blog 6

As I stood up on the podium of the SUNY New Paltz gymnasium after being recognized for being good at math or something, at my eighth grade graduation, I think I began to realize how important my role in the family was. I began to think of my future and right there and then I transformed from a child to an adult.

I like to think of myself as pretty smart, and I hope that isn't just an over inflated view of myself. I never cared about how important it was that I was smart or what it meant to be smart,but after standing on that podium and being recognized for a scholastic achievement I began to think about how lucky I was to be considered “smart”. I am lucky because no one in my family has ever attended college. In Mexico, where my parents grew up, college is just a dream, only reached by the few privileged people. Since the United States is the land of opportunity, my parents gave me an opportunity that they never had and none of my relatives in Mexico will ever have.

My English teacher once made me read this awful memoir called Catfish and Mandala, and it had many things that I could relate to because the author was in a similar situation as me. One of the things that stood out in my mind was that his parents sacrificed a lot in order to give him and his siblings a better future. This is how I think of my parents. They left behind their life and their families, to go to a brand new place, where they did not speak the language just to give me and my siblings a better future.

Unfortunately, taking advantage of this opportunity requires a lot of hard work, and better yet I face all the challenges alone due to the fact that I am the first out of three children. I get to be the first person ever in my family to face the daunting challenge of applying to colleges. My siblings have the advantage that I can give them advice or help them with their school stuff and this is part of what I realized as I grew up. My job in the family is to go through these challenged in order to be able to help my siblings get through these challenges also. I have to get through school and get into college and get a job without messing up so my siblings can follow in my steps. When I realized this I think it gave me a sense of responsibility that I did not have before because if I do not do things right, my siblings might mess up too.

I have tried my best throughout my high school career to be the best role model I could possibly be for my siblings. I think in eighth grade when I was recognized for being good at math, it marked the beginning of adulthood because the award made me think of a future. I was no longer a care free child who thought that his youth would last forever, I became an adult that had a responsibility to be a good role model and worry about how my actions would affect my future.