I am a Latina college student and naturally that means that I must have lived a difficult life to get here. My mom must have debuted on Dr. Phil (or some other drama-filled daytime talk show or the Jerry Springer show) screaming at her "baby daddy " for child support. I'm Latina so I must be an illegal immigrant from Cuba or Mexico. I'm Puerto Rican so I must have friends in a gang. I'm Hispanic so when there's an increase in poverty, crime, and teen pregnancies, I must have something to do with it. And of course, when applying to a scholarship for being Latina, the essay topic would be to write about the challenges in my life and how I overcame them, because you know, I am Latina and therefore my life has to be complicated. I must have had a set of obstacles that others don't and risen above. .
I fall under the most popular stereotypes associated with least likely to succeed. There's statistics saying that being a Latina girl from a low income family living in a neighborhood with a high rate of crimes means that I am destined to never get a college degree. Most likely I won't have a good paying job. As a young girl, I chose to never allow these stereotypes to have an impact my life. It was a naive choice because at the time I didn't realize that I didn't create those stereotypes, others did that for me, however, that simple choice did set up my mentality to break every stereotype anyone imposed on me. It mattered so much to me because ultimately, if I could free myself from the restrictions imposed on me, then I could be anything I wanted. Some people thought I was going to get pregnant while I was attending high school since my mother first child was when she was 16. I'm the fourth child out of nine, but unfortunately only five of my mother's nine children are alive. .
Right now, I don't live in a neighborhood with a high rate of crime. I live in a nice two acre house. I love it, because I have my own room and I don't have to share it with my siblings.