Finding out who I truly am as a teenager is probably one of the hardest things I have ever done. Over the past three years, my family and I were dealing with a very nasty divorce. My father had problems with alcohol and it tore my family apart. I have two older brothers and an older sister, but they are all out of the house already. I have had to see my mom go through tremendous pain, though I have supported her through everything. Coming out of those hard times, I have made a choice to become an inspiring student-athlete who is outgoing, relentless and loves spending time with the people closest to me and I am confident I can take on anything that comes my way.

I have been playing volleyball for over ten years. Growing up as an athlete, I have learned to become responsible, respectful, and learned how to really reach for the goals that I set for myself. Setting goals is something I learned from my mom. Over the past couple of years, it has been just her and me. It has been really hard but as I have come out of the experience and now realize that it has taught me how to live my life.

Starting as a freshman in high school, I became a member of multiple extracurricular activities such as: FBLA, FCA, Student Council, Bionic, and Lulac. With these clubs I have had the opportunity to put in numerous volunteer hours to help others and make a difference in my community. Lulac was the most life changing for me because I got to surround myself with other Hispanics. We openly shared our experiences and built great friendships. Only the different truly know what it is like to be different. I enjoy being Hispanic and teaching others around me about our culture, as well as learning from theirs.

Over my high school years, I have maintained a G.P.A. of a 3.7 or higher. I currently carry a 3.8 as a senior. School is very important to me and I take pride in my education. I have lettered in academics and athletics all four years of high school.

The biggest goal I have set for myself is to graduate from WSC and become a physical therapist. I plan to study sports science throughout my time at Western while being a part of the Mountaineer volleyball team. I appreciate your time reading my application and I look forward to being a part of Western next year.

Sami Fuentes

Mrs. Boresen

Expository Writing, P-4

Definition Essay

March 4^th, 2011

Pride

My mom has always been the most influential person in my life, and it means the world to me that she is very proud of me. I will never forget the first time she told me she was proud of me; it gave me an awesome feeling, a feeling I would love to feel again. As I grow older and make decisions in my life, I keep my mom in the back of my mind because knowing I will make her proud makes my life so much easier. Pride is not just something that happens; it is built over a period of time throughout life. Having pride is the state or feeling of being proud, and is also a sense of personal worth, according to (dictionary.com). It is possible for people to have pride in different matters in completely different meanings. Because pride can cause a huge reflection upon any person’s life, pride is a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, and importance(www.merriam-webster.com).

            According to word-origins.com, the original Old English noun for “pride” was pryte, a derivative of the adjective prūd “proud” (ancestor of modern English proud). The word pryte was developed into pride over time. The word prūd first applied to groups of lions in 1486, but it was not commonly used until c.1930 (dictionary.com). Pride is and was commonly used to describe what our soldiers had and have for our country; they take pride in what they do. We as citizens take pride in our soldiers, and we are very proud of them and what they have done for our country. We take pride in them because it is a very important position that they are in when on the battle field. Pride is a feeling of honor and sense personal worth.

            People may have pride in their families, and friends. Many parents take the most pride in their children. The children have the ability to make their parents very proud in what they can accomplish. Every day as the children grow older, they overcome many obstacles in their life, and as they learn and grow from these problems in their life, it makes the parents most proud. It is often heard that a parent may say, “My kids are my pride and joy,” and this means that the children bring them happiness and also that they make them very proud. The adults take most responsibility for their children, and raise them with a sense of personal worth.

            The word pride is used to describe the feeling of being proud and taking in dignity for what it is worth. In athletics pride is a very strong word used to describe what teams may have. The athletes take pride into their teammates and also their coaches. Being a part of numerous volleyball teams, I have had the chance to feel the pride of my teammates and also coaches. The past few years, my high school volleyball team has been very successful, making it to the state championships, and making it to at least the top four final teams. Over the seasons, I began to develop faith and pride in my team. We had the opportunity to spend numerous hours together learning and growing as a team. We would win together, and we would lose together. Some games we had better than others, but at the end of the day we would all take the punishment together. We learned to trust each other, and become closer even off the court. Developing pride is one of the big opportunities we had. Having pride in my teammates was one of the best feelings I have ever had. Being a senior, and one of the team captains, I was so proud of my teammates for making it as far as we did. We were one of the best teams in the whole state of Colorado. Because we performed at our best, had respect towards each other, succeeded, built great relationships for each other, and were proud of ourselves we really knew what it felt like to have pride as a team. Our coaches were very big supporters throughout our multiple seasons, and taught us what it took to succeed also developing pride from each player on the team. Our coaches were the ones to push us, to become a team of pride.

            Families and teams are not the only ones capable of having pride; teachers are also ones who take a lot of pride in what they do, and also in their students. Every year teachers get a new group of students to teach and grow with. As teachers gain a relationship with their classes they also gain respect for them. They become very proud of the students and what they accomplish by the end of the year. The students gain more knowledge, and teachers feel good about what they do. They take pride in helping, and teaching children. Since pride is a sense of personal worth the teachers feel very good in the field of education.

            It reflects on the character of a person and how much self-respect they have, and it may even say a lot about their self-esteem.(www.merriam-webster.com) Anyone can have pride, and anyone is capable of losing it. People may often say that they cannot do something because they have too much pride. When this is heard, it means that they do not want to lose the self respect, or personal worth that they have within themselves. When a person has pride it is a great deal of satisfaction. One example of someone losing pride would be to do something that they are not most proud of and to disappoint is the reason for losing pride.

          Because pride can cause a huge reflection upon any person’s life, it reflects on the character of a person. Throughout the life of a person they gain pride in themselves and others. They become very proud of what they believe in, and their pride builds on their character. The confidence of a person comes from the pride they have within themselves. The importance of pride is huge and has the ability to make or break a person’s personality. People often have pride in their culture, their race, and sometimes in their gender. Pride is a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit or superiority.(dictionary.com)

Work Cited

"Pride | Define Pride at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Free Online Dictionary for English Definitions. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pride>.

"Pride - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pride?show=0&t=1298915644>.

"Pride - Definition of Pride by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia." Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pride>.

"Pride - Word Origin and History." Word-Origins.com – History and Etymology of Words. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://www.word-origins.com/definition/pride.html>.

Definition Essay

Sami Fuentes

Mrs. Boresen

Expository Writing, P-4

Definition Essay

March 4^th, 2011

Pride

 Pride can cause a huge reflection upon any person’s life. According to dictionary.com pride high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority. Having pride is the state or feeling of being proud. It reflects on the character of a person and how much self-respect they have and even says a lot about their self-esteem. Pride is a sense of personal worth (dictionary.com). To have pride is saying that you are very proud and have confidence in what you have pride in. People can have pride on different subjects, in completely different meanings. I believe that the word pride is used mostly to describe the feeling of being proud and taking in dignity for what it’s worth.

            According to word-origins.com the original Old English noun for “pride” was pryte, a derivative of the adjective prūd “proud” (ancestor of modern English proud). The word pryte was developed into pride over time. The word prūd first applied to groups of lions in 1486, but it was not commonly used until c.1930 (dictionary.com). Pride is and was commonly used to describe what our soldiers had and have for our country; they take pride in what they do. We as citizens take pride in our soldiers. We are very proud of them and what they have done for our country. We take pride in them because it is a very important position that they are in when on the battle field. Pride is a feeling of honor and sense personal worth.

            People may have pride in their families, and friends. Many parents take the most pride in their children. The children have the ability to make their parents very proud in what they can accomplish. Every day as the children grow older they overcome many obstacles in their life, and as they learn and grow from these problems in their life, it makes the parents most proud. You may often hear a parent say my kids are my “pride and joy”, and this means that the children bring them happiness and also that they make them very proud. The adults take most responsibility for their children and they raise them with a sense of personal worth.

            In athletics pride is also very popular. The athletes take pride into their teammates and also their coaches. Being a part of numerous volleyball teams I have had the chance to feel the pride of my teammates and also coaches. The past few years, my high school volleyball team has been very successful and making it to the state championships, and making it to at least the top four final teams. Over the seasons I began to develop faith and pride in my team. We had the opportunity to spend numerous hours together learning and growing as a team. We would win together and we would lose together. Some games we had better than others, but at the end of the day we would all take the punishment together. We learned to trust each other, and become closer even off the court. Developing pride is one of the big opportunities we had. Having pride in my teammates was one of the best feelings I have ever had. Being a senior and one of the team captains, I was so proud of my teammates for making it as far as we did. We were one of the best teams in the whole state of Colorado. Because we performed at our best, had respect towards each other, succeeded, built great relationships for each other, and were proud of ourselves we really knew what it felt like to have pride as a team. Our coaches were very big supporters throughout our multiple seasons, and taught us what it took to succeed also developing pride from each player on the team. Our coaches were the ones to push us, to become a team of pride.

            Families and teams are not the only ones capable of having pride; teachers are also ones who take a lot of pride in what they do, and also in their students. Every year teachers get a new group of students to teach and grow with. As teachers gain a relationship with their classes they also gain respect from them. They become very proud of the students and what they accomplish by the end of the year. The students become smarter, and teachers feel good about what they do. They take pride in helping, and teaching children. Since pride is a sense of personal worth the teachers feel very good in the field of education.

            Anyone can have pride, and anyone is capable of losing pride. You might often hear people say that they cannot do something because they have too much pride. When you hear this, it means that they do not want to lose the self respect, or personal worth that they have with themselves. When a person has pride it is a great deal of satisfaction. One example of someone losing pride would be to do something that they are not most proud of and to disappoint is the reason for losing pride.

          Pride is a big reflection upon the life of a person. Throughout the life of a person they gain pride in themselves and others. They become very proud of what they believe in, and their pride builds on their character. The confidence of a person comes from the pride they have within themselves. The importance of pride is huge and has the ability to make or break a person’s personality. People often have pride in their culture, their race, and sometimes in their gender. Pride is a high or inordinate opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit or superiority.(dictionary.com)

Work Cited

"Pride | Define Pride at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com | Free Online Dictionary for English Definitions. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pride>.

"Pride - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary." Dictionary and Thesaurus - Merriam-Webster Online. Web. 28 Feb. 2011. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pride?show=0&t=1298915644>.

"Pride - Definition of Pride by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia." Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pride>.

"Pride - Word Origin and History." Word-Origins.com – History and Etymology of Words. Web. 25 Feb. 2011. <http://www.word-origins.com/definition/pride.html>.