My Dream School by Sophie

My Dream School by Sophie - August 2020 Scholarship Essay

Although I was born and raised in Los Angeles County, my understanding of the world has been heavily influenced by my parents’ roots; my mother is a first-generation immigrant from Poland while my dad was born and resides in the Philippines. Watching my mother throw herself into her job to support me taught me the value of working hard and finding interests that bring to life natural ambitions. I have worked the last four years as a swim coach for Swim Torrance, the swim club I spent over half a decade at in my youth. There, I learned how to be a leader, manage time, and the importance of teamwork. In the last year, I have also been working at Nature Republic, a Korean skincare brand, where I can help people find products that support their confidence in themselves and allow me to support myself and take the stress off of my household's financial situation. Further, I have been able to curate a culture of prioritizing organization in my life as a result of balancing this workload on top of a full schedule of classes in college.
My experience in working these jobs has also helped me realize the type of job I want to hold in the future. Both jobs allow me to help others, an experience that makes me truly feel like I am growing and content at the moment. In visiting my father in the Philippines periodically throughout my life, I have been exposed to a culture significantly different from the one I have been raised in. My family lives in a home the fraction of the size of most rooms in America; a majority of the cities are underdeveloped, it is hard to find a stable job in the state of their economy, and people live very minimally, yet they are so happy with almost nothing. They rely on each other in order to find happiness through despair. This cultural shock humbles me and inspires me to use the opportunities accessible to me in the United States to fend for those missing the same ones abroad.
Regardless of my time in other parts of the world, I am always drawn back to Los Angeles. LA is so incredibly diverse; home to immense wealth found in areas such as Calabasas, it also stands as a sanctuary city where it provides immigrants a safer space to pursue change. This sharp contrast has shown me both how rewarding and how exhausting the state of our world stands today. Recognizing this dichotomy I have been exposed to growing up has influenced my decision to pursue USC. In the heart of Los Angeles, I will feel at home and reminded of what I am fighting for, for both myself and others; I want to further my education in order to become an international human rights lawyer. With our country being divided at the moment, I believe it is up to our generation to make a change. Our city is the perfect place to be involved in politics because California is an influential, model state. I want to be able to give back to my community in which I grew up.
In my last semester as a community college student has let focus on my political science major, cultivating excitement within myself for my future education. Living in an area as diverse as Los Angeles provides life learning lessons constantly and being able to find an interest like political science has made me feel useful and eager to apply my knowledge into a field based on helping others through government action. Although our current system is built upon oppressive roots, I believe small ground-level actions like putting people in power that represent new perspectives can push forward a new era. I see myself as one of those people to represent not only people like my mother, a first-gen, single-mother immigrant from Poland, not only people like my disadvantaged family in the Philippines but people like me as well, that struggle to find their place as a product of such circumstances. I believe the staff, curriculum, and overall atmosphere at USC will greatly aid me in this pursuit.