Diversity Statement 2nd Draft PM me for Swap Forum

[rbarcelo9]

Looking to submit by the end of the week, please help or PM me for to swap statements! Thanks in advance!


..........My mother has always called me her ‘miracle child’. Explaining that she did not plan on me being born, but that some higher power wanted me on earth. While at first I believed her, and thought this made me special, I now realize the conditions in which I was born, were in fact not a miracle, but a mistake. Having fled Cuba just fifteen years before my birth, my family was still trying to establish themselves in America. My parents, already having one kid, could hardly afford to provide for a newborn. Growing up in Hialeah, a low income predominantly Latino city, I did not have access to many of the luxuries that my peers took for granted. I could not name one of the outdated cartoons that graced the pocket of my backpack that was once my brothers, my shoes slid back and forth as I walked because they were just a size too big, and most importantly there was no account set aside that would one day pay for my college.
...........I never really felt like I was supposed to go to college. No one in my family ever had the opportunity to go to a four-year university. It was seen as something for the upper class, something that we could not afford. It was not until my brother dropped out of high school that I really knew that I wanted to go to college. Seeing the tears roll down my mothers face as she explained to my brother all she had sacrificed for him, for us, was all I needed. I promised myself that I would not let my parents’ hard work and sacrifice go to waste. I was determined to go to college. Six years later I walked across the stage with my cap and gown as my family stood in the crowd and cheered. I had become the first Barceló to graduate from college.
...........My upbringing as an impoverished Latino youth, while at times challenging, has prepared me to better face real life issues. It has shown me that sacrifices must be made in life, and that with hard work and determination I really can achieve anything I want, even when all the odds are against me. As a lawyer, my Latino background will provide me with the cultural familiarity, language skills, and motivation necessary to assist those whom I intend to help the most—immigrants and other vulnerable US citizens, like my family once was.