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When I was first introduced to the subject, math, it just never clicked for me. I would see other kids in my class get the steps and topics right after learning it and I remember how jealous I would get and most of the times I would go home and cry for the rest of the day. It got so bad that I was asking my mom to teach me and help me everyday before dinner and I would beg her to teach me until I get it. Math was just something I really hated due to the complications and formulas I had to deal with and it was the reason why I am such a hard worker today.

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My biggest academic goal is to graduate from a 4-year UC School. I feel like this is the certificate of me completing all the education I needed in my life and it just feels really rewarding thinking about that feeling. I will always try my hardest to complete all my courses and finish like a winner. After the realization that everything I do now matters and is going to benefit me in the future makes me want to push even harder. I know the fact that even if I fail, I still tried, and if I keep on failing I will learn from those mistakes.

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Back in 4th grade, my parents decided for our family to move to the San Mateo county. Since we have family here and heard good things about how nice this community is, my parents ended up buying a home here and go full in with starting a new life here. I was really upset because I had built up my reputation in my old school and I had friends that I would hang out with everyday and I saw my parents' choice of moving to a new town like throwing a bag of money away since it was so valuable to me. I had to make new friends and I remember how awkward it was because the people here were so different and had different cultures and styles. It did take a while to get used to it but I miss the way it was more than anything.

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I never thought school and education was important because I just didn't think it was that serious. I would watch people on the television talk about how successful they are by making movies or making songs and that kind of draw my attention on the celebrity path and got me interested in it. But I came to realization by the age of 11 that the percentage of people making it to the big leagues were really low. It's like winning the lottery and how the chances of winning is really little. My parents would always remind me that school is important because it is the safest way to get to a good school and have a degree from college. This was the point where I started to care about school but I would still procrastinate about everything.

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Parents telling me I wouldn't survive high school

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Parents telling me I wouldn't survive high school

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As a kid, I never had the motivation for school. I would have to wake up early everyday for years to go somewhere that I did not want to be at. It was almost like torturing to me because of all the stress and anxiety I would get from grades and just being on campus and being forced to learn new materials. I always knew that the things school teach to me were important and would help me later on in life but I just did not care at all. I would not study for tests and I would not do homework which resulted in me getting back grades and my report cards and my parents telling me that I need to lock in and focus up because if I kept this attitude I would not survive high school.

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My parents did not live in the United States when I was born. They had to spend thousands of dollars to bring me to the States when my mom was pregnant with me so that I get a United States citizenship. I didn't recognize this fact until the age of 15 which turned out to be the awakening moment in my schooling career. Ever since that day I just decided to start taking school seriously. I was never reading books but I decided to start doing so. I was never working on homework at home but I started doing so. Pretty much I became a different person academically which was the best decision in my high school career.

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One of my biggest dreams is becoming a director when I grow up. As a kid, I always wanted to bring the ideas from my mind into reality. I started making stop-motion videos with my LEGO and created many YouTube videos of mini movies that I would spend hours working on. I just always found this hobby interesting and fun and that's what kept me going. I began taking video and photography classes to learn more knowledge on this subject and it was one of the best decisions I have made. I gained for interest on being a director because of all the projects I've done and it is just so rewarding to see how far I've came.

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My main goal in life is to have a stable source of income. No matter what I do in the future, my biggest plan is to become successful and always be able to put food on the table at the end of the day. I never wanted to depend on people and I feel like that's one reason why I started working a part time job. I just feel like I need to be able to afford the things that I desire without other people helping me.

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After reading and going through this article, I have learned that a lot of people don't pursue school because they don't think the money is worth it. The reality is, school is very important because standards nowadays have changed which means people need general education to be able to find good jobs or connections. This relates to my own identity because growing up, my dad always reminded me to get good grades to school because then I'd have a good reputation. I now know more about how important school and education is.

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Jennifer De Leon's book was really relatable to the things I was going through in my high school career. I was one of the only few people from my middle school to attend a different high school than everyone else, and the experience that Liliana faced when attending a different school really stood out to me. This story made me realize that I'm not the only one going through things, and to be more grateful because other people can be experiencing way crazier things that I'm experiencing.

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Math was always a subject that never clicked for me. Research have shown that some kids struggle to make meaningful connections within and across mathematical experiences. Some signs of math difficulties might be the inability to recall basic math facts or formulas, or be very slow to retrieve facts or pursue procedures. Turns out that there are a lot of people that struggle with math, but at the end of the day, I learned that not giving up and continuing to move forward is the way to succeed.

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PBS. (2002). Misunderstood minds . math difficulties. Difficulties with Mathematics. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/mathdiffs.html

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Leon, D. J. (2021). Don’t ask me where I’m from. Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

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Yosso, T. J. (2016). Whose culture has capital? Critical Race Theory in Education, 113–136. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315709796-7