The Importance Of Success

Although failures are meant to discourage, my failures are what I thrive off of and what has shaped me into the person I am today. It is because of my failures that I have acquired and developed skills in areas such as fundamental, multicultural, social and information literacies. I was raised up to be a self-motivated person by the most inspirational people in my life, my parents. While my parents had lived out a true ‘Cinderella story,’ they defied all odds against them and turned very little into more than enough. Watching my parents transform in such a way inspired me to achieve what they have and so much more. I still recall filling up small bottles with vehicle oil for hours at a time in my garage just so that my father could get his

I grew up in a primarily white community and was fortunate enough to experience the best of both worlds. Unfortunately, I am not fluent in Spanish because my parents wanted me to have the ability to speak perfect English. With that being said, I sadly missed out on many family conversations spoken in Spanish at family reunions. Over the years I have taken a total of five Spanish classes throughout both middle school and high school and learned the perfect textbook way of how to read, write and speak Spanish. I would then practice what I learned in class and apply my Spanish speaking skills in casual conversations with my family. I soon after realized that “perfect” textbook Spanish is not always translated in the same ways as the casual Spanish that my family speaks on a daily basis. One would pick up the language faster in two weeks in a Spanish speaking country than they would in sitting through one full year of Spanish class. On that same note, my family and I had recently gone on an extravagant Europe vacation and I did not think it was possible to be more proud of who I am and where my bloodline comes from until this past summer. I have acquired a multicultural literacy and have gained an enormous amount of respect, appreciation and love for both the Spanish and American cultures. Although I am Hispanic, I am also a proud American and being born and raised in America has exposed me to different types of societies and cultures from Texas in the south, New York on the east coast, California on the west coast and of course, the heart of America, the state of Kansas. Exposure to such a culturally diverse society, the U.S, has benefitted me personally because it allowed me to gain a certain amount of appreciation for those many different societies and cultures, which has opened my eyes to more than just my own little world. While learning different languages breaks down the barriers we