Arianna
Where to start? This is all one life, yet it seems that we have to divide it between when we were treated as equals, as humans, and when when we now have to face so much discrimmination and so many barriers when we only want to benefit this country. I came here when I was 9 years old. I was coming to the US to learn English, so that I could show all my friends that I was bilingual. We went through the process of getting a passport and a visa to come to this country. Restless hours of standing in line, but it was all going to be worth it because we were coming to the United States.
I started going to school, and picked up the language pretty quickly. Before I knew it it was difficult to remmember words in spanish even though I knew them all. I have no accent when I speak English. I dress like everybody else. I look like everybody else, I work as hard as everybody else, maybe even harder. I was treated as everybody else, as the American child I would become. No one would be able to tell the difference unless they were told, I am undocumented, and then everything changes.
Everything seemed fine, and normal, like I had an equal chance at the outer world.
I applied to all the schools I wanted to attend, even though I knew what my financial staus would be.I thought "this is the land of opportunity, there has to be an opportunity for ME". And I went on with this mind set for the rest of my high school senior year.
I was one out of 4 people that got accepted to UCLA out of my entire school. I thought that this was like a dream come true, "maybe this IS the land of opportunity". BUT IT ISN'T....NOT YET!!!!
As the date gets closer and closer when I will have to decide whether I have enough funds to attend UCLA or will have to resort to a community college, it becomes more and more stressful. HOW could this be?... that one of the greatest minds, cannot have the chance to attend a university that many apply but few get in?
Why is there such injustice when all we want to do is put our little grain of sand in the country that raised us.
I still do not know my decision of where I will attend next fall. As I see some of my peers getting everything payed for when their grades never reached mine, it is painful.
This is said to be the land of opporunity where those who work hard will get the greatest benefits, yet this has not been the case with me.
We need a fair refrom NOW!!!
And then and only then this country can call itself the land of opportunity and the free!