Kelsey Cha

Ramirez
Period 4
September 20, 2018
Personal Statement

1. Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively

influenced other, help resolve dispute or contributed to groups efforts over time?

Being the second oldest girl in the family, I take on important roles at home. I have many
responsibilities from doing chores to taking care of the family. I also cook lunch for my dad and
brother to take to work. I take care of my younger sibling and make sure they have everything
they need. I’m not only a leader at home but also at school. From when I was little I remember
always helping my friends. At school, my friends rely on me to help them get through what they
need help on from homework to personal problems. When my friends are having a hard time I
try my best to show them affection and help them through it. Besides school and home, I was in
charge of a flower and strawberry stand that my grandparents had when I was in middle school. I
would sell flower and strawberries that they grew themselves in their backyard. I also remember
going to flea markets with them to sell. After learning from them I would sell strawberries and
flowers on my own in front of my house. Being a leader help me get over the fear of talking to
people. I remember when I was little, I didn't like talking to people but after realizing I can help
them, I started opening up more. As of now I still like helping and being a leader. It makes me
feel good about myself because I am showing an example to my younger sisters and other people
who are younger than me. I want them to know that being a leader is not a bad thing and is not a
scary thing helping other people or events. I want people to remember me as a leader who likes
helping and taking care of people.

3. What would you say is your greatest talents or skill? How have you developed and
demonstrated that talent over time?

I have many skills that I am proud of. I have many personal skills like responsibility. I am
proud of being responsible because when I have something that needs to be done then I take my
time to finish it. I am also responsible at home because I take care of my family. I also have
friendship skills. My friendship skill allows me to have friends and be more open to people. I am
proud of this skill because I can be friendly to those people who don’t have friends and let them
hang out with me. With my friendship skill, I can help my friends when they need help with
schoolwork or personal problems. I also have team building skill like respect and sharing. My
respect skills let me respect other people property and opinions. With respect, I show people that
I have respect for what they have to say and I also respect their things. With the sharing skills, it
allows me to share my opinions. Sharing is a good thing because it allows other to hear what
you have to say and allows other to learn different things from other people. I would say I also
have parenting skill because I learned everything from my parents. I developed my parenting
skills from babysitting my little sister and younger cousin. I started my parenting skills at the
age of 12. At 12 years old I learned how to take care of my baby sister and then the skill just
grew from there. My parenting skill has improved a lot because over the years I babysitted more
of my younger cousins until they were the age of 4 or 5. In the end, I am proud of all my skill I
have and I try my best to use all of them when they are needed and learn more as I am still
developing.

5. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced and the step you have taken to
overcome this challenge? How has this challenge affected your academic achievements?

One of the challenges I faced was opening up to people. When I was younger I never liked
talking to people and I always like keeping thing to myself. I remember when people would talk
to me I would just nod my head. I didn’t make a lot of friends because I was always quiet. I
didn’t like working in groups because I didn’t like to talk. Being quiet didn't help me with group
projects because people wouldn’t want me in their group of they would not ask me so I would
just work by myself. As I got to the 4th grade I started to open a little more by making friends
and letting people know who I was. I was still a little quiet because I still had trouble trusting
people. As middle school came along I made more friends and had the greatest middle school
year ever. I was talking to a lot of my friend and peers. I was still a little shy but I got over it
when I knew and trusted the person. As for group projects, I loved doing them in middle school
because I got to know more people in the class and I got to know more people in the class and I
got to hear other people opinions and how they work. I would also work with some of my
friends because they would ask me to join them. Going on to high school I kinda gain the
quietness back because I moved from Washington to California, which I didn't know anyone in
California. During freshmen year of high school, I was really quiet and I didn’t make a lot of
friends. For sophomore year I made little friends. These friends had the same interest as me so
started to hang out with them. As time went by my shyness went away and I was making more
friends. Junior and senior year, I made more friends over the year and I am as talkative as ever.
As of now, I think I am as happy as I can be.

8. Beyond what has already been shared in your application, what do you believe makes
you stand out as a strong candidate for admissions to the University of California?

In my family, I am going to be the first one to go to college. My grandparents, both my parents

and my brother didn’t go to college. I chose to go to college because I want to make my parents
proud of me. I also want to go to college so my parents can tell people that they have a child that
went to college. My parents went through a lot of other people bragging about their child going
to college so I want my parents to show these people that I am going to college. As of being the
first to go to college, I want to set an example for my younger siblings and cousins. I want them
to see from me that college is not a bad thing and they should go for it too. I also want to go to
college to gain more knowledge on the subject I haven’t learned. I also want to meet and learn
from other students and see their opinions on things. I would like to meet new teachers and see
what learning skills they use and how they help other students. I want to know new friends and
get over my fear of talking to people. Going to college would e the greatest thing that happens to
me because then I can show it to other people that I am going to college. College is like a huge
thing in my family. My parents and grandparents would always remind me to make sure to go to
college because they didn't get to go. They don’t want me to be like them. I am also going
because my grandparents would compare me to other kids so I want to show them that I am not
like them. So I, Kelsey Cha, feel like I am a great candidate.