My story beings like any other, at the moment I took my first breath on July 30th 1998 in Bilisht, Albania. I was born in a small town in the lower region of Albania where my entire family lived with my grandparents under one household. My parents soon came to the realization that the current living situation was incongruous for a new family, such as ours, to thrive. As the result, my parents chose to apply for the government program granting our family access to move into a completely new society with new laws, regulations, political aspects and that was tens of thousands of miles away. Our family, at that instant, had a struck of luck as my mother’s name was drawn for us to move to the greatest country the United States of America.…
Who am I? That has always been an essential question for as long as I can remember. I never really understood why we had to answer that question along the way, but I’m now a senior at SJPII and I still have no idea who I am. It really bothers me that for 16 years I still haven’t figured out who I am. Constantly going from class to class and making new friends I still can’t pin point who the “real” me is.…
My actions are always a direct showcase of my personal characteristics. A few that are particularly important are having patience, being non-judgmental, and thinking creatively. I learned a majority of my patience through my position as a research position. Research does not have immediate results; a good experiment takes time. My seemingly menial tasks, such as entering data, eventually contributed to the final product. I learned to be non-judgmental in my time shadowing an obstetrician, where I interacted with patients with so many stories. To judge them would cause a disservice, and potentially harm them. Finally, I learned to think creatively during my time at the Guild for Human Services. Each student was unique in his or her problems,…
Growing up, I have had many experiences in my life that have shaped who I am. These influences have given me qualities that I consider both good and bad. Each of these chapters in my life have given form to the values that I hold as well as my self-identity. There are five main chapters of my life that influenced who I am today, and those chapters are elementary/middle school, Boy Scouts, High School, college, and lastly my parents.…
Something that changed me and let me be the person who I am today is friendship. Friends can raise you high above the skies. Or, they can pull you down under the ground.…
My whole life I have been a leader, the rule maker, the boss, a take charge and a "get stuff done" type of person. These qualities I attribute to being the oldest sibling, raised by a strong mother, and a stepfather determined to raise another man’s child as best he could. I thrive in situations where I can have control and can help guide a team or myself to the best possible outcome. I apply these characteristics to nearly every aspect of my life, sometimes to a fault. After dropping out of college eight years previously, to follow my dreams of being a makeup artist, I woke up one day and decided my life need a change. Not completing school had always weighed on me over the years like an unfinished task needing to be done. So, why now, what changed? My outlook on life shifted after meeting a special little boy named Jackson.…
“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”…
A personal quality that is important to me is my willingness to try new things. This quality did not surface until I graduated high school-- I felt somewhat restricted during those years. After my first semester at community college the eagerness to explore new activities, and learn about new topics began to appear. Because of this quality-- a quality that can sometimes hide amongst the rest-- I would not have discovered by passion for my desired major.…
Growing up with divorced parents from two radically different cultures was at first difficult. My mother’s family was from Peru, while my father’s was from Bangladesh. In my young mind, there was an internal struggle with what my identity actually consisted of. I wasn’t wholly from one culture or the other, and felt like a black sheep when interacting with either side of my family. Due to this, I attempted to keep these cultures partitioned. At the time, they were different portions of my life that simply couldn’t intermix. This mentality in turn led me to foolishly shy away from my joint heritage. I kept myself enclosed in a box, blind to the beauty of my surrounding culture. However, as time progressed, I knew I had to make a change in my understanding.…
If you go by the obvious answer, then of course I know who I am. I have a name, so that’s who I am. But in another definition, I am the best of my parents combined genes. And in another definition, I am who I chose to spend my time with. An in another, I am who I choose to listen to. And in another I am this…and in another I am that…and in another…and in another……
Honesty, authenticity, genuineness, bravery, and valor are my top strengths. I was shocked by these results not only because I feel they are extremely accurate, but these are the things I value most in life, especially honesty, I feel that you can hate a man to the core, but if that man is a truly honest man you can only respect him. I want to be an epitome of a truly honest man, and I believe my character strengths will help me achieve this goal. My bottom strengths were the love of learning, self-control, and regulation. I feel these strengths are just as important as my top strengths, and I need to maximize them all in order to become a great leader. Marilyn Vos Savant “Success is achieved by developing our strengths not by eliminating our…
Here I am in honor classes, but why I’m not smart enough to be here. This is going to be too difficult for me. All I see when I look around are all these outstandingly intelligent people. The only reason I am here is because Mrs. Lee’s class was straightforward or maybe the other people in that class were not very bright. Whatever the reason, I am here and already homework on the first day of school, the other kids probably don’t have homework. I really don’t want to be here, I want to be the smart one again. I feel strange and uncomfortable when I have to speak out loud like if the people around me are judging me.…
My first home for many years. This land comes rarer to me as the day…
Who helps you and is always there for you? For me it is my mom, Pam, because she has helped me through the ups and downs of my life, for all 13 years. Pam has lots of knowledge on many topics one of which is volleyball. She played for 26 years before I was born. She took 12 years of my life off until I finally asked her to be my coach. Pam Newberry has shared her wisdom and experience with me by being my coach, being an amazing parent, and having a positive outgoing look on life.…
The main challenge in my adolescence stage was the search of my Identity. It was very hard and confusing for me to search and find my ethnicity, religion, gender, and vocational. Being a daughter to parents who have different culture and background was very challenging to me. As my father was from Ethiopia and my mother was from Kenya .My father and my mother were very different culturally, religiously, and ritually. The Ethiopian culture was very different from the Kenyan culture on terms of clothing, cooking style, cultural dances, and they had different festivals. For examples in Ethiopia a wedding ritual lasts for one week, and the bride applies henna on her palm before the wedding ceremony. While in Kenya the Maasai the clan of my mother, before the wedding the…