Personal Narrative: Beating All Odds

Beating all Odds Growing up you feel like anything is possible, you are given certain ideas that any dream or goal you have can be met with hard work behind it all. Is this always true? Maybe, maybe not? I want to introduce you to my cousin Melina. This young woman, I viewed as my oldest sister. She was born and raised in the Coachella Valley to a teen mother named Diana. Melina grew up in a broken latino family, with her father leaving her as a child. She then had a stepfather who wasn’t the most welcoming, and always viewed her to have the stigma that Melina would follow in her mother’s footsteps of being a teen mother as well. Melina was determined to beat all odds and after graduating from Coachella Valley High School, not to mention ASB president and the top of her class. She initially became the first generation to attend and complete college in my family. Melina attended UCI and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Social Science and a minor in education. After graduating she started as the student assistant for the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science at UC Irvine and moved up to being …show more content…
I believe she will continue to be an advocate of overcoming any stereotype of being a Latina woman who comes from a family that wasn’t as privileged. She continues to visit public school high schools and sharing her story, and helping students that were once like her, to be just as accomplished as she has become. Being a Latina woman she has shown me to be proud of where you come from and no matter the circumstances, there is always someone who is open minded and willing to listen to what you have to say, even with all odds against us. She has surrounded herself with many successful latinos who she grew up with, such as the mayor of Coachella and continues to thrive as an independent woman. I cannot express how proud I am to call her my mentor in life in hopes to succeed just as much as she