As a nine-year-old child arriving in America, I did not have any level of expectation from a new environment that was completely different from what I had been accustomed to. I was simply terrified about the possibilities of starting a new life where I didn't speak proper English, and didn't have any friends at the time. After a few weeks I started to wonder how I would ever survive living in this new place when it only got worse and I enrolled in a public school. I was petrified at the prospect of going to school but little did I know it would be the best thing that could happen to me at the time. I was determined to change things for the better and after just few months I was upgraded to a regular English level class from an ESL class and formed bonds with new friends for the first time.
Additional obstacles would follow me shortly. Over these years in America, I have endured numerous challenges in life at a fairly young age. We immigrated to this country in hopes of a better life but we have experienced anything but that. It has been a grand struggle for my parents just to take care of my siblings and I. During high school, I looked to financially support my self and I take some of the burden off of my parents in my monetary needs. I found a job where I can work a flexible schedule that would put school first and I was fortunate enough to find just the right state of affairs. I gave my best in handling my job responsibilities and worked my way up to a respectable Assistant managerial position. I gained leadership qualities as well as grand responsibility skills from work experiences, but looking back I"m certain it may have hurt me in my academic state. I was convinced I can and was balancing the two responsibilities exactly the way I wanted to. But I will be fool if I said the two major responsibilities didn't affect my academic performances a bit. .
While my academic goals were and always will be the number one priority to my parents, and me, I was tremendously reluctant on sitting back and watching my parents struggle to make ends meet.