# of words: 526 Francisco I. Jimenez College Application/ Personal Statement 05/23/14 Prompt: Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations. As a young Mexican American adult I have experienced the best of both worlds. My parents came to America a long time ago in order to establish a good foundation for their children. When my parents first moved to San Diego they bought a house that fit their budget. They bought a home in a community called South­East San Diego, which is considered a dangerous and inferior community when in reality it is full of culture and unity. Unfortunately the schools in the community were not helping me succeed as a student, so my parents enrolled me at Our Lady of Angels, a private school I attended until the eighth grade. After eighth grade my parents chose to move to Coronado Island so that I could attend Coronado High School. My experience in the private school system is where my religious beliefs and athletic ability really began to develop. Although I had been raised a catholic before I attended the private school, I never really took the subject seriously and religion wasn't a big part of my life, but Our Lady of Angels has taught me how to get closer to God and how to love him/her for all God has done for me. Our Lady of Angels also inspired me to pursue sports, there I played flag football, basketball, and soccer. I have played sports in my yard and at clubs before, but I never played sports with so much love and excitement before I played sports in Our Lady of Angels. After I graduated from Our Lady of Angels I transferred to Coronado High School a public high school. By attending Coronado High School I was able to experience the public school setting. At Coronado High School I learned to be hardworking and determined through the sports I joined. Although I had a rough time adjusting to playing sports and doing well in school, I learned

how to overcome those problems. I did better in school by seeking tutoring and working individually with my teachers. In my first year of football I had a real tough time because I wasn't very well conditioned, it got so tough I almost quit after the first day of practice; but my mom convinced me to to continue playing because she made me realize that I will regret quitting for the rest of my life. If it wasn't for playing football, I wouldn't have learned how to deal with adversity and challenges that don't only teach what you are doing wrong but make you stronger for upcoming challenges in life. I consider my many experiences as an advantage because I am able to associate with people of diverse backgrounds. If it wasn't for my experience in a private school, public school, and sports I would not be the person and student I am today. My background as a Mexican American has also given me the opportunity to appreciate diversity.

# of words: 669 Francisco I. Jimenez College Application/ Personal Statement #2 05/23/14 Prompt: Tell us about a personal quality, talent, accomplishment, contribution or experience that is important to you. What about this quality or accomplishment makes you proud and how does it relate to the person you are? A personal accomplishment that is important to me is my senior year football season of 2013. Although the season ended up with the record of two and eight, the season taught me and my teammates how to come together as a team and as a family. Being in the football team has also taught me how to be a leader, a personal quality that I didn't know I had up to my senior year of football. Unfortunately the way I saw the football season was not the same way everyone at my school saw the football season. Friday after friday, my fellow classmates would always ask me, “Are you going to win this time”, saying it sarcastically as if they knew that we were going to lose that night, but what they didn't know was that we didn't let up in the games, especially me, even if we were down 30, we would continue playing our hearts out as if it were our last game. Coronado High School football team was never the biggest, fastest, or strongest team in the league, but we made sure to give the opposing team a dog fight especially because we had heart. An example was our game against Hilltop High School , who was ranked 1st in division two and were also expected to beat us by a lot of points, we ended up losing that game 10­0 by letting them score at the last minute of the game. Unfortunately one of our teammates, Leland Orr, father passed away causing pain not only for the son of the deceased father but also for the football team because the team was a united family and we couldn't stand seeing our brother suffer. Although the team had a tough week and a tough game coming up, we converted all the mourning and sadness into a desire to win the game for Lelands das, and so we played the

game to win and Leland played in a way that he has never played before, we ended up losing the game but they didn't score a touchdown up until the 4th quarter showing everyone that coronado high school football team is a team who will not give up, and I would not trade any of my teammates for D1 college recruited players, CIF champions, or even an NFL team because nothing can replace your family. Besides having a family, and learning how to work well with others, I also learned how to become a leader. I didn't consider myself a leader up until after the football season when my sister told me that their are two different types of leader, an onstage leader and a behind the scene leader, and she said I was the behind the scene leader. During the season I never thought about being a leader or considered being a leader, but in a way I was because I played my hardest and wanted everyone else to do their hardest and tried to find a way to do their best in a game. I also didn't want our team to let up in any game because that shows lack of heart and so I always tried to help teammates to try to keep their heads up and to continue with the game because the game is never over until the clock is set at 0. My football career will always be something that I won't forget, not only because it seemed like it was a very disappointing record, but also because it was the most successful season of my career. The Coronado High School football season showed me how to overcome adversity and win a game whether its by the score, or how you played on the field.