This writing assignment is the same thing as the inevitable, “tell me about yourself,” question in an interview that no one really knows how to answer. You worry about sounding too cocky, or not interesting enough, or not sounding fit for whatever position you are trying to attain. You also never really know where to begin. But a reasonably fair place to start would be the beginning.

For as long as I can remember my parents have always told me that hard work was the way to go; that you wouldn’t accomplish anything without hard work. So I’ve always been a hard worker, or at least try to be. When I was first born, my family lived in Dorchester, right off of Blue Hill Ave, really close to Mattapan. We moved when I was about five, which was a really hard thing for us to do. My mother came to the US when she was twelve years old, and our house in Dorchester is where my mom spent most of her early American life. But our neighborhood was terrible. The police were always there, people were always outside yelling, and constant gunshots. It wasn’t the kind of environment my parents wanted me to grow up in, so we moved to Hyde Park, where we live now.

My family has always been the most important thing to me. I have a very big family and we are all very close. Although my my mom moved us out of  Dorchester, a lot of my family remained. I think one of the main reasons why I want to go into public service is because I hated seeing my family struggle. The more I watched them the more I realized that it wasn’t just my family, but the community was struggling. I hate watching my community struggle. I hated watching people working 40,50 hour weeks and still not able to put food on the table and clothes on their back. I want to go into public service to make a change for those who really need it the most. In my lifetime a lot has been done to try to relieve people of their suffering, but there is still more to be done.

My family also consists of my very close friends and my step squad. I am going into my third year of being captain of the Boston Latin School’s Step Squad. Everything I do, it’s for my team. We are self funded so we do a lot of fundraisers, and do a few paid events. Being a leader of my peers wasn’t easy at first, but I learned to love it. being captain taught me a lot about responsibility and how to communicate with people well. It has also taught me how to use my voice. When it comes to step squad and our needs, and what we are capable of, not only am I speaking for myself, but I’m speaking for every single one of us.We practice every single day during football season, so we all get very close. Being a stepper isnt easy sometimes because we all have to make one sound. It  takes a lot of work, and a lot of determination, but we’re known to always pull through. Step squad is my family.

So far, I am very proud of myself and who I have become. I am excited to do and be more. I can not wait to see what the future holds for me and my family. I am thrilled to be apart of this amazing fellowship this summer, and I’m hoping that I learn as much as I possibly can.