As the social worker dropped me off, I was standing there with a black trash bag in my left hand looking blankly into my mothers eyes wondering why am I at Motel 6? This trash bag was not just any trash bag because it held all of my belongings I had collected over time with different foster families. I was forced to be a mother at age eight by caring for my siblings, while my mother left me every night. This was the same mother who left me in the mountains for two weeks with nothing but saltine crackers and peanut butter to feed five mouths. The same mother who left me to go home to just an eviction notice. Where is my family? I asked myself too frequently just standing alone. This was the same mother who never came back to get me when I was all alone with my little brother and sister standing at my side.

I was finally taken to Orangewood Children’s Home along with my siblings due to my mothers mishaps. Orangewood made me give up my possessions and made me remove my clothes to check for bruises. I was only eleven at the time and had never heard of anything like Orangewood before. I had no choice but to reside there for three months in the “girls” home. I did not get to see my siblings because they were separated into their own “category” at Orangewood. It was not until a week later until I was able to earn enough “behavior stars” to get visitation with them. After the three months passed, my siblings and I were picked up by our new foster parents, the Snodgrass’. I was finally enrolled in school, the middle of my sixth grade year. While I had not attended school prior to that, I was excited to finally have the privilege and opportunity to learn. I was lost in my studies, but I eventually caught up in Junior High school. By ninth grade, my birth mother had lost all her legal parenting rights, and I was put up for adoption.

Although it was unfortunate knowing I would never see my birth mother, I was finally adopted by the Snodgrass family at age sixteen. My older sister Angela, who I looked up to as my mother when I was younger, died in 2002. She drove off the freeway and crashed into a tree, and was pronounced dead at the scene. I was devastated knowing the fact that I would never get to see the women I used to look up to all my years, but I persisted in my education and tried even harder to excel academically. After teaching myself, and never giving up, I graduated high school with honors and was accepted to the University of California, Irvine.

During my first year of college, I experienced the sudden death of my adopted father who was diagnosed with cancer. Two months later, my grandmother had passed away as well. This had a significant impact on my grades and academic focus because he was the only father I had ever accepted in my life, and my grandmother was the one who always smiled when I would mention school. Just a year later I dramatically changed my outlook on education and pulled through the challenges that I had to face. I realized that my father had high hopes for me, which is why I became a stronger person after his death.
              All of these past experiences are deeply imbedded in my heart, but I have realized with time and maturity that life happens and you have to accept it and move on by taking one day at a time. I finally know who I want to be and where I want to go in life. I had the opportunity to see the depressing side of life with alcohol and drugs, which has inspired me to rise above and take it as a learning experience. I developed an interest in foster youth, education and social work while going through Orangewood, and different foster homes. While attending the University of California, Irvine I have learned my responsibilities for who I represent. I want to give back to my community, and implement what I have learned to the future foster youth society. I want to give back the knowledge in which I have had the opportunity of receiving. I hope to be a mentor for other foster youth who may have lost hope, or who do not see the future ahead. Attending UCI has been my dream that has finally come true, which is why I want to share my experiences with others to encourage them to strive for the best.

In addition to my B.S. in Social Science, I will have specialized in Public and Community Service (PCS) and will have minored in Education by 2009. With the specialization in PCS, it has offered me an opportunity to learn about public and community issues by working in designated community agencies and government organizations that apply academic theories and analytical skills to the solution for real-world problems. The program has helped me develop a better understanding of integrating academia and service into my community. The specialization has helped me identify and analyze socially significant needs addressed in the community in the context of many social science disciplines. Within the PCS specialization, I have completed a research proposal as well as 200 hours of participant observation and analysis, 300 hours of community service, and 200 hours of an internship at Orangewood Children’s Foundation. I researched Latina/o education in after school programs in the city of Santa Ana, California. I was also privileged to work with Dr. Janette Castellanos during my specialization of PCS. I also became Dr. Castellanos’ teacher’s assistant during my junior year. I gained a closer academic relationship with her as well as a better understanding of pursuing higher education. Lastly, I have taken a full year of statistics, research methods, and attended a Summer Bridge Program as well as the Summer Academic Enrichment Program (SAEP) at UCI to prepare me for higher education. In the SAEP program, I studied foster youth and wrote a research proposal while preparing for graduate school including: intermediate statistics, communications, and research methods classes. SAEP was a rigorous twelve unit, five week program, which advanced my research skills as well as public speaking skills to better prepare me for higher education.  

Attending graduate school will allow me to accomplish my goals in earning a Masters degree in Social Work. I am applying to USC and Harvard in 2008.

My short term goals are to attend a graduate program that will allow me to conduct extensive research on foster care and social work. I am very passionate about extending my knowledge about foster care systems and youth. While I am in the program I am going to work at a children’s foundation that has to deal with foster care. My long term goals are to graduate with a Masters in Social Work, and work in administration for a foster care or home foundation. I also plan to further my education after I receive more experience in the field of foster care. It would be an honor to make an impact on society by establishing new policies and making a greater chance for success in future foster children.  Lastly, I plan to open my own foundation to educate the less fortunate in the foster system and implement changes in the current foundations to better the foster children in the future. I also plan to finish writing my book about my past, present, and future life experiences. I plan to give back to my foster care community because I want to help those who I can truly relate to.