Ashley Mitlitsky, Jean Liranzo-Honoret, Aaya Elzibair, Cas Joseph, Jael Mejía

Mrs. Dott
English III Honors
19 September 2017
The American Samaritans

(Theme Music)
Introduction:
Jael: Statistics from CBS show that only forty-four percent of those surveyed have
achieved their American dream, thirty-one percent say they might reach the American
Dream within their lifetime. (Theme/Central idea) Which prompts us to ask, how hard do
you REALLY have to work to achieve the American Dream and when will the hard work
eventually pay off?

(Transitioning Music)
Jean: To many people, “work hard” is a life motto. A majority of the people we
interviewed believe that it is the key to achieving your dream and not just any dream,
but your American Dream.

(Transitioning Music)
Ashley: What would you say to someone who’s graduating from high school next year?
Samantha Mitlitsky: About like, about what?
Ashley: About the American Dream, what would you say to somebody who was
graduating?
Samantha Mitlitsky : I would tell them that if you work hard enough, the American
Dream is definitely achievable and it’s definitely different for everybody, depending upon
the situation that you’re in.
Ashley: How many Americans believe that hard work is worth it? According to a survey
done in 2015 by Inc.com, 58% of people believe that hard work is the key to reaching
the American dream. In addition to this, all of the people that we interviewed had the
belief that hard work is essential to achieving their dream. However, the same website
also found that 50% of Americans they asked believed that if you were born on the
bottom of the income ladder and work hard, you still won’t prosper.

(Transitioning Music)
Aaya: What is your definition of the American Dream?
Maria Elzibair: My definition per-, my definition of the American Dream personally is
freedom of speech, justice, equality, and immigrants to be allowed in America.
Aaya: As a group we wanted to do some more research on how many people actually
leave their homeland in order to have the rights that they deserve. According to recent
studies, 43.3 million people immigrated to the United States in 2015. There are currently
16 million American workers without high school diplomas. In the last twenty years, the
number of immigrants increased about 70%.

(Transitioning Music)
Nereida Mejía: My definition of the American Dream is uh a meaning of freedom in
many aspects of your life. Uh freedom sometimes from your back governments and
your- and your own country, the freedom of the right to do whatever you want to do,
study um, dressing, eat, education and everything in your life. So when you travel to this
country, to America, you you dreaming with that kind of thing it’s like um uh you have
that opportunity to be free of doing whatever you want to do, that you can’t do any place
else.
Cas: Does being an immigrant make it harder to achieve the American dream?
According to Classroom.com, immigrants seek the opportunity to have a good job and
home ownership for their families. Most immigrants come to the United States for
freedom and general happiness because of economic or political issues in their
countries of origin. Because of these affairs immigrants in America cover 13 percent of
the population and 17 percent of the workforce according to TheAtlantic.com.

(Transitioning Music)
Ashley: So would you say even if somebody starts poor they could become successful if
they try really hard?
Richard Mayor: If you have good goals, and try to achieve those goals and keep after it,
you’re gonna be just fine.
Jean: Another poll circa 2014 by The New York Times states 60% of Americans think
it’s possible to start out poor in the U.S. work hard and become rich, while 30% believe
it’s not possible. From the same poll it stated that even during the 2009 financial crisis
72 percent of people believed hard work could produce riches. Another poll from
Huffington Post collected data about millennials that believe that everyone can achieve
their dream if they just try hard enough. The highest percentage were black millennials
at 59 percent this means they have more faith and optimism about the end results of
hard work. Following them would be hispanics at 56 percent, Asian millennials at 55
percent and White millennials at 46 percent.

(Transitioning Music)
Conclusion:
(Jael)
The idea behind this podcast was to showcase people from very divergent backgrounds
and what their experiences are with the American Dream. Based on the evidence we Commented [1]: help me
gathered we can conclude that the American Dream is alive to multiple age groups and
that the people who feel like they have to work harder have more belief that the
outcome of their diligent initiative. The people we interviewed felt optimistic, about the
American Dream, because they felt that as long as you put in the work and effort than it
is attainable.

Special thanks to: Nereida Mejia, Richard Mayor, Samantha Mitlitsky, and Maria Elzibair

I’m Jael Mejía

I’m Jean Liranzo-Honoret
I’m Cas Joseph
I’m Ashley Mitlitsky
And I’m Aaya Elzibair
Thank You And Good Night

(Outro Music)