Jonathan Rodriguez

Professor Sidibe

FIQWS 10103

8/30/2018

Letter of Introduction

I identify as a Hispanic male of mixed ancestry: Costa Rican and Puerto Rican. This is not such a common mix in the world of Latinos. Two extremely different realms in terms of Latino culture, one side hailing from Central America, and the other from the Caribbean. Costa Ricans are not as abundant in the United States as are Puerto Ricans, especially in New York City, so having that Costa Rican side made me feel special as a child, knowing my family was not the same as all the other Hispanic children around me. I still identified as Puerto Rican, but I mainly lived and was raised around Costa Ricans. In cherishing my roots, I always wanted to know more, so I would ask my family, who would proudly share with me the stories and traditions we have. I also grew up barely knowing any Spanish and felt disconnected with my roots. That experience, along with my natural love of history, gave birth for my hunger for knowledge in Latin American culture and history and for who I am as a person, student, and writer.

That experience was a major factor in shaping the person who I am today. I always aim to gain as much knowledge that I can in whatever interests me. I believe that learning is key to living, and the more you have the better you are equipped for whatever lies in the future. However, this mindset took time to develop. In middle school I was always a lazy, quiet, kind, funny, quick tempered loner who loved nothing more than video games. I would rather be home with my face glued against the television with a controller inseparable from my hands instead of then instead of playing outside with other kids. However, as antisocial as I seem, talking to people was never hard for me. Especially since I was in a small co-ed catholic middle school, which was followed up by then attending an all-boys catholic high school. When high school started for me, I started the new school year with a mindset that I should hide and deny that I was a nerd who still at the age of fourteen played on a Nintendo DS, and worried too much on trying to be like everyone else. I saw it as a means of being cool and popular, which gave way to later realize how ignorant and childish I was. I faced many hardships that year which lead to my goal of being productive, and to not waste away opportunities. It proved to be fruitful in my academics, which changed the way I functioned as a student in school.

Following the next year, I was no longer lazy and went differently into my sophomore year. I was told by my English teacher that I was too smart for his class and set up for me to be in a higher-level class. I felt proud of myself, because I now knew of my full potential. In my Spanish class, I went from a regular class which was taught the basics of Spanish, to my teacher placing me in the native class, which was spoken and taught only in Spanish. I now took school more seriously, especially since these higher classes was set for me to take my junior year, the year my guidance counselor told me is the most important year for grades. I stood diligent to my studies and even enjoyed learning these other subjects more. I paid attention to every conjugation and how to use a tilde when writing in Spanish. I wanted to perfect my Spanish and was now able to enjoy conversations with my family even more. I felt closer to my culture and felt as if now I gained the right of identifying as a Latino. I enjoyed learning about Aristotle, The Salem Witch Trials, and how to establish Ethos, Pathos, and Logos in English class. This contributed greatly to the brink of my new quest for knowledge and how it molded me into my style of writing.

As a writer, in order for me to put my best in, It has to be focused on a subject that interests me or I can understand the point of what the prompt is asking. I take out whatever is not necessary to mention and make sure that whatever the subject is can flow into the next paragraph. For my writing, I have asked my teachers in and after class how to improve my assignments and what I should consider fixing in the future. I have in the past struggled with aiding information on how I got my answer. I can easily answer a prompt yet still not mention what made me make that claim. In my last two years in high school I have for the most part developed this but aim towards improving it to the best of my abilities. I want to learn as a writer how I can make the reader better understand my subject and what I am trying to get across. I can then lead the reader to fully comprehend my writing. With thorough explanation, it will help me with my career in electrical engineering if I ever must draw schematics and explain what is happening. When dealing with electricity, an explanation of what you are working with is a parallel circuit, how many volts does it have, or what is the current.

Electrical engineering has been something I have wanted to do since I was in the eighth grade. In the past I have worked with electrical components for MTA buses and cab cars. The logical answer was to go to college and perfect my abilities as well as make even more money, since I already know most of what I’m working with. Such as I wish to perfect the other aspects of myself, either it being as a person, student or a writer. My goal is to become the person at the best of his abilities, knowing that I gave everything my all. I wish to look back into my past and see less regrets and times where I never gave it my all, to know that I did everything in my power to be the best that I can possibly be.