Maria Delacruz

Growth Through Wisdom

Advancing to the next level as a writer has been a long and strenuous journey. Through-
out my academic life, I have had many sponsors that have served to influence my reading and
writing skills. My skills have had to continuously evolve according to the new environment in
which I am placed. It has been a strenuous journey but, throughout the years the progress that I
have made is increasingly noticeable.
During my early years I experienced many changes that influenced my reading and writ-
ing skills. I started my education at a school where the population was mainly multilingual and
the students came from similar backgrounds. Even though most of us had similar backgrounds, I
was still picked on and bullied by some of the kids in my class. The bullying definitely had an
impact not only on me personally, but in the way I performed in school as well. I went from be-
ing an extrovert to an introvert which led me to read more but i started to write in a more re-
served manor. Even after the bullying at such a young age I experienced a change in my skills
once again when I moved from a dominantly Spanish speaking city to a mostly English speaking
environment which left me feeling unsure if my skills were adequate. When I was moved to the
new school they automatically placed me in the ELD program as soon as they saw that I was
bilingual. The testing that they had me do while I was in the ELD program only made me feel
dumb because I knew the material they were testing me on and I was the only one that was taken
out of my class to take this test. My second grade teacher was the one that fought to have my
taken out of that program because she saw my potential and believed that I was too smart. She
helped raise my confidence as a student and that showed through the scores that I was receiving
in the years that followed.
Once again the start of junior high brought the need to adjust to a new environment that
left me insecure once more. I was fortunate that I had the 6th grade language arts teacher that I
did. I believe that if I had not had her my writing ability would not be where it is today. She chal-
lenged me to read at a higher level and write with more confidence which led to my skills in-
creasing significantly. She not only helped me raise my grades but my self esteem as well. She
often used constructive criticism but, she never did it in a way in which she left me feeling dumb
or as if my work was not good enough. I went through a similar experience once again with my
8th grade teacher who gave me assignments that made me think and write outside of my comfort
zone. At the time, I did not know what the reasoning behind those assignments were but I now
realize that they were meant to help prepare us for the assignments that were to come in high
school. My sophomore year in high school was the year where my writing skills really peaked
and improved the most. This time it was not my english teacher but, my history teacher that real-
ly pushed me to write in a more personal way in which the audience would be able to interact
with what I was writing. Not only did she help my writing, she also helped to build my self es-
teem which was showcased throughout my writing as I became less reserved and took bigger
chances throughout my assignments.
Now as a college student, I find myself once again trying to adapt to the new demands
that come with writing at a college level because my parents do not know what is expected of
you. Being a first generation college student, I feel as though I am going through this transition
alone. As stated in Multilingual Students and College Writing: What is a multilingual Writer?,
the language [youre] familiar with has ways of organizing and presenting information in writ-
ing that are different from typical American college-level writing. I feel as though this relates to
the trouble that I have while I write a paper because at times when I am trying to explain some-
thing, I want to use my Spanish slang. This has always been an issue that I have had but, entering
college it has been making me more anxious because I feel as though I have to prove myself
even more. I am definitely trying my best to adjust to the more formal and professional way of
writing but, I still feel as if the skills I have now are not good enough. Learning how to manage
my time and accommodate to a more demanding schedule and adjust to how long it takes to
write a good paper at a higher level is hard because I am used to only writing a paper once, edit-
ing it and turning it in. Although I do feel as if the new environment is challenging and more de-
manding than what I am used to, I come back to my roots in not feeling the burdensome stereo-
type that prevented me from putting my own touch into my writing because I am no longer one
of the only bilingual students in the class.
Although my academic journey has been a rollercoaster, I have had many sponsors that
have encouraged me to not only grow as a reader and a writer but as a person as well. Without
these sponsors I highly doubt I would have progressed as a writer to be where I am today. Al-
though I havent found where I feel I belong, I believe that throughout these next four years, I
will not only grow but find that sense of belonging that I have been searching for.