The Importance Of Living In South Central Los Angeles

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You don't grow up choosing where you want to live, especially if your family is not financially stable. By witnessing the deaths, crime, and gang activity; you adapt to the environment. My parents are undocumented and moved from Mexico to Los Angeles to create a stable life for themselves and their children. Working in construction, under the scorching sun everyday, my father pushes us to do our best in school and receive the education that will open countless doors for us, but it's not easy where we live. Living in South Central Los Angeles is a challenge. You can't sleep at night without hearing gunshots, sirens, or the helicopters hovering over your house. You can't walk to school without encountering gang members or the smell of marijuana in the air. Where I live, there are very limited resources, an extremely high crime rate, and poverty. It is expected to be a highschool dropout, be imprisoned, or become teen parents, without an education, but I don't allow those expectations represent me. I want to be an example for our community and be the one to rise but bring my community with me.
Despite my community, I live with twelve other family members, in a four bedroom house. There is a lack of space, privacy, and silence, which makes it difficult to study. It has always been like this, but as I …show more content…

Even if I have to wait for everyone to fall asleep to do my homework, I do. Or if I have to wake up earlier to finish, I do. Even if I have to utilize my lunch time or if I have to stay after school to study or do my work in the library, I do. I am willing to miss volleyball/softball practice and spending time with my friends for my education. One way or another, I get it done. My grades and future will not suffer as a result of the area I live in. I have learned to adapt to an environment that keeps building walls and every time a wall is put in front of me, I go right over it, around it, or through it to reach my

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