They left their family and everything they knew in order
to have an opportunity to succeed and achieve the
“American Dream”. My mother came to the United
States at the age of 15 when she was pregnant with
me.  My father also came when he was in his youth. He
left a family that lived in severe poverty and came to the
U.S. to seek  more opportunity and  live a better life.
My family went through many hardships , at one point  
we were homeless and didn’t have a place to live and
we ended up living in the back of my father’s suburban.
There were times we lacked the everyday necessities
to survive .

My family went through many hardships , at one point  
we were homeless and didn’t have a place to live and
we ended up living in the back of my father’s suburban.
There were times we lacked the everyday necessities
to survive . Slowly but surely, my parents were able to
find jobs, my father worked in several different jobs, he
was a truck driver for a while, then he worked at a
forestry company, then he stared his own small farm in
which we sold our produce at farmers markets, and to
local stores  My brothers and I would work with my dad
on the farm. Today we are all US citizens. My family was
never really well off we always had to struggle  .  School
was difficult for me when I was a child my first language
was Spanish.      
my parents both spoke English, but they spoke
Spanish at home and that was what I learned. I
remember going to English classes with my dad when
I was in preschool.  It still came difficult to me and I
remember  as a little kid other students would pick on
me because I spoke with an accent. Eventually          I
learned the language and  the school  became easier.
When I finally graduated  high school I went to Central
Washington University where I graduated after four
years, during that time I earned minors in Spanish and
Sociology, and I earned my Bachelors degree in Law
and Justice. After I graduated I’d applied for  Eastern
Washington University’s School of Social and was
accepted as a graduate student. I always wanted to be
a social worker , because they  were there for us
everytime we needed assistance, so I wanted to do the
same for others.  The most difficult part was applying
for a scholarship. One late evening, I’d  received a
phone call.  I was at first sad because I thought the call
was to inform me I hadn’t earned the scholarship, but I
was very happy and surprise to hear  I was  offered a  
scholarship to attend  EWU.
I don’t think there is anything special about me and
anyone who want’s to move forward can. It’s
undoubtedly hard work and it takes time patience and
focus to make it through school. I think what kept me
going was remembering the hardships that my family
went through. My parents did the hard work which was
coming to this country and now I am here to make my
parents dreams come true. I think people need to
remember who they are, where they come from and
why they are here.  Remember why their parent’s or
grandparents or whoever left the country that they were
living in and came to this country. A simple thing that my
family and parents always told me that kept me going
was “HECHALE  GANAS”.     
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necesario  para sobrevivir durante el día.   trabajo.   
conductor de camión por un tiempo, luego trabajo Mi
padre trabajó en varios empleos,  fue
    forestal, y al
    tiempo compro una  en una empresa pequeña granja  
    en la que vendíamos nuestros productos a los
    mercados agrícolas  y las tiendas locales.  Mi familia
    nunca fue muy  acomodada siempre tuvimos que luchar
    y  mis hermanos y yo trabajamos en la finca con mi
    padre.   
    La escuela fue difícil para mí cuando yo era niño.
    Mi primer idioma fue el español, mis padres en
    casa y eso fue lo que aprendí. Recuerdo que fui a
    clases de inglés con mi papá cuando yo estaba
    en la preescolar.        Todavía fue difícil para mí y  
    recuerdo   peleas en la escuela cuando yo era un
    niño, porque los otros niños se metian conmigo
    porque hablaba con acento.  Finalmente aprendi
    el  lenguaje y la escuela se volvió más fácil.
    Cuando finalmente me  gradue de secundaria fui
    a Central Washington University donde me
    graduó después de cuatro años.   Durante ese
    tiempo me gradue con titulos Español y
    Sociología, y me gradue con la licenciatura en
    Derecho y Justicia.  Después de graduarme
    aplique para la Escuela de Sociologia en la  
    como estudiante graduate.    La parte más difícil
    fue aplicar para una beca.  
    Una  noche, recibi una llamada telefónica. Al
    principio estaba triste porque pensaba que la
    llamada era para decirme que no había ganado
    la beca,  para mi sorpresa me ofrecieron una
    beca para asistir a EWU.
    No creo ser nada especial  y cualquier persona
    que desee superarse, puede hacerlo.  Sin duda
    es un trabajo duro,  y se necesita tiempo,
    paciencia  y el enfoque para hacerlo a través de
    la escuela. Creo que lo que me permitió seguir
    fue recordando las penurias que pasó  mi
    familia. Mis padres hicieron el trabajo duro de  
    venir a este país y ahora estoy aquí para hacer  
    realidad los  sueños de mis  padres. Creo que la
    gente necesita recordar quiénes son, de dónde
    vienen y por qué están aquí.   Recordar por qué  
    sus padres o abuelos o quien salió de la pobreza
    que vivian llegaron a este país. Una cosa simple
    que mi familia y los padres siempre me decían
    que me mantuvo en marcha fue “echale ganas”.
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