I am a strong individual and I take my education very seriously. I have goals, aspirations, and dreams which I know I will be able to accomplish once I set my mind to do it. I am Monica Martines, a Senior at Montgomery High School. I feel very proud of myself because I am in the process of achieving one of my dreams, right now I have a good GPA and I am passing all my classes with good grades which take me closer to graduation. Over the past years, I have narrowed my focus to becoming a bilingual elementary school teacher. My goal is to attend San Diego State University after high school and get an bachelors degree in Liberal Studies. My parents never attended college which made us go through very difficult times because of the lack of opportunities without a good education, this made it clear to me that the only way to be successful is by working very hard in school. I come from a Hispanic family who lived in Tijuana Mexico and suffered from many financial hardships. My family's condition, actually formed me into the way I am now, which is a grateful and hardworking person. In 2008, I had to overcome my parents divorce, and the transition from attending school in Mexico to United States was difficult. My mom decided to move with my siblings and I to the United States hoping for a better future. There were serious consequences when we made the decision to leave our country. Also the barriers that we had to get through in the United States like the language, culture, and customs that are completely different from where we come from were difficult. My mom decided to move here for the reason of a better life with opportunities such as education and quality housing, but at first it was completely the opposite thing. Life suddenly became so complicated. We weren't having a better life; we were living in an even tighter budget than before. I remember I was terrified with my new school, and we were exposed to different people and food. It was a difficult time for us because we had to go on without anyone's help but my mom's income, and she also had the responsibility to move me, my brother, and sister forward. Her struggles and our hardships made me think differently from other girls of my age. I had a strong determination which made me more mature and responsible. I grew up seeing my mom's endless struggles to feed us while looking after all our family needs with her single earnings. She had to start working for other people, cleaning houses, hotels, and babysit children and I had to help her too. Helping my mom with those kinds of jobs made me realize I did not want to do that when I got older. Since then, I have dedicated my life to search for what I enjoy doing and what I would like to be in the future. It did not take me too long to realize that I wanted to become a bilingual teacher. I would like to help children who have English as their second language because my experiences made me aware how hard it is to learn English that way. It was very difficult for me to speak and understand English, because it was a language that I did not practice at home. I had to work harder to learn it myself because my family did not know it either. I started by getting involved with easy animated books to improve my English. I also listened to music in English and watched movies with English subtitles. I had to carry an English and Spanish dictionary all