Journalism is a career that can take a person all across the world.

It gives a person the opportunity to get out of the comfort zones and explore different cultures and aspects of life. In my opinion, diversity is the key for a journalist becoming well known. As I started learning more about cultures in high school and applied those cultures to my personality, I realized that Journalism is the right career for me. The beauty of news is that news is universal. News is broadcast all around the world for a single purpose, to inform the people what is happening and to expand a persons knowledge about different countries. Careers such as Journalism are a learning experience every day, which is the reason why Journalism interested me. A person who has inspired me to pursue a career in the field of Journalism is my mother. From my earliest memories I remember my mother coming home from work around 1:00 A.M. When she arrived home from work, I remember her making our school lunches for the next day. As a single parent, my mother has always taken very good care of my brothers and I. She sacrificed her body to work two jobs every day of week, slept five hours so that her children can have the education she never had and achieve the American Dream. Even though I live in one of the poorest and high crime neighborhoods in Houston, I have never felt poor or threaten. This is because my mom has always made sure we had a roof over our head and food on the table. I come from a family where there are 8 children. There were days where I was not able to stay after school because as one of the eight children, I had certain responsibilities back home. My mother didnt force us to do it; we did it because as her children we didnt want our mother to worry about anything such as cleaning, fixing up the house, or cooking when she came from work.

Unfortunately none of my older brothers have graduated high school or gone to college. Being the first child to graduate high school and go to four year university will set an example to my family that money shouldnt be an issue when it comes to education.

Seeing my mother work every day motivated me to do well in school. As I started high school, I joined classes such as Model United Nations, in order to learn more about the world. When my mom had a day off, we would have conversations about current events in order to recognize each others opinions. Although my mother was always working, she knew what was happening all across the world. By having those conversations about current events and seeing my mother well informed about the news, my mother drove me to become a journalist.

Since freshmen year, I have had the opportunity to learn Mandarin Chinese at school. I was really interested in Chinese Culture because my childhood revolved around watching Jackie Chan movies and other Asian martial arts movies. In my sophomore year of High School, I was given the opportunity to apply for a scholarship provided by Americans Promoting Study Abroad (APSA) to travel abroad to Beijing, China and learn Mandarin Chinese and Chinese culture. APSA is part of the 100,000 strong program proposed by President Barack Obama to promote study abroad in China. Little did I know that I that in a couple of weeks, I would be awarded the APSA scholarship and be in the other side of the world.

I never realize who I was until I went to China. It took over 7,000 miles for me to learn about myself and what I believed in. In China, I learned how to ride the subway and public transportation by myself. No one was there to hold my hand and tell me what to do. If I got lost, I asked for directions by myself. Being in China, I learned how to be independent.

The school setting of China is very different. Academics were a big part of every students life. In China, my professor often gave the students a lot of projects in a small amount of time. Thought it was stressful, I learned how to manage my time and use my time wisely. It was my responsibility to turn all assignments in on time. The fact that the professor never reminded the students when assignments were due made me pay more attention to the things he would say. Thats when I realize that being independent means being responsible, honest, attentive, and a leader.

My experiences in China made a lasting impression on me, by considering China as my permanent home in the future. I planned on living in China with a Journalism career. The obstacles I would face are the strict rules Chinas government has on the media regarding what could be said on air. The media in China and United States are completely different. In China, the government censors media in order to prevent any challenges to the political party. United States of American does not have those strict rules on the media. As I look back at my experiences in China, I recall my struggle in Tiananmen Square. As I was walking through Tiananmen Square, multiple military, police, and cameras were following me because I looked different. This did not bother me one bit because I knew how In China conformity is very common among the people. When Chinese people see a person of a different color or ethnicity, it is very likely that the Chinese people will stare due to their conform beliefs. Though these are obstacles that I might face as being a Journalist in China, the barriers does not change my mind on what I want to do for the rest of my life. Learning new languages, cultures, and breaking out of one selves comfort zones are foundations that lead to want to pursue a career as a Journalist.