When I look back at my high school years, I think about why I kept going and why I am at the point of completing college applications and getting ready to move onto higher education. My family has been a big part of my life, most especially in high school, and it’s not just because of my parents and their monetary support, or my grandma and her prayers and praise, or my sisters and their support, but because of the culture and community they’ve allowed me to be a part of. My parents became U.S. Citizens upon coming from the Philippines. My mom had been petitioned by her uncle, and my dad had enlisted into the U.S. Navy. They kept their culture with them as they came to America, so when I was born, I was raised on their traditional Filipino values. That meant I had to be optimistic about my future, care about other people, be religious, and respect my elders. …show more content…
At the beginning of high school, and even now, I was quite optimistic about my future. I knew if I worked hard enough, I could go to a good college and eventually become a doctor and please my parents. I also learned to care about other people, and that allowed me to make friends in high school outside of my small circle. However, I think the most important value that helped shape my current community, my culture, is the value of being religious. I was raised on Roman Catholic values, but my parents weren’t as ingrained in the Catholic beliefs as a Catholic family should’ve been. We went to church every Sunday, and that was it. High school arrived, and my parents decided I had to get my first communion. So, my freshman year, I began attending the Youth Ministry classes on Sundays. I was working on my first reconciliation, and at that time, my parents were kind of forcing me to attend. As I progressed through the first year, I began my second year. The original coordinator quit, and a new one took her