Narrow it down to the following key points:
Who are you? Why are you here? Where do you want to go next?
I am the daughter of former undocumented immigrants, formerly undocumented myself. Growing up, I didn’t understand the significance of that, however, thinking back I recognize that multiple obstacles stacked up against me the moment my parents made the difficult decision to leave our humble home in the middle of a rural farming community in Mexico. Their decision setup a chain of events that over the years, have taught me many things. As I watched my parents struggle to carve out a new home away from home, I learned about hard work, and perhaps more meaningful, perseverance. As a child, I struggled the most with the language barrier, but being the eldest of two and depended upon by my family, I pushed myself to learn English as best I could. As a young person, the realization that my education would be negatively impacted by my status, finally set in, so I was compelled to participate in every educational opportunity that my school provided. Thankfully, however, my outlook changed when we were permitted to remain in the United States as residents, and I was admitted into college. There, I joined a Latina Sorority, and it was then that I began to develop a vision of the type of life I wanted to live. My past experience, my position as the Community Service chairperson within the sorority, and my new found love for Community and Behavioral Health, compelled me to explore opportunities to help people empower themselves. That is how I ended up working at a non-profit after school program for five years. My work focused on positive youth development through quality after school programs for youth and families in northwest Denver. My goal as a trusting adult, was to help youth foster a growth-mindset by facilitating a variety of enrichment clubs, such as a coding club for girls, a customer service skills class for high school students, managing a Healthy Lifestyles program centered on educational early marijuana prevention, and engaging middle school students in conversations on positive decision-making, interpersonal relationships, and health. As my role changed, I later focused on developing relationships with core participants and their families to better support their learning and growing, using a strengths-based approach. In order to do perform my duties well, I requested to attend a number of trainings on motivational interviewing, family engagement, and resource gathering, among others. I also participated in strategic planning events, learned to manage multiple databases, and participated in organization committees centered on workplace culture.
Through my past experiences, I have learned that I am happiest when I can help my community empower themselves, especially when those efforts are done collaboratively. I have also learned that I approach the world as a life-long learner, with curiosity, and a willingness to learn new things. It is because of this that I made the decision to attend Turing, and through my hard work there, I hope to carve out a path that leads me to further empower people.