Vernica Vargas-Guadalupe August 21, 2013 English 1101-68 Who am I bringing to class?

As you already know my name is Vernica and I am from Puerto Rico. I am the youngest of six kids so I was the spoiled one of the house as you may call it. I moved to the United States, Durham, North Carolina to be more specific, on August 13, 2010, right after I graduated from the ninth grade. That was the best and worst experience of my life at the same time because I got to meet a new place, new people and had better opportunities at having a good education and pursuing the career of my choice. The bad part of that experience was that I had to say good bye to my family, my friends, my school, my childhood home, and my volleyball team, Las Cachorritas de Ponce. I also forgot one small detail, I did not know a word of English and that made it harder for me to fit in. I thought that was the end of my 4.0 GPA that I had always had, but I was wrong. All it took was doing my homework, doing some extra work, not being afraid of asking for help and put a lot of time and effort for me to keep going and it worked. That first semester I passed English 2 with a 99 and I had the highest grade of not only my class, but the other two classes Ms.Phillis, my English teacher, was teaching at that time. I also passed all my other classes of the rest of the year with an A. After my sophomore year in high school, which was technically freshman year for me, I was able to maintain a conversation with a native English speaker and I had kept my 4.0 GPA which I actually think it was higher because I never took an ESL class, I preferred to take took honor classes instead.

That summer I practiced my English even more and I felt ready for my junior year of High School. I even started working in a seafood restaurant/fast food called Captain Ds and that really helped with my accent, and to become a little bit more independent in a way. In my junior year all my classes were honors but one, which was AP Spanish V. I had not joined any kind of clubs, organizations or sports because when I first got here I was afraid of everybody and everything but I decided it was time to lose that fear. Because I have always liked to sing I joined the school chorus as a beginner and the next year I skipped the intermediate and went straight to the advanced chorus by auditioning just for fun. I also joined several clubs which helped me learn how to balance school and work, how to be more responsible, dedicated and involved. By my senior year I had no trouble speaking to anybody and I was not as shy as I was before. I was very involved in school, I had lots of friends, I was great at school and at work, and my grades were never lower than an A. I graduated with a 4.4 GPA, all As during all my high school years, I got accepted into my first choice University and I can speak two languages fluently, even though I think I can do better on my English sometimes, especially expanding my vocabulary a little bit more. I did not have a social life because I had so much going on in my life but it paid off. Now I am here in Charlotte, living with my brother and my best friend, and attending UNCC. All I can say for sure is that I will work very hard and do my best to do great in all my classes to make not only my family, friends and teachers proud, but also to make me proud of myself. This is who I am bringing into the class.