ReAwaken

It is essential in life to always stay true to your roots. It seems that living in the world we live in, America, we have betrayed our roots, culture, past generations, and ourselves. I live in a country where every school's main language is english. Even with the consistent required foreign language courses, it is apparent that most students do not retain the language skills. I am an Honduran American, but it seems now more than ever that I am more American. For many students from a different background outside of America, there is a huge gap between the generations. From the humble parent who cannot speak a word of english, to the involved Americanized student who is pushing themselves to succeed in a country much different from their parents. I want to show these generations that in order to succeed in this country it is not necessary to sacrifice your culture. The culmination of my senior year will end with me demonstrating to the world that it is within our power to shorten the generation gap.

As I grow, and discover so much more about the world, I find myself feeling like I am lost. There is so much to see in the world, to understand, and at the same time I'm trying to understand myself. I've noticed that being raised in an english speaking country has diverted me from my roots. The thing that bothers me the most about my hispanic generation is knowing that we have lost our culture.

The more people I meet I realize that most only speak english. If they speak another language they speak it very poorly. I have always prided myself in being fluent in both English and Spanish. However, as I've grown I've tried discovering so many of my passions, and as a result have spent more time speaking English than Spanish. I've strayed myself so much from speaking Spanish that now I speak it very poorly. It seems as if English has taken over, and to me that is a shame. Spanish was the language my mother spoke to me during my youth.

I am an American student who has created for himself a busy life with several responsibilities in and outside of school. Like many students in America, I have not only found my many passions, but I am also trying to make it into a top tier college. My life is full of school in english, of clubs in english, of my social life in english, of my job in english, of my communication to anyone primarily in english. Though I am fluent in spanish, I understand that my lack of communication with my family has forced me to be a part of the people who created the generation gap.

I refuse to turn my back on my culture. I will through the help of my mother prove that even if we, students, have lost our culture it is not dead. Our culture is merely in a very strong comma. I have agreed with my mother that starting in November we will be cooking traditional Honduran plates together. This will be my means of not only submerging myself in my culture, but also of building a better relationship with my mother, and therefore with my Honduran roots.

I have started a website, in which I will weekly post pictures and instructions as to how to cook the plates. This will be my mother's and I electronic cook book. We will not only be cooking traditional Honduran plates, but also Mexican, American, and other Central American plates. I will be posting the websites url once it is more fully revised.

I hope that many of you will follow my example and submerge yourself in your culture. It is time to reawaken your culture and realize that your background is an essential piece in the being that is you.

Reveal

Passion is word that to me reveals who I am. It is the reason of my being. Through my few years of life, I have discovered many passions. I have developed a sense of leadership, social responsibility, a need to run, a love for dance, an infatuation with photography, an admiration for reading for fun, to write for my own development, to construct layouts, to create pieces of art.

My American culture has provided me with all these different ways to unleash the dedication within myself. I have realized that though I feel a strong need to reawaken my latin culture, it is not a necessity to turn my back completely against my American culture. It is my American culture that has so strongly pushed me to develop all my passions, to push myself to greater limits.

It is with that same encouragement from my American culture that I will complete a mosaic mural to be given to my school. Out of all my passions, art is the one I feel the least connection with. It is for that reason that I want to develop a better sense of what art is, and how to become a better artist.

This past year I created a mosaic mural with the help of a school year program based out Rice University. Please follow the link to view a more in depth description of the program(Learning Edge). That experience was so revolutionary for me because it showed me the great joy I found in art. Creating that mural was one of the highlights of my junior year.

I want to give the mural to my school, Chinquapin, because my school has given me all the means to become who I am. It sculpted me into a better citizen of this society, and I want to give something back to it. I also want to inspire all the students of my school to continue working hard for a better future. I want to show them the beauty that art contains.