University of Washington Prompt

Discuss how your family's experience or cultural history enriched you or presented you with opportunities or challenges in pursuing your educational goals.

My father was born and raised in Lakeland, Florida, and his whole family before him came from that area. My mother, however, was born in Cuba, and her family immigrated to the United States when she was six. So on one hand, I have a very traditional "American" family background, and on the other, a traditional Hispanic background. Being raised in both cultures gives me the unique ability to be a part of two worlds, but also to stand back and observe one from a distance if I so choose. I was raised speaking Spanish and English. When I speak Spanish (and when others speak Spanish to me), I drift closer to the Cuban in me, and often find myself making critical observations about the American side of me; whereas when I speak English, the opposite is true, and I find myself observing things about my Cuban heritage that might not be so apparent from the Spanish-speaking side.

These two cultures are vastly different in many ways, and the presence of both within me has challenged me to pursue my educational goals and aspirations in light of my view of the world around me. People find motivation in a variety of things. My motivation is found largely in the story of my parents. After they met, my dad became enrolled at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi (my birthplace) and eventually moved to Knoxville, Tennessee to start a college campus ministry called Reformed University Fellowship (RUF), which provides students with both spiritual and academic mentors, as well as an entire community of people to support each other in these two ways. That program has since spread to colleges throughout the country (including the University of Washington), and continues to be a thriving, engaging community in Knoxville.

When I was six, my dad and the rest of us (by then I had two younger siblings, Victoria and Lucas) moved to San Francisco to plant a church. We didn't know a soul, and my parents didn't know of any schools. My dad began hosting Bible studies at our small two-bedroom flat, which eventually moved to a small chapel, and finally where the church meets today, at a large community facility called the Russian Center. Since that fateful day in February 1997, the day of our first church service, the church has grown to around 900 people, making City Church one of the largest in a city where less than one percent of the population attends a church service at any time of the year. I believe this to be God's work through us, but I also look with pride to the extraordinary courage and dedication my parents possessed when they moved to an entirely unknown place to start something that was considered by many to be impossible.

I am a person of faith, but I think anyone can be inspired by this story of perseverance over immense odds. It certainly inspires me to make the most of my education, as well as tackle whatever the future holds head-on. I'm excited to leave home--though I will certainly miss my family very much--in order to pursue my career goals (whatever they may become) and to explore this mysterious, delightful, promising world that we live in.