In movies, shows and songs, children and teenagers stereotypically hate their hometown. They rebel and are always searching for an adventure that brings them outside of the confines of the town that they have grown up in. For me, growing up in Roseland, New Jersey, was not like that at all. My hometown of three square miles was the perfect place to spend my childhood and formative years. Since I spent the majority of my life living in such close quarters with everyone in the town, very quickly the people and town instilled the values that I live by into me and shaped me into the person that I am today. The first place I wanted to capture of my hometown was our town plaza. When parents granted their children their first bits of freedom, it
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Before even going to the library, education was a familial value that had been instilled into me from even my earliest memories. I would read to my brother in the womb when my Mom was pregnant, I would read to him while she cooked dinner, I would read a “chapter” of my Sesame Street dictionary every night before bed and would play school for fun. The library reinforced just how important education was in my life. Every summer they would host a summer reading competition to see how many summer reading books each child in the town could read. At the end of the summer, there would be winners and a pizza party with prizes. Since I loved to read and was born a cut-throat competitor, I took first prize every year. These competitions sponsored by the library shaped me into a better reader, writer and student. I still have the ability to read much faster than most of my peers and my style of writing is influenced by all of the different styles of books that I have read over the years. It has also improved my skills as a student and has opened up the educational opportunities that I have …show more content…
To this day, my cousins and I have always lived at the very most 20 minutes away from each other. Instead of spending time with friends and going to places with them, our parents would always make us do things together. Whether it was unfashionable matching outfits, birthday parties or even being babysat, my cousins and I were always together. Even as we’ve grown older, added fiancés and even added some dogs into the mix, my family and I still remain as close as we were when we were only forced to be around each other. We all willingly choose to wearing matching outfits now, go out to bars together and spend our free time with each other. When I go home for breaks, I’m always more excited to see my cousins and the rest of my family than I am my friends at home. Family is everything to me. I could lose everything tomorrow and as long as I still had all of my family members than I know I would be okay. My friends always laugh because I always say that I could never marry someone who wasn’t close with their family simply because of how close I am with mine. I am grateful for growing up in a big, tight-knit family because it has taught me how to love unconditionally to those around me and know how to spot people who will genuinely love and care for me unconditionally. The values of Roseland have completely shaped who I am and who will I continue to grow into in the future.
Before even going to the library, education was a familial value that had been instilled into me from even my earliest memories. I would read to my brother in the womb when my Mom was pregnant, I would read to him while she cooked dinner, I would read a “chapter” of my Sesame Street dictionary every night before bed and would play school for fun. The library reinforced just how important education was in my life. Every summer they would host a summer reading competition to see how many summer reading books each child in the town could read. At the end of the summer, there would be winners and a pizza party with prizes. Since I loved to read and was born a cut-throat competitor, I took first prize every year. These competitions sponsored by the library shaped me into a better reader, writer and student. I still have the ability to read much faster than most of my peers and my style of writing is influenced by all of the different styles of books that I have read over the years. It has also improved my skills as a student and has opened up the educational opportunities that I have …show more content…
To this day, my cousins and I have always lived at the very most 20 minutes away from each other. Instead of spending time with friends and going to places with them, our parents would always make us do things together. Whether it was unfashionable matching outfits, birthday parties or even being babysat, my cousins and I were always together. Even as we’ve grown older, added fiancés and even added some dogs into the mix, my family and I still remain as close as we were when we were only forced to be around each other. We all willingly choose to wearing matching outfits now, go out to bars together and spend our free time with each other. When I go home for breaks, I’m always more excited to see my cousins and the rest of my family than I am my friends at home. Family is everything to me. I could lose everything tomorrow and as long as I still had all of my family members than I know I would be okay. My friends always laugh because I always say that I could never marry someone who wasn’t close with their family simply because of how close I am with mine. I am grateful for growing up in a big, tight-knit family because it has taught me how to love unconditionally to those around me and know how to spot people who will genuinely love and care for me unconditionally. The values of Roseland have completely shaped who I am and who will I continue to grow into in the future.