My Autobiography - Diego Caldera by Diego Caldera

Costa Rica

1384210 — 2024-08-19 22:19:57 UTC

During my 24' summer i had to chance through Global Glimpse to go to Costa Rica. Though or objective/goal was community service in the local town we were staying in. The most impactful thing for me was all the friends and memories i made along the way. i went to the trip not knowing anyone else and there was also a 5:17 boy to girl ratio so i wasn't sure if i would even be able to approach anyone. Though it would quickly change on the first day. I was lost on my way to the bathroom and when i looked up and to my side there was 2 other guys embarking on the same mission of finding somewhere to handle business. After our toiletries to my surprise there they were after, we were all scared and looking for others to cling to and for us it was each other, and even now they're some of my best friends. we got to know each other as we got to know each other over some panda express, then stuck with each other throughout the trip. Then the time finally came the long trip to costa rica, we arrived at the airport of san jose, Costa rica. our trip begun, the weeks abroad with strangers. During this trip i got close with those who seemed furthest and even completely forgot my lifestyle back home

Europe/Traveling

1384210 — 2024-08-20 22:06:32 UTC

During my youth i had the luck to be exposed to traveling, though for a while a lot of these trips consisted of trips to mexico to visit family and enjoy festivals. When i was in 6th grade, out of the blue my mom tells me, "start packing for a week long trip around europe next week" I was in disbelief for a bit. The hardest part of the trip was convincing my 6th grade teacher, throughout the school she had a reputation for being "mean" the "big bad" so when i mustered up the courage to ask her to sign the paper because i needed her permission at my school she gave me a full on interegation, " why are you going" etc... " though i answered all her questions without complain to make the process as easy as possible. At the end of our encounter she gave me a folder with a mountain of work. it seemed nearly impossible to me. Though i had a secret weapon up my sleeve... My upper classmen cousins joining us along for the trip, i begged and begged for their helped, probably spending more time asking for help rather than doing the actual work. Our first flight to rome, where we spent 3 days of our trip, visiting museums, actractions like the colosseum and dinning at fine cuisine. i was enjoying my trip so much so that i completely forgot about the homework so on the airport on the way to barcelona we had a 4 hour wait until our flight. I utilized this time to put ALL my cousins to work, and through our joint efforts we finished what seemed like a months worth of work in 40 minutes. Our flight was smooth with nearly no turbulence, and we landed in barcelona where we would spend the rest of our time apart from one day. We visited many atractions like the familia sagrada, the barcelona stadium etc... and on one of the days we got a flight to ibiza where our day was spent building sand castles as a competition against my other cousins. Im greatfull to have been able to travel throughout my youth even going back a numerous number of times.

Volleyball.

1384210 — 2024-08-22 17:59:39 UTC

I've always enjoyed sports, specifically soccer during my youth. I played for my school and a team from 4y/o till 11 y/o then as tryouts for my middle school team commenced we got word on an infamous 2 week abscence from school. When covid had started i didnt do anything but spend my days at home playing either fortnite or valorant and eating the most unhealthy foods. when school started back up i was a heavier fellow. Doing nothing but doing poor in school and having no motives or drives. Then one day during pe i was introduced to the sport of volleyball, though i was terrible at it. I looked forward to every wednesday after mile days being able to learn the sport a bit more each time. Though freshman year i still didnt have the confidence to try out for the team. Then when sophmore year rolled around i inviested time into maintaining my grades and started to workout to be physically capable for the sport. Even doing wrestling the season before. I loved the season i was even able to get the captain of JV spot and moving up to some varsity games my first time playing. I was so invested i shot my sights toward baytobay 15's summer team. A name infamous in the volleyball community. A contestant for the top club in the nation. Sending numerous players to the US National team. I got in! i played my summer season there preparing for the fall season. During the fall i tried out for UCElite, a team not as well known but still good, though half way through the season i had complications with my anxiety along with having tore my hamstring. only having gone half of the season my preformance didnt get much better. As i went into my junior year i had a problem, after having spent so much time with top athletes; each having years of experience in the sport, i was irritable in my high school team. A lot of them were inexperienced or not at the skill level i was used to. So throughout the season what i worked on most wasn't skill building. i was building teamwork skills. By the end i was a better teammate and brought greater value to my team through a different way. This new skill is what pushed me past 80 others competitors for a spot on the club team this season.

GOAL - College

1384210 — 2024-08-22 18:23:06 UTC

My goals for college are making it to either UC Irvine or UCLA and study either psychology or psychobiology and minor in kinesiology. After having finished my first 4 years i'd like to move on to graduate school in persuit of a higher education in order to be eligable to become a psychiatrist. Another goal for college is to be able to play volleyball at a high division college. I've done camps with coaches from presitgeous volleyball programs such as irvine and believe i have what it takes in order to make it to the top.

GOAL - Career goal(become a psychologist)

1384210 — 2024-08-22 18:24:57 UTC

I've become intrigued with mental health since i discovered my own mental health problems. I discovered it in around my teen years during covid entering high school. I didnt know how to deal with it and i'd like to bring oppertunities to those without the resources or knowledge on mental health issues and help them battle it.

GOAL - Travel the world

1384210 — 2024-08-22 18:31:21 UTC

Since i was a child and until know i've been priveledged with the oppertunity to travel to many different continents and countries, Currently i've visited 4 of the 7 continents and a few of the many countries. My first goal is to be able to travel to every continent and by my end to be able to visit as many countries as possible

Family

1384210 — 2024-08-22 20:11:40 UTC

My families always pushed me to strive for more, and have always supported me in my goals and aspirations. Wether its been supporting me in my studies letting me know my available options and resources. Even having provided resources. Along with supporting my dream to further persue volleyball, wether itd be playing with me during our family get aways or sometimes even helping with the payment for club volleyball as it gets expensive. My family is always there for me through it all.