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Welcome to Maya's Identity Padlet. In my American Literature Class, our first unit of study is Identity and we have been reflecting on our own identity and creating elements for our own Identity Portfolio. Over the past 5 weeks, we have explored different parts of who we are. In this Padlet, you will find my responses to 3 questions: Who am I? Who or what do I represent? and Who will I become?

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I was born on April 7th, 2004 in Boston, Massachusetts. I lived as an only child with my Mom, Dad, many fish, two cats, and a Pug. There has never been a time where I haven’t lived with animals. Living in Boston was hard because all of my Grandparents and relatives lived in Washington, across the country. When I was three, my parents got divorced and we all moved to Seattle where my parents had grown up previously. I grew up in a house on Queen Anne with my Mom and in an apartment on Magnolia with my Dad. Having divorced parents has always been hard for me because I always had to be away from one parent at a time. When I turned 5, my Dad got remarried. It was very hard for me to accept my stepmother because I loved my mom so much and felt like my dad was replacing her. That same year, I attended Coe Elementary School where I met most of my best friends who I am still friends with today. During Elementary School, my stepmother had two children who are now my half-brother (7) and my half-sister (9). This whole new family became a big part of my identity and shaped who I am today.

My Mom and my Dad are both white and I have always had tan skin with brown hair. Because of this everyone has always assumed I was adopted and I got annoyed having to always tell people otherwise. As I grew older, I began to wonder why I looked nothing like my parents, but I immediately shut down any suspicions I had because I thought it would be crazy if what I had always been told by my parents wasn’t the truth and there would be no explanation for it. I remember since elementary asking my Mom continuously why I had such tan skin and she didn’t, but I never got a clear answer. In 8th grade, I was finally told that my Dad wasn’t biologically related to me. I was very shocked by this, not because I couldn’t believe it, but because I had been told otherwise my entire life. Although the more shocking part was that my biological father was a “family friend” I grew up with and was very close to. This was an awkward adjustment to my relationship with him. But since then I have learned a lot about how I am half Puerto Rican and have learned about his life and culture growing up. This has become a more recent, but very important part of my identity.

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To me it seems that there is always an image I must uphold in all groups that I represent. In my family, I represent my mom and dad who raised me. I represent them by showing respect to everyone, using good manners, and especially living by the strong core values I was taught growing up. A lot of people often feel that they must follow the same pathway as their parents, but in my family the way I represent my parents is by staying true to myself and following the path that works best for me as long as I can find happiness. I represent my school, specifically the class of 22’ and the lacrosse team. There is always the expectation that I will set goals, maintain good grades, and respect and help all my classmates. For me I feel that school is a very important image to uphold inside and outside the classroom. If I do something disrespectful, I am still representing my class and sports teams and anyone who sees that might judge my other classmates based off my actions. I am not religious in any way regardless of the fact that my mom is Christian. I have been raised to follow my own path, decide my own beliefs, and respect everyone regardless of their religion or beliefs. Another way that I represent my family and my community is through political beliefs. Regardless of age it is always important to be educated on politics and current events/issues so that I can help stand up for what is right in my community. Our generation is the generation that make a big change moving forward and it is important to start now. I think I greatly represent my community, family, friends, school, and beliefs by standing up for racial equality, LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, climate change, etc. Activism is one of the biggest parts of my identity that I am very proud of and will always continue. Although sometimes I feel that I have let certain people down by following different pathways, I know that I represent them in a bigger way, and that’s by following what is right for myself.

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I have many goals for my future. Mainly I hope that I am happy with my life in ten years. I hope to have graduated a 4-year University, hopefully UW because it is a very good school and I wouldn’t have to pay out of state tuition. From the first time I started to learn about the core subjects in school, I immediately found a love for science and math. I began coding in elementary school and have taken computer science classes since then which I’m determined to make a part of my future career. I hope to be in a job that I love, hopefully in computer science or technology of some sort. But if not, I would love to do engineering or anything regarding science and math that pays well. My more fantasized dream job would be anything in the fashion industry, but I know realistically you have to be really determined and good at what you do to succeed in that field. I would like to be married in the next 10+ years and plan to start a family of at least two kids. I definitely will have at least two dogs and one cat. I cannot live without animals and I would love to live with a bunch of them. I am definitely a City person and wouldn’t like to live anywhere else. I hope in 10 years, I live in a City on the East Coast, preferably Boston or New York City if I can afford it. If not, I would love to continue to live in Seattle, but first I want to experience other parts of the country. I know that money can’t buy happiness, but my main hope for my future is that I am very financially stable meaning I can afford a very nice house that I love and can travel the world. I hope to have a very good group of friends, hopefully including at least a few of my friends that I have right now. Although I know realistically it is normal to drift away from old friends, it is still very hard to think about it now. Family is one of the most important things to me, so it will be a main goal of mine to see them as much as possible and never lose touch. One of my biggest fears for my future is that I will work a boring 9 to 5 job for the rest of my life that I am not happy with and am only working to financially support myself. Another main goal for mine, if I am very financially stable is to support my mom, maybe even buy her a house or something because I am most thankful for her and everything she has done for me.