My name is Arianna Nicole Rodriguez. I was born on October 18th at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. I spent the first few years of my life in an apartment in Richmond Hill. After that I moved around quite a lot but always stayed in Queens. My first language was Spanish and for most of my childhood through my adult life I went back and forth between New York and Puerto Rico. It wasn't until I started pre-K that I began to learn English in the ESL classes that my school provided. It was very hard for me to learn how to spell and be grammatically correct but I was able to overcome those difficulties and believe that I can now speak English very well. 

     Being Puerto Rican, I was fully immersed in my heritage. I was always surrounded by Puerto Rican flags and would watch or go to the parade every year. I always celebrate Three Kings Day as my Christmas and make pastels for New Year’s. On my farm in Puerto Rico I would help take care of the pigs and chickens that would eventually become Thanksgiving dinner and never forgot to visit the rain forest before I went back to New York. Puerto Rico is a beautiful island with many places to explore and rich in history. Every time I go I am constantly learning something new about my island and about my ancestors which have paved the way for me to be who I am today.

     At three years old my mother enrolled me in ballet classes and I fell in love. As I got more involved in ballet, I decided I wanted to dance competitively. I enrolled in more classes such as; Pointe, Acrobatics, Jazz, Tap, Hip-hop, and Lyrical. I started out competing with my team and as I developed and honed in on my skills, I started to compete as a solo dancer. By the time I retired my pointe shoes at 18 years old I had won numerous metals and trophies in first, second, and third place. I had also done performances at Lincoln Center and had been given the amazing opportunity to attend dance clinics at The School of American Ballet Academy and with the Alvin Ailey dance company. These are experiences that have forever changed my life, and shaped my skills as a ballet dancer. To this day I still dance, because it is something that is in my blood, but not nearly as much as I used to. I retired at 18 years old because at that age you are no longer allowed to place in competition in order to give the younger dancers a chance to achieve trophies and medals. Dancing is something that I hold dear to my heart and that will forever be a part of me.

     Other activities that have a place in my heart are mixed martial arts and softball. I began to study mixed martial arts, specifically Jeet Kun Do, when I was 13 years old and at 18 received my junior black belt with a degree in weaponry. This was one of the hardest things I have ever done and one of my greatest achievements. I still practice mixed martial arts and am working on obtaining my first degree black belt not only in Jeet Kun Do but in Wing Chun as well. As for softball, I played all throughout high school on my school's team and got drafted for the college league at my previous school. I still play today on an adult traveling league playing multiple positions, such as pitcher, catcher, and right field. Softball is something I love to do and will continue to do until I am too old to play.

      Before attending LaGuardia Community College I attended Long Island University: CW Post Campus. I had gone there because upon graduating high school I received a half scholarship to that school and they had a good softball team. But over the years the tuition kept increasing and unfortunately my scholarship did not, so I had to transfer. I chose LaGuardia because it was close to home and had a flexible enough schedule to allow me to work full-time and be a full-time student. It was also a lot more financially affordable then most universities, which was another reason why I decided to go here. I transferred in almost 30 credits, which is about halfway to my associates degree as a History major. I am graduating this semester and am excited to see what my next school has in store for me and am hoping to bring my Greek organization, Sigma Delta Phi Epsilon Incorporated, onto whichever campus I attend in the near future.

     By the year 2024, I expect a lot from myself. I expect to be finished or at least finishing my master's in secondary special education so that I can go on to my career as a high school history teacher for kids with special needs. I also expect myself to be fully financially independent and hopefully engaged because I want to get married young in order to have more time with my kids. I expect that my little brother will be graduating from high school, as well as the other one graduating college. I hope by this time that I have been able to start traveling the world and experiencing new things, places, and people. I hope to add on more tattoos to myself while still keeping them classy and not visible while I wear professional attire. And nonetheless, I hope to continue to be a good person and always stay true to myself.

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