The “hood” is often what downtown, Elizabeth NJ is labeled as. Children like me are doubted as many people seem to believe we will just become another statistic. My background has motivated to strive for success, proving those with agnosticism wrong. Seeing bodies strung out on the corner or laying on the sidewalk is a part of my everyday life. I’m not ashamed of where I come from as it has made me who I am today. Every day I wake up with a goal set in mind to become a success but not just for myself but my community. Sure we are not the ideal neighborhood seen in movies but together we are family that can achieve greatness. “Don’t let your circumstances define you.” my grandmother told me growing up. At the time, I was not able to see how my background necessarily affected me. However, as I transitioned from a child to a young adult my eyes began to open. Living everyday life and being stereotyped because of the color of my skin and the place I reside. I became ashamed of who I was and began to alienate myself from those around me. I was afraid I would become that black girl who dropped out of high school or got pregnant at a young age. After all, that is what people expected me to do right? Wrong! I worked extremely hard in everything I participated in. My mom was barely around due to her working long hours …show more content…
I hope to bring diversity to all who walk on the campus. My background has shaped me into the intelligent African American woman I am today. Without growing up in the “hood”, I may have not been able to find the best career that interested me. I also would not have been able over all the challenges thrown at me. Instead I remained determined and motivated so that I was able to achieve all of the goals set before me. I want my story to aspire everyone living in poverty that is being looked down upon. We are all different, and no matter where we come we are able we are able to make a difference within the
“If it were that easy to reroute peoples’ life path, we should be doing it all the time for everyone” (Alexander) Alexander and Entwisle considers his students as, “urban disadvantaged”. He knew that keeping track of them was going to be one of the hardest thing. By the fifth grade, the children had scattered into the city’s 105 public elementary schools. They kept track of the students by their report cards and semiannual and then yearly interviews through high schools. Alexander and Entwisle wrote over 20 articles about each findings and the students.
It has been seen that humans are, for the most part, the most social beings on Earth. We need others like us: friends. Friendship is a thing a value very much, and if it is not taken care of it will wither away and die. Elizabeth Constance Ingrassia has been a name I have known since kindergarten. She was a girl who I never really talked to outside of work-time in groups and never had any business with.
Since birth through the age of 15, my life has taken place in Jersey City, New Jersey. Born and raised only 9 blocks away from the hospital I was born in. My family moved to Georgia only 2 years ago, since then many things have changed in our lives. Most of my family still lives in New Jersey and New York so I often go back to visit them.
As Tom Arlen exclaimed that he has “lived here twenty years, and I’ve never known a gunman in Underhill to walk away that easy, no matter the circumstances” Underhill serves as the figurehead for all neighborhoods that the world has lost hope on and has been left to fend for itself. When one is raised in such an environment where murder and theft are so heavily occurring. It is nearly impossible to focus on the important things that help you develop into a mature young
Tears of joy and sorrow were expressed throughout the arena as our opposing enemies were receiving the Ontario AA Ringette Championship gold medals. Our game faces and silver medals were still being worn as we were off to get revenge at the Eastern Canadian Championships. I had butterflies in my stomach moments before I was able to settle in before we took off. When I stepped out of the hot, stuffy plane into the cold windy night, I felt nervous and excited. Adrenaline was kicking in and I was ready to tie up my skates and get on the ice.
My aunt has always been ready to help my family. Extraordinary people such as my aunt serve as an inspiration to me. Her steadfast role as head of the family and all of her support for my family encourage me to help others as much as possible. My aunt’s persistence is demonstrated through her hard work in everything she does. Finding inspiration and motivation in my aunt is an easy
I am mostly white with a bit of Hispanic, I wasn’t sure where I fit in. I grew up in a mostly black and Hispanic neighborhood, that didn’t make it any easier. My “group” consisted of a bunch of us misfits that didn’t really have anywhere else to go. I think that I sought out kids that had homes like mine so it made it easier when we couldn’t go to each other homes. When I read Desmond-Harris’s essay I could relate, especially where she talks about finding her coming of age when she find a group she can relate to.
My identity has always felt inextricably linked to what Miami is. A city that is teeming with immigrants, a city with dreams stacked and slopped atop each other, and a city that is living proof of the failed American dream. I say so because of my early observation that generation after generation of immigrants often seemed to stay trapped in dead end jobs; I saw this within my own family – within my grandmother, my aunts and uncles, and even my cousins. Here it was even within my own family tree the deep implicit message that there was no way out of our socioeconomic level. When I made it into an Ivy League college, it was a message that was slowly re-enforced by the fact that my demographic was the most represented in the custodial staff rather than within my own classmates.
I grew up in an environment that was described as a very “ghetto” environment. It turned out being
Not being able to know one’s identity during adolescence can lead to do drugs, commit theft, fail school, and be blind on what to do with their life. This is what James McBride had to go through during his adolescence. Growing up in a black community with a white mother can be very confusing and stressful. He employs rhetorical devices throughout his text in order to develop his epiphany regarding his mother’s life and by, extension, his own. Through the use of appeals and tone James McBride reveals the importance of education and religion, but above all else McBride mostly focuses on finding his identity, trying to understand race as he was growing up, and shows how his mother played an important role in his life
Kansas Bound On May of 2010 I went to Kansas City, MO to see my Grandma. This was my first long car ride since I can remember , nine hours going speed limit. First, we were in the rough side of Kansas, mostly because we lost signal and got lost. We couldn’t look out the side of the window or there was a fifty fifty chance we may or may not get shot.
I can enrich the diversity of Milligan 's campus community because I am already so diverse from the norm at Milligan College. To start off, I as a person am a complete combo of uniqueness and spunk. I can bring something different to Milligan because of my peculiar way of thinking and decision making. I set myself apart from those my age because I matured at a young age due to certain situations that I had to face as a child that most people never have to face in their entire lives. However, I could not be more thankful; God had a plan for me and because of the adversities that I experienced, I am a more determined and goal oriented individual.
I grew up in a small town in Mississippi in a neighborhood about a five-minute walk from the Mississippi River. I spent the majority of my younger years growing up within this southern bubble. This place that I still call home and my experiences here helped to create the person that I am today. In my neighborhood in Greenville, MS we didn’t have much to do but staying out of trouble was the motive. Even when thinking of the activities to do they were pretty limited but that’s what caused for us to become creative.
I didn’t know that I was Black until the fifth grade. I mean, I always knew that I was Black as in the Black slash African American box I poorly shaded in every year on the CST and free lunch applications; but, I didn’t know know that I was Black. It was during a passing period I had between Physical Education and Science to pee that I realized what my race was. Like hundreds of times before, I entered the dimply sunlit restroom connected to the cafeteria of my elementary school; but, this time, instead of exiting the restroom, after washing my hands, I decided to look at my reflection.
Growing up in Newark was a death sentence for most educationally. Surrounded by Ghettos everyone assumed the only way of life was to sell drugs and to work at Mc Donald’s. My mother did not allow that perception to define our life or our way of learning. She always wanted better for her, for us.