# data[].attributes.headline
Marcol Rodriguez - Cultivating the Cultivators

# data[].attributes.subject
Marcol Rodriguez - Cultivating the Cultivators

# data[].attributes.body
I had dreamed of the day I would become a teacher; I was practically born for it. My first teaching  job was right in my living room; I was about 10 years old, my niece Franchesca was probably in first grade. Day after day I spent my afternoons sitting at the plastic kiddie  table in the middle of the noise of 🤬 Rey balcony of our second story apartment. 🤬 Rey,  one of the most named slums named in songs, and not for any good reason. I was my niece’s personal tutor, the one who taught her how to read before her classmates even knew their vowels. Becoming a teacher has been part of my destiny.

I always thought that I would feel the most fulfilled by sitting in front of young minds every day. My assumptions were correct; I have loved every single moment of appreciation, struggle, growth, and discomfort within my career. Yet, there is something I have discovered that I love more; that is teaching adults. Helping cultivate the minds of the cultivators of our next generations brings me a sense of comfort. Knowing that the seed I plant will blossom and multiply exponentially is what drives me to pursue a career as an educational coach.

# data[].attributes.body
My glasses are not just glasses. They are a part of me - my character; they are something I love.

# data[].attributes.body
The world never forces you to choose identities or cultures, but rather offers you to embrace the ones that apply to you. In my case, I embrace the sense of family and mouth watering dishes Peru has given me, while I also embrace the loud, busy New York lifestyle. I’ll never forget my Peruvian roots thanks to my short trip, nor will I stray away from the person the concrete jungle formed me into thanks to the immersive and unique traits it holds.

# data[].attributes.body
During Covid-19, I learned that personal space did not exist. My days that were once filled with me having five hours by myself, where I could do my assignments in peace and take some time to self-care, were ripped away from me. Now, I would have to spend the whole day with my family- 6 of us- in a tiny apartment. In the early morning, I would attend my live AP Lang zoom class. However, the sounds of my classmates' presentations were unintelligible over the voices of the many kindergarteners singing  their “Months of the Year” song coming from my younger sister's zoom class in the room next to mine.

# data[].attributes.body
Three years ago, my friends and I walked through the George Washington Carver Houses, where many basketball games took place. Through the familiar sound of Spanish music coming from our favorite Columbian deli, where Samuel never failed to offer my friends and I a free drink on our birthdays. This is East Harlem, ‘El Barrio’, that I remember.

# data[].attributes.body
Anime has always been a world I would get lost in. All of its infinite realities, world bending physics, yet eye catching realism has always captivated me. From the realism in the movie “Your Name” to the amazing sakuga (when the quality improves dramatically mainly for the sake of drama or action) in the show “Fire Force” has enkindled delight in my heart. I've been captivated from the fantastic fight scenes to the heart tugging romance.

# data[].attributes.body
For the first time I felt a sense of control and responsibility. I had gotten what I always longed for: time. A lot of it. It was up to me to think about how I could spend it. The Light We Cannot See is a novel I received from my aunt in Belgium. She had gifted the book two summers ago, and I never seemed to make time for reading it. I finally met Marie-Laure.I  learned that her blindness did not prevent her from being able to independently retreat back to her home from Paris’s Museum of Natural History. I was inspired. The title also bagan to make sense once I met Werner, a German orphan, in possession of exceptional capabilities and hopeful aspirations of becoming a scientist. The light is the gift of being alive everyday and having the freedom to seize these days of life. To learn and to explore, even in humble ways as did Werner from a French man he listened to on the radio. Not able to travel or experience things in real life left him to experience life through his mind. While listening to the radio, Werner becomes enlightened and inspired by the voice which educated him of mathematical concepts, as well as philosophical ideas. Much like Werener I felt the power of being able to experience life through technology at the convenience of my home.

# data[].attributes.body
Covid was really strange for me. I was always such a busy person I would have school then SEO on Saturdays then my internship son Sundays and then id do student ambassador work after school. So going from that to having  absolutely nothing to do with my life was so strange. At first I would adjust binge watch criminal minds, but then that came to end. After that I realized how much time I was wasting and sort of fell into a bad mental state where I just sorta distanced myself from everyone

# data[].attributes.body
It was an inevitable and painful truth, but I learned that it is from an event like this that one has to learn from and move on. This advantage of growing up earlier allows me to envision my future with a mature perspective. I can now tackle my own stained glass window.

# data[].attributes.body
The BLM movement has really brought a lot of things in this country to the world’s eyes, my eyes too in fact. I learned about many black murders that were not mentioned nor investigated. I learned about the bashing experiences many black women have gone through. I learned about many acts of racial terrorism black people and other ethnic groups go through. And amongst all that I also learned the selfishness of humanity towards one another when help is needed. Humanity has become a great disappointment.

# data[].attributes.body
Growing up I knew that I had to learn things on my own. Both parents didn’t go to school so I didn’t have that support system. I had to go to my friend's house to do my work because I didn’t understand it and I couldn’t have asked my parents because they didn’t know either.

# data[].attributes.body
 “Ahora mírala cuidando a un niño sola. ella no puede hacer eso sola. su vida es un desastre” My aunt would say talking about someone 's love life and decision to be a single mother. I knew her, the women that they were talking about. I knew all of them which put a huge strain in my heart hearing that their own family would be okay with throwing them under the bus like that even if they are not here. I

# data[].attributes.body
Some people need dead silence to go to sleep; others need embers of dim light or total darkness. I need my music.

# data[].attributes.body
Ignorance clouds your judgement and that is the raw truth of our society. Embarrassed of who I am-ashamed of not taking a stance-paralyzed from my head down to my feet.

# data[].attributes.body
As beautiful and sensitive a rose might seem, thorns grow out of them.

# data[].attributes.body
She would put on her work clothes and then dress her hands with the blue latex gloves that had long been stashed under our bathroom sink. She would bathe herself in hand sanitizer, as per my instruction, and don her African print mask. 

# data[].attributes.body
Before, Covid happened I really wasn’t myself and was a different person with a different personality. Once I heard that we were going to be off for two months, I really felt happy because I would finally be able to fond out who I really am

# data[].attributes.body
My realization was that the color Pink was a semi-tangible manifestation of a distaste that I would have for myself when growing up. By transferring my detestment for myself onto the color Pink, it allowed me to stare face-to-face something that I would inevitably have to confront. I would have to confront myself specifically. I don’t like talking about myself. Specifically, myself as a person: my feelings, my aspirations, my pet peeves, my desires in life. I don't really talk about them. Confronting myself means that I have to confront concepts such as masculinity, identity, self-expression etc. Ideas of which I believe that I’m ready to accost.

# data[].attributes.body
My journey to becoming literate taught me that the world has nothing to offer me if I do not take the initiative to help myself first. My new attitude even pushed me to apply and become a part of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity(SEO) a rigorous after school college prep program. I turned my tears into motivation and I can now write about my favorite place in the world, which is the park bench near my house because of the way it catches the setting sun. and even this essay to you - about my greatest accomplishment a long way from thinking wetfdet was a word.

# data[].attributes.body
The drained, fatigued expression ostracized on the white sheets, reflected the visceral emotions of knowing 2020 will be a difficult year.

# data[].attributes.body
I know that if I want to get into a really good school, I need to take responsibility for the actions that I take in applying. Each action i take has its own individual consequence, but those consequences, when they stack up, have a large impact on my future. So If i take responsibility for where i end up, im going to have to know that all of my actions have their own individual consequences that all contribute to the outcome at the end of this process.

# data[].attributes.body
A struggle I had a long time, something that I had to deal with all my life, is that I don’t know my foundation shade. Like I think I am olive, but I am also golden. People tell me to look at my wrist to see the color of my veins but I’m not even sure what color it is. It's like blue and purple. And sometimes I look at myself and I see a bit of peach.

# data[].attributes.body
I’ve given my parents a reason to brag about my performance in school, putting a smile on their face to overtake the worry that’s constantly on their face about tomorrow.

# data[].attributes.body
I stood there. Tears forming at the brim of my eyes. Thoughts flooding my mind. I was sinking. I felt like Mr. Moses stamped a big fat zero on my forehead, emphasizing my inability to keep up. I began to dig my own grave in a matter of seconds. There was no coming back so I fled. I stormed out of the room and hurried down the hall. Right into the safest of places: the bathroom. Everyone was in class by then. In other words I was alone, tucked away from all of humanity.

In front of me stood an expansive mirror, lit up by multiple bulbs. I could see every detail of my face: my eyes bloodshot, my hair frizzy, and my body frantically pacing. I cast my head down, departing my eyes from the girl who stood in that mirror. I gripped my fingers on one of the sink basins, looking down I could only see the tiles beneath my feet.

# data[].attributes.body
Even though I grew up without having a father figure I needed, I still manage to persevere in certain parts of my life. I have learned to care so much for the people and things around me, and form amazing bonds with people at my school and SEO. I always help people more than I do to myself like I would think about others like my friends or family members first than myself in most situations. If I am currently in a bad state or just not feeling it at the moment and someone else comes up to me to talk about their feelings or something personal I would put my feelings aside and try to help that person out.

# data[].attributes.body
I didn't have the motivation to do anything and if I did work I would procrastinate or hold it off until the next day. If I did any work it wouldn't  be my best work because I didn't take it seriously. Or didn't think it would affect me that much because it won't affect my high school grades. The college course I took this summer, I know I did my best but I slacked off and didn't like how I didn't use this time to my advantage.  I did make me want to work harder in my last year of high school and college because I want to think the last couple of months of my junior year and my summer college course were my best so I want to show to myself that I can do better and can grow from my experience.

# data[].attributes.body
Adventure and passion matter to me because within those values many more are harvested. Within adventure, there is courage and growth. Piercing the unknown takes courage and within every process, there is growth. Without passion, there is nothing. It is your drive to keep on doing what you do. It gives you purpose and fulfillment.

# data[].attributes.body
Knowing that the childhood that I’ve had has been challenging is a blessing in my eyes, it allowed me to experience the struggles at a young age. I’ve come to know: the little roadblocks in my life and the hurdles I’ve leaped over are all the little building blocks that make me the person I am today. A struggle should be a blessing, not a disencouragement.

# data[].attributes.body
I consistently reflect and I realized that sometimes we get so bombarded by the bad things that occur in our lives that we forget about appreciating the blessings we receive.