be when you grow up? I had no idea what to write! This was when I started to think of what I would enjoy doing and the impact I wanted to make. I knew I wanted to help people and I thought I wanted to do something with law. So I figured I wanted to be a police officer at the age of 13.
My dream of becoming a police officer was replaced when I did a self-research project at the age of 16. During this self-research project we were supposed to figure out what we wanted to be and the education we needed to get in order to become what we wanted. During this project, I realized that whatever I did I wanted to help people. I also realized that I did not want to become a police officer and instead wanted to be a lawyer. I felt that if I became a lawyer I would always challenge myself and also help people.
My dream once again changed when I was 17 years old. I did not fully understand what it meant to be a lawyer and all the work that I would have to put in. When I understood how hard it is to be a lawyer I realized that I did not want to become a lawyer. I was able to figure out what I wanted to be when I grow up when I was doing a project on the economics of college. I had to figure out what I wanted to major in and which colleges would be best for that major. In this project, we had to research what jobs could you get with your major. I wanted to be an International Relations major because I like to see the different cultures and perspectives but I knew I did not want to be an Ambassador. I want to focus on business. I will be going to college to get my major in International Relations and a minor in business. I want to help companies in America to expand their businesses in different countries.
It took me a long time figure out what I wanted to be when I grow up but along the way, I was able to realize how important education is. When I felt incompetent, impotent and incapable of succeeding in a career I was miserable. Throughout my education, I started to feel empowered and motivated to have a career. I was able to realize that although we all have different experiences and childhoods we all have the same opportunity to be what we want when we grow up.