Ever since I started school in Houston, I have always gone to schools that students are

prone to fail and usually become drug dealers, go to jail, and join a gang. Many local networks

always talk bad about the school I went to when I was in elementary. My elementary schools

name is Benavidez Elementary and the majority of the students are considered minorities. Many

gangs recruit students from my school when I was going there by fourth grade I already knew all

of the gang signs, how many gangs there were and how they recruit. Some of the people that I

met always told me that I wouldnt be someone in life because of the influences I had and who I

hung out with, even though by third grade I was considered above the rest of the students only

because I kept getting good grades and I not only passed the standardized test for Texas, but

receive a hundred which was uncommon. Benavidez didnt have the best resources to properly

teach students and that is why they wanted me to skip 3rd grade when I was supposed to go to

that grade and in fourth grade they asked her again if I could skip 5th grade. The reason I didnt

was because my mom thought I would feel secluded and out of place if I wasnt with students

around my age and this would affect my academics.

When my mom heard about KIPP, she immediately put me in that charter. KIPP is a

unique school because they start in 5th grade and go all the way to 8th grade for middle school.

When I first started here I remember being in a room with 100 other children that came from the

same types of schools that I had attended. At first, I thought that they were my competition since

I thought that I was chosen to this school because I was smart. What was different about this

school is that most of my teachers were white compared to my elementary teachers. This was my

official meeting with the white population because you really dont see any white people in the

neighborhood that I live and you would definitely not see any white teachers teach at the school I

went. KIPP felt different because the discipline was much harsher, teachers threw your binders
and backpacks across the room if they were not organized. I was a very messy child so this

happen to me often, they always said that if the way you organize yourself shows the type of

person you are. Another difference was that at KIPP all we spoke was English even though 75%

of the students were Latinos. In order for me to be in a school like KIPP I had to continue with

ESL classes and I had always been on ESL classes prior to joining KIPP. It wasnt until I joined

KIPP that I spoke more English than Spanish. It was also because of KIPP that I had to give up

football (soccer) since KIPP started school at 7:15 am and didnt finish until 5:00pm. If you

acted bad or didnt do your homework you had to stay after school and finish it, this was

considered Wall-Street. It was also mandatory for everyone to attend summer school and

throughout the school year we also had to go to Saturday school. Even though it sounds like a

burden to go to school on Saturdays I love going because it was fun since all we did were extra-

curricular activities like American football, ultimate Frisbee, art, etc. and at the end of the day we

got fed Wendys. What also made KIPP unique was that they had this discipline system called

porch. This system made students flip their shirts inside-out and made them write porch

letters which were letters to your whole class about the reasons why you were on porch and

apologizing for it. These reasons varied from lying to a teacher, lying to your parents, getting in

fights, not doing your homework, etc. it depended on the teachers when they felt that you were

ready to get out of porch and join the team (your class). KIPPs motto is Work hard, Be nice and

Team and family and for this reason they judge on whether you were ready to join the team.

While in middle school my first year at KIPP I felt that I was behind other students

because they were teaching us long divisions which I had never done. We had to read new books

as a class one every two to four weeks depending on the book. This was also my first time in a

science class and we started learning US history more in depth. At first I struggled to keep up
with the courses that were being taught to me even though I was always told that I was

considered above average. Going to KIPP showed me otherwise. At the end of every year at

KIPP you had the possibility of earning an end of the year trip. 5th grade was visiting all of the

monuments in Washington DC,6th grade went hiking in Utah, 7th grade went to the Northeast

states and their university, 8th grade visited California and its universities. I didnt struggle as

much in 6th grade except for English which has always been my hardest subject. It wasnt until 7th

grade that I felt extremely behind in English and I ended failing the standardized test in writing. I

felt ashamed of myself not only because I always thought that the standardized test were a waste

of time but KIPP wanted me to repeat the 7th grade. I was able to go on to 8th grade with the

condition that I took 7th grade English again. Also if I fell behind in my English course I would

be repeating the grade. In 8th grade we had to prepare for high school, KIPP had partnerships

with local private schools. We had to visit all of the private schools and if you were smart enough

they would make you take a test to be able to apply to boarding schools.

I ended up staying with KIPP since it was the first year that they were starting a high

school. High school was similar to middle school especially since I knew everyone in my class

and didnt have to go through the introduction stage of meeting everyone. The only difference

was that the academics were more rigorous, but not rigorous enough for me to dedicate time

studying for my subjects. I took AP chemistry, calculus, honors classes and never really cared

about my studies as long as I passed. Many teachers in high school told me that if I didnt apply

myself I would not finish college and would be working in McDonalds. I did have this

chemistry teacher who told me to apply myself. He taught me a whole lot not only in chemistry

but in life. He inspired me to change my study habits by taking me to science bowls, buying me

lunch when I did well in his class and even helping me out when I was struggling. Another
teacher that influenced me was my Algebra II and Pre-calculus teacher. Even though he didnt

agree with how KIPP worked he still wanted to teach us since he saw that we had potential.

When I first started Pre-calculus I started with high As and he wanted me to become his pupil

because he saw that I was good in math and tried.

When I became the second in my family to graduate from high school and 3rd from my

cousins, I decided to be the first to go to a four year college. I applied to Texas Tech and was

admitted but I had to take 10000 dollars in loans. While at Texas Tech I continued my studying

habits from high school and ended up with a 2.7 GPA my first year. This was the first time I was

away from my family and I immediately felt like I was in the minority. Texas Tech was mainly

white and in order for me to assimilate I had to make friends with white people. Even though I

was able to make a handful of friends I felt out of place. I felt out of place because it wasnt

home and because most frats at Tech were racist even though they didnt explicitly say it. After I

was done I went back to Houston and studied at community college for a year. Community

college felt the same as high school; I thought it was a joke and people still acted as though they

were still in high school. This environment influenced me into going back to a four year school

at the University of Houston. By the time I went to Houston I had changed my major three times.

I also didnt study as much as I should have when I was at U of H and the ambiance was

completely different because it was a commuter university. I struggled to focus on my education

and I was placed on academic probation. After this I dropped out of school and took a year off.

By this time I was already $30000 in debt from all the loans that I had to take out. I never applied

myself in college and felt that all of the people that had told me that I was going to fail in life

were correct. However, my family told me that no matter what I did they were still proud of me

for being the first to attempting school. I know they were trying to encourage me, but it felt like a
pain in the gut because I felt that I failed all of them especially since they were the ones that

mainly believed in me. I decided then that if I was going to go back to school that I would apply

myself and let my laziness aside. I heard my 13 year old nephew say that he didnt want to go to

college because it was a waste of time and money and he felt that all of the grown-ups are doing

well with minimum paid jobs. This is one of the reasons why I decided to finally come to CSU

and go back to school. At the moment my major is Applied Computing Technology and I dont

plan on changing it. Even though I know that it will take me a while to finish school here in

Colorado, especially since tuition is 40000 dollars a year and I am paying out of pocket. It will

take me a while to pay for one semester so I will have to go to school one semester and work as

much as I can the other. Based on my age and past academic history I didnt receive any

scholarships even though I am considered a minority, a first generation student and a veteran

student.

At the moment I feel more at place here in CSU than Texas Tech and U of H and I will

not leave Colorado until I finish school. I already know that I will be in debt for the rest of my

life but I want to inspire my family that even if you dont go to college you can be somebody in

life. White people are not the only ones to go to college and graduate. Latinos can go to college

as well, especially someone from my background. I hope that CSU doesnt disappoint as my

other schools have, and so far I have been applying myself in studying more and it has paid off.

Well see how a 24, male, Latino will do at a white populated school.