Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Personal statement #2

What do you think of when someone mentions the word scholarship? Do you think of money? Or do you think of a brighter future? I think of both of those things when I hear the word scholarship. Money pops up and me in a Lamborghini, but the major thing that pops up is the face of my parents when I tell them that I am able to go to college and not pay for any of it. When I tell them that the money they would be spending on me they can spend on themselves for all those years of hard working, when I can tell them that receiving this scholarship will help me reach my goals in life.

I want my parents to be proud of me; I want them to be able to say “Si, ella la trabajadora es mi hija” which means “Yes, she’s my daughter the hard working one”. Since I am the oldest and only girl out of two brothers it’s always hard for me to stand out. I get the good grades and am MVP for volleyball, and captain for volleyball and soccer. That doesn’t seem to be enough for my dad and mom. My younger brother doesn’t get the awesome grades and isn’t the star soccer player, But simply because I’m a girl it changes everything. My dad doesn’t attend to most of my games but does attend my brothers, he also paid money so that I brother could enter a team, even if he didn’t have his good grades. In the other hand, he didn't want to pay for my select volleyball team because it was to much.

I just simply want to prove to my parents, mostly to my dad that I will succeed in life and even be more successful than my brothers. Maybe one day in the future I will be a soccer player or maybe I’ll be stopping crime in the streets. I simply want to be someone not just anyone. I don’t want to be another failure I want people to know who Ana Alicia Gavia.

Another reason why I want to succeed is because I want to help people that are less privileged than I am. All those people that are suffering and starving. I want to help them, I want to put a smile on their face. God put us here together, as one big family and we were ment to help each other out. You need to help people out so that when you are in need they help you out too, but not simply because of that but because you get a good feeling inside when you help someone out and simply because it’s the right thing to do.

I think that scholarship donors should invest in me because I’m a person that likes to succeed and not let people down. Many people in my life look at me and think that I’m not going to succeed; I want to prove those people wrong and make someone out of me. I also think that they should give me the scholarships because I’ll put their money to good use. I also think that they should give me the scholarship because I bet they also want me to be someone in life and help out the community and even help out the world.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Personal Statement


When people ask me who impacted my life, most people think that I’ll say my mom or dad. Not in this case, I mean it’s not that I don’t look up to them because I do, they’re the reason why I am alive and am how I am. It’s just that someone has impacted my life in a bigger way. His name is Father James Kieter. He is he current pastor at Assumption school, President at Assumption-Guadalupe school and also St. Peter Claver Catholic high school.

Father James Kieter is from a small town in Nebraska he told us that everyone knew everyone there. He told us one story that impacted me. He told us how he had been adopted because his mother couldn’t handle 3 kids and she gave him away. He got adopted and placed into a Catholic family. He had support from his parents to do whatever he wanted in his life. He was studying to be a doctor at UNL, but he said he wasn’t happy with his life. He explored the opportunity of being be a priest. He absolutely loved it, that empty spot that he had, had been filled. He later investigated about his birth mother and family and found out were they lived and everything, but the thing that was an impact on him was that his birth family wasn’t Catholic. He said “ God had it planned for me since the beginning”. I believe in that, I believe that God has a plan for all of us and if we listen to him we will be on that path.

I met Father James kieter while I was attending Assumption School. He took over the church for a priest who had left. Father Kieter was very involved in school, he also made mass fun and he would be strict if we didn’t sing at mass. As I once remembered when we were in 8th grade he made us stay after mass and he came out and yelled at us, don’t take it wrong way he yelled at us telling us that everyone looks up to us and we are supposed to be a role model. Then also while I was in 8th grade he kept on telling us about this new high school St. Peter Claver. How it was a great opportunity and we should take advantage of it. He’s the reason I am currently attending St. Peter Claver High School.

The reason why Father James is one of the people that I look up to isn’t just because of what he’s been through and how he’s been able to succeed. Its his determination, his determination to finish things. His courage, his courage of going out and doing things not knowing what to expect. Last but not least his faith. I admire the love and faith that he has for God. I wish I had those characteristics.

He once said “You need to be like Peter and step out the boat”, that makes me want to be different and take good risks. He’s a person that has gone through so much and yet he is so positive and amazing. He has accomplished so much in his young life. He has also accomplished the goal of young people looking up at him, and one day I hope to be just like him.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

My First Week as a College Student

The first thing that went through my head when I entered the UNO college class was “ I’m a college student, I’m pretty tight”. I didn’t know what to expect, or how should I act. I sat down and took out my utensils. I was ready for whatever he threw at me. He comes in and says “Good morning scholars”, then he gets ready and then he does what he does best, he starts talking. Of course I start taking notes, I took like 5 pages of notes front and back it was pretty intense, but soon I got used to it.

Then the days passed and I was excited to go to school everyday, I just wasn’t excited getting up so early. I enjoyed going to college 101 class, it was my favorite class. I got to hang out with kids that weren’t in my History class, it was just a more relaxed atmosphere. Don’t get it wrong it was also pretty intense in there too. We had to be paying attention all the time and the blogs plus the work for your class and you life outside, its quit a bit of stuff to juggle. Don’t forget about the RTA’s they helped a lot to when they could.

But overall my college experience has been awesome. I get to have a taste of what it’s all about. I’ve gotten a taste of the stress of reading 80 pages a day. It’s as hard as you make it. You need to set what’s most important up top, and then go down the list. I’ve met awesome people that will be there for me whenever I need them(Hopefully). I’m glad that I found out about this program and that I got to have the opportunity to meet people from a diverse background.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Does it take time to call someone a friend? To know what annoys them, what makes them smile, or even what their favorite food is. Does it really take years to be able to call someone a friend? No, not for me. It took me approximately 5 days to call my fellow summer scholars friends. It took 5 days to know that Laura Duran was originaly from Campeche but now resides in Fremont and enjoyes playing soccer. It took me 5 days to know that Laura Magana enjoys drawing and to know that we are similar in so many ways, that's actually kind of creepy. It only took me 5 days to call these “weirdo’s” my friends.

One question you might be thinking of is how did me making new friends happen? It’s simple, I talked and talked and, talked some more. We would talk about the schools we attend and what we enjoyed doing also were we're from. We interacted with each other by hanging 40 ft up in the Camp Carol Joy Holling center, we not only interacted but we also trusted each other, that is if we wanted to finish the course. We got to know each other’s food taste during lunch. When one person would say “ew this tastes nasty!”, and I would ask them what do you like, they would go on and tell me. You would know if they were athletic when they would ask you every opportunity they had to invite us to play outside. We knew what bugged each other first by facial expressions; I mean who doesn’t use them? Also, when they would sigh, you knew they weren’t content. All these little things added up to create big enormous things. They added up to create something called “Friendship”. They might not be with me forever and I might not see them after this month. I do know that if I get the chance to keep on being friends with these students, I will take that chance and never let go. These students or better yet friends are different and unique; they simply are the Summer Scholars of 2010, simply the best.

Not only did I make new friends, I also got to work under the RTA’s. They were all strict at their time and look mean at first. Once you got to know them and know the buttons not to push you realized that they also have a purpose which is to help us out with our present day and future days. One of the RTA’s that I could say got along with was Car’Lika, or how I like to call her Carrrrrr‘ Lika. She was one of my leaders at the Holling center there I noticed the leader characteristics that she had. Later one I found out that she had buttons and knew that I could not touch them at all. I enjoyed spending time with all the RTA’s and getting to know them. Thank you RTA’s.