DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

My name is Daniel Familia and I am a student at LaGuardia Community College. I am a Liberal Arts: Social Science and Humanities major, pursuing an Associate’s degree with a concentration in Language (Spanish and Portuguese) & Latino and Latin American Studies and Literatures.

 

Born in the Dominican Republic, raised in The Bronx, living in two cultures, and able to juggle both, I migrated here with less than a year of age. Therefore America has been the home of my memories, but the Dominican Republic is  where my dreams live. Being an immigrant; now an American citizen brings many challenges, a new way of thinking, and adaptation, overall; trans-cultural identity. I grew up in a house hold of monolingual Spanish speaking parents and family members. That being said English was my second language. Simple things such as doing my homework required much effort. Not only did I have to do it myself but I had to understand what was being said because it was in English. Long phone calls to cousins or Sunday church gatherings were used to do my homework. I dictated letter by letter and than thought it through; nothing easy. Today being completely bilingual I am able to do my homework but I still see many in my family and community not doing their homework. The struggles that I faced as a child are what inspire me today to educate myself and promote education. These set backs that I have gone through in life have enabled me to think differently. They have shaped me into the person I am today. Language is a recurring theme in my life, and I want to work with urban-lower class-disenfranchised minority children and teenagers in an educational setting to provide them with the support and resources that I did not have in school as a child. This is why I am majoring in Language (Spanish and Portuguese) & Latino and Latin American Studies and Literatures, to better understand the Latino community in the United States.  

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.