I deeply believe that we can achieve our dreams and goals with hard work and determination. Even though difficulties appear in our lives leading to complicated decision making, we often turn all these moments of adversity into simple challenges. The support from our family and our inner strength are fundamental in overcoming adversity. For this reason, our values, lessons learned, and elements that constitute our integrity are part of the core that we must strengthen for our future. Being born in Colombia has allowed me to see and experience incredible things, and despite all these wonderful things, Colombia presents many limitations and a lack of opportunities for the new generations. Through the years, I created an invisible wall in my mind that did not allow me to see the full picture of where I wanted to go encapsulating my goals and aspirations. However, everything changed when a possibility of moving to the United States showed up giving my family the chance to create a new life in a new country.
Ever since I was born, I have always been a person who pays attention to the details of life and what surrounds me. I find a certain fascination in the way in which we can perceive time through the changes that occur in our immediate environment. As the years go by, I have seen the world changing rapidly around me. It is so fast that sometimes it is difficult for me to adapt to the new changes. However, the reality is that we live in a time of constant change, evolving and adapting to everything that surrounds us. The moment I set foot on the soil of the United States being ready to create a new history in my life, I was faced with a very different reality from what I had in Colombia, I had to completely restructure myself to adapt to a new culture and society, feeling like a stranger in an environment that waits for no one. I had to grow much faster and learn many new things that I never
thought of doing for myself, which helped me realize my abilities and ambitions for the long journey ahead of me.
I had already visited the United States when I was little but this time it was different. I didn't see things through the eyes of a tourist but rather as someone who must deal with the challenges of everyday life. But despite all this, something that left me dazzled was the incredible architecture and complex infrastructure that I found. In Colombia, I was already used to seeing patterns, and ways of constructing buildings and designing spaces in a certain way, but when I arrived to the United States, I discovered a new world of possibilities. After visiting big cities, walk through beautiful parks and public spaces, and learning about the history linked to different emblematic buildings, I couldn't be happier with my decision to move to the United States. Now I could live and experience a new architecture in a completely different way.
For me, architecture is the clearest example of how great the history of humanity can be. The buildings and constructions from the past can tell us a lot about the culture and society of a time in many ways. Experiencing spaces with good architecture in Colombia, seeing its influence in cities and communities and learning about its effect on people led me to my desire to be an architect. Although I had completed a few years of university in architecture in Colombia, I had to pause my education in the United States to support my family obligations and household expenses. As a result, this generated lots of doubts, uncertainty and made me feel like I wasn’t ready for what awaits ahead. As time passed by, I was able to overcome the uncertainty by adapting to my environment, managing my time, and
surrounding myself with the right support group which were very helpful with my academic goals of being an architect and having financial stability.
Given the opportunity to continue my academic journey at Jefferson University, would allow me to obtain my academic and personal goals. I think that I can have the necessary tools to unleash my potential and be able to capture all the ideas I have in my head which I want to show to everyone. I trust that with dedication, hard work, and passion, I can go far in my life. At this moment, I feel in my heart I am progressing towards my goals, and I want to keep moving forward until I get to where I want to be. Since I immigrated to the United States, I have learned many invaluable lessons which, although some were not very pleasant, have strengthened me and made me grow enormously. but deeply believe that I can achieve my dreams and goals by overcoming adversity through perseverance.