<p>Dear Parents,
I am currently at NASA SHARP and we are required to create a portfolio while we are here. I am sure that this will be very helpful when I apply to colleges next year (I am a rising Junior) and would like to do a good job on it. One of our tasks is to write a personal statement. I am not sure if I wrote mine correctly or if it should be more biographical, focused on one event, a story, etc. I would really appreciate if you guys could give me some feedback on my personal statement and maybe some tips to improve it? Thanks!</p>
<p>Determination</p>
<p>So. A little about me. I am the middle child in a wonderful family of five with a younger brother and an older sister. We live in ????(I edited out the name of my hometown to post here) which is a small suburb about 15 miles northwest of ????. </p>
<p>When I was born I had frequent ear infections that resulted in me becoming partially deaf. I could not hear and everyday was a struggle to communicate. Luckily, my mom enrolled me in a special early childhood school where I learned sign language and had intensive occupational therapy. I would go to preschool in the morning and then the early childhood center in the afternoon. Now, looking back almost 16 years, it is there that I believe my strong work ethic was first instilled in me. I learned that if I wanted to accomplish something, I was going to have to work hard for it and be determined. </p>
<p>I believe that my early childhood experiences also helped me in school. Im one of those weird kids who has always loved school. School is fun for me not only because I get to see all of my friends, but also because I really love learning. Ive always been strong in math and science, but not as much in English. I feel that what really helped me do well in elementary school was my mother. She used to home-school my sister and me during the summer, which helped a ton when I would go back to school in September. </p>
<p>But life wasnt all about academics for me. I have always been an athletic kid who enjoyed playing sports. I played soccer for seven years, and have been doing taekwondo for the last ten years. I really enjoy taekwondo and devote a lot of time to train for the sport-aspect of it. I usually train around 10-15 hours each week to work on my conditioning, speed, strength, and technique. Oftentimes it is hard to stop what I am doing and go train, but I know that all the training and sacrifices I make will eventually pay off. At tournaments I take pride in the fact that I know I trained as hard as I could for this opportunity and am well-prepared for it. Taekwondo has taken me all over the country and I travel about once a month to tournaments. My favorite place I have visited for competition was New York and I also really enjoyed New Orleans. My proudest achievement in taekwondo was when I was invited to train at the Olympic Training Center for a couple weeks. I really enjoyed the atmosphere at the Olympic Training Center because everybody was serious about his or her sport and I felt a great sense of pride knowing that we were all representing the United States.</p>
<p>In conclusion, I believe that my struggles to communicate early on in my childhood have helped to shape my character. Although many may see this as an obstacle I believe it was an obstacle with a hidden gift. By overcoming this obstacle, I was able to learn very early on that determination is necessary if you want to be successful in life.</p>