The one thing I hold so dearly is where I come from. I don’t necessarily mean the exact location, I suppose it’s more about who I come from and what I come from. That’s to say I’ve come very far. I’ve exceeded expectations and hindrances that were placed upon me. Not many people where I’m from get to go to college, much less a prestigious private university. There are many times that I feel alienated in school because there aren’t many people who’ve had experiences similar to mine. Often, there aren’t as many latinos/as the higher up in education you go. And even when I say higher “education” I even mean more advanced high school classes. USF is a diverse campus, yes, but it’s not as if it has a strong Latin American presence. Definitely nowhere near how I grew up or even the surrounding state schools. I hold on to who I am and where I come from otherwise I’d get lost. Maybe a good topic would be to reflect on where I’ve been and juxtapose it with where I am now and how different it really is, how different these worlds truly are. Maybe I can even talk about becoming a writer, how I stumbled upon poetry and how it gave me a useful outlet that I still use today. Perhaps I can talk about all my college rejections and how I ended up studying something I didn’t apply to because they didn’t have my original major at USF.
Outline
Home, alienation, rejection, finding my way, fitting in, becoming a writer
In my senior year of high school, I wasn’t living it up as I should have been. My father had just passed away and I was trying my best to not allow it to derail me or my college plans as I knew that if I gave up, all my father’s hard work and sacrifices would have all been for naught. It was painful writing about my upbringing, pouring out the contents of my heart and soul into those college applications. It was devastating receiving rejection letter after rejection letter. I was told to not take it personally but how could I not? USF, I felt, was the best option but they didn’t have my major so I decided to do architecture and it ended up turning out for the best. The story has lows and even more lows. The trials and tribulations are evident, much growth and character development occurred and there is resolution or at least hope in the end. People will get an insight into me and the forces I grew around. My story is really about loneliness, coming of age, and finding my own way.
