Paloma Quezada

Personal Statement
Is there a limit to the sacrifices a parent would give towards their childrens education?
Seeing my parents struggle to overpass these limits, to provide my sisters and I a better
education, made me want to become successful. That is how I chose to attend Northwest Early
College High School, a high school that would have a huge effect on my future. I have adopted
certain qualities over the three years I have been at the early college including responsibility,
determination, persistence, and lots of hunger for success.
These qualities have helped me make great decisions that have paid off over time, forming who I
am today. Responsibility has helped me become more reliable which means to focus on what is
really important, my future. Determination has made sure that I accomplish everything I have set
myself to and avoid anything bringing me down. Persistence has taken a huge toll on my
personality by never allowing me to give up, I have fallen many times but always gotten back up
to continue passing any obstacles in my way. Last but not least, my hunger for success has
excessively grown since I started high school and has taken care of efficiently reinforcing these
qualities that will ensure my success will surely pay off on my journey towards college.
Freshmen year at Northwest Early College was one of the hardest I have ever gone
through. As if I didnt have much on my plate, that year I took the challenge of joining a
program at the University of Texas at El Paso that provides an academic and diversified
developmental assistance to over 150 eligible students annually, called Upward Bound. The
requirements were to attend this program the first three Saturdays of every month from October
to May all four years of high school. Upward Bound includes taking extra core-subject classes
apart from the ones you are taking at your current high school and having to pass them in order
to stay in the program. This seems like a lot of work but time goes by fast when you are having
fun and when you know that in the end it will all be worth it.
I have been through a lot these past three years of high school, including haven gotten
accepted to Junior Leadership El Paso where they pick one to four students of almost every high
school of El Paso. But I cannot continue without giving credit to a woman that has supported me
through all this journey, my mother. My mom, Marisol Quezada, graduated from The University
of Texas at El Paso with her bachelors in education in 2012, at the age of 43, while having three
young daughters, a husband, and a sick mother. She is proof that nothing can hold you back from
achieving your long-life goal and that makes her my inspiration to keep going and never give up
no matter what other people tell me, and it has worked so far.
Since I can remember, I have always felt a sense of satisfaction and relief when helping
others in physical or emotional pain. I grew up being the oldest of my siblings which is how I
believe I received the passion in caring for others needs. These experiences have led me to
consider a career in the medical field, where I can help people in my community be healthy and
enjoy life to the maximum. In March of 2016 I had the opportunity to job shadow Erika Beltran,
a Nurse Practitioner at The Pediatric Group. Unfortunately, I didn't get much of a hands-on
interaction with patients, but I got the opportunity to learn tips and tricks that can help when

diagnosing a patient. This experience made me realize that I want to work specifically with kids
and therefore become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.
I will be achieving one of my goals of obtaining my associates degree sooner than I
thought this coming fall of 2016. This will help me get started on the requirements that nursing
programs have during my second semester of senior year. I have passed all my TSI scores so I
have taken close to 14 college classes and have maintain a good grade-point-average of 3.51. I
have had many falls these past few years, but I never give up and keep getting up because as
Winston Churchill once said, Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to
continue that counts. I am nowhere close to the end of my journey, and I wont give up until I
walk across the stage and be called Dr. Quezada.