Category: Uncategorized (Page 7 of 8)

When i was a child i dreamed of enlisting in the Military. Any branch honestly.I have a picture of me dressed up like a mini soldier and I went through several years of a cadet program which was meant to feel disciplinary like the Army. Throughout my childhood, by my authority figures and friends, I was encouraged to do so. It often caught people by surprise as “it’s not usual for a girl” to have such a dream. Everybody thought it was such a brave idea and I always wondered why it was so shocking for others to hear. Through my cadet program, I was surrounded by people who served or planned on serving in the military. I learned a lot of history and knowledge that is crucial to potential recruits. I was told how it felt from a first-hand perspective and I genuinely craved the adrenaline that soldiers must have to carry out their duty. I wanted to go through all the physical training and learn what it felt like to “serve and protect”. I often felt and still catch myself feeling overlooked by people I sacrificed a lot for so I guess I just wanted to be somebody’s hero. My curiosity shifted once I started realizing how much society hates and disregards women for just about anything they do. I used to tune into the news and remember seeing a story where a female soldier Vanessa Guillen spoke out to her family about feeling uncomfortable and being sexually assaulted by one of her higher-ups while being deployed. According to the New York Times, “Her remains were found dismembered and burned. Specialist Guillén’s family has alleged that she was sexually harassed before she was killed, drawing outrage from many and calls from activists for systematic changes in how the military handles reports of sexual harassment and assault.” I felt sick to my stomach hearing about her story and all the other women whose stories go unheard. I first hand would observe the comment section on Tiktok of women serving the military which were usually full of hate while they were mostly referred to as “Barrack Bunnies” According to Quora “A barracks bunny is someone (usually female) that sleeps with other soldiers during off-duty hours” Even while fighting for most of these ungrateful disgusting assholes lives Women are still belittled and sexualized in the eyes of these losers. I would bring this up to my educators when we spoke of Jobs you don’t usually see women do and they all didn’t argue with my concerns. We came to the terms that course you are at risk of any type of danger anywhere you go, it’s a scary world, but it’s even more saddening and sickening when you are putting your life on the line for a country and being abused and spoken down upon by those who you are risking and giving up your life and freedom for. I appreciated the fact that my educators didn’t sugarcoat it for me or give their own biased opinion, they saw where I was coming from and why it was important. That ultimately shifted how I viewed my decision to enlist or not. I never really lost interest I’m just too cautious and refuse to give up my life for a society that will chew me up and spit me out every chance they get. Seeing all the homeless veterans on the street opened my eyes to how this country will use you until you are useless to them and I refuse to be another crash dummy for them. I keep my dream in my heart from a distance honestly. I still have the ambition for wanting to help people in need and I do plan on being the change I wanna see in the world by helping one person at a time. I strive to participate in many nonprofit events and even just regularly help out on the streets when I can. I just want to help people because with everything that we all go through in our individual lives it’s easy to forget we are all just people trying to make it through the day and that isn’t how it shouldn’t be. Everybody should be able to live their life in peace and I want to be a part of why it becomes easier to do so, so until then I will continue to have the passion and will to contribute in any possible way I can.

Gabriella Leon

Gabriella Leon

It was my last year in middle school, the big 8th grade. The morning of the specialized high school exam.I already knew i was not fit for it but everything is worth a try no? I woke up half an hour later than planned to the smell of fried plantains fried eggs, Dominican cheese, and salami. Typical breakfast my mom makes every morning we have a huge school exam. I was hesitant in even leaving my room My mom has an odd habit of starting the dumbest arguments on morning’s of big days it causes this irritable feeling of tension, a big knot in your stomach. I rushed out the room and in to the shower, i did not want to be late as i usually am. I was in the steaming hot shower trying to fight my sleep and reflect on everything I’ve been learned in all my middle school years hoping i’d remember something important.ya know how tests always have that one thing that you swear you never learned? (For future reference,that definitely happened). I was so nervous i didn’t even end up eating the breakfast. My mom started the typical argument this time about not being on time which was reasonable so i just stayed quite and left. Having no idea what was in front of me but ready to face it.

All the hope i had of placing anywhere was completely destroyed after i heard
some of the conversations my classmates were having.There is a program in many middle schools called the dream program.Dream stands for:Determination,Resiliency
Enthusiasm,Ambition, and,Motivation.DREAM is a Saturday and summer academic program that prepares eligible seventh-grade New York City public school students to take the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) in the eighth grade.I specifically remembered going into my guidance counselors office wondering if i was eligible but she said it depended on your family’s income. That’s a huge part that they don’t advertise.Growing up with 2 disabled parents,i was obviously no where near that. I was embarrassed that i even asked or hoped that i could be considered for the program. After walking out her office i felt an overwhelming rush of sadness..I felt like i was being punished for being poor.Quite literally set at a disadvantage by my place in the hierarchy. Hearing all the other kids talk about how prepared and easy it’s gonna be for them snatched any type of confidence i had n my body.I remember opening u the test book feeling every ounce of anxiety and doubt run its coarse through my veins.I just wanted to cry i felt so damn stupid. gave up and just went to sleep mid test book once i realized i knew nothing on those pages. I was left feeling defeated,and it definitely altered my view on education.I feel like th system only provides the stdents thy think have a promising future instead of giving an equal platform to everyone.It is simply just no fair.

Gabriella Leon

A significant moment that changed my view on education was when I had a teacher named Ms.Guillame in the seventh grade. I had her for two different courses, social studies and African American studies. She was the teacher everybody was scared to make the wrong move in front of and instead of resenting her for it I grew over the school year to appreciate her for it. she always held everyone accountable for their wrong doings, always taught us something new whether it had to do with the subject or not, and truly gave us a taste of the real world. She was what every teacher should strive to be.

Now Ms.Guillame was not liked by many students but
if we’re being realistic, the realest people don’t always tend to be. Before I got to know her I sighed when I saw her name across my schedule. I was used to getting teachers who never knew hot to put their foot down in their own classrooms. You know how unbelievable middle school kids can be right? My prior teachers never actually got their point across making it difficult to actually learn or even care to. I was just a girl in seventh grade and the last thing I wanted to think about was school. Ms.G (as we all called her since people couldn’t get the pronunciation right ) naturally made me lock in. She would pull me to the side and go in on me when I was slacking and she didn’t even make me feel bad about it. She just wanted to understand why I was slacking so much. She was trying to go above as a teacher and I felt safe. from then on I started to care about school. She didn’t just tell us hey you need to learn because the state says so like many teachers do, she explained why it should be important to us and why history matters. She made learning fun and I never wanted to miss her class. As much as I liked Ms.G ,she liked me just as much in return. Growing up I’ve always struggled getting along with authority figures but with Ms.G ? never. I grew to respect her and understand why she was hard on us because she wasn’t doing it to pick at us, she was doing it to build a foundation of education and why we should be more appreciative of the access we have to it compared to so many individuals around the world and I could never thank her enough.