My statement of Purpose is dedicated to the Non Profit Organization named City Year in which I aspire to be part of such an amazing organization that has helped children and their community. It consists of two well thought essays in which proves why I would be an adequate addition to the City Year Team.
Essay 1
Why do you want to become a City Year corps member?
All my life since I was a child I had a huge passion for helping others. My community was a huge influence towards my passion. Especially living in Downtown Los Angeles during the 90’s, it was very tough for me as I didn’t have older siblings to look up to. The only choices I had as a child was to either continue school, get a job or to join a gang. I was very fortunate to have my family and my community on my side to lead me to the right direction. Thanks to the support of my community and family, I was able to associate more into making a difference for the other generations to come. Now with an even stronger passion than before and being the first in my family to graduate and achieving a BA in psychology this May, I strongly believe I would make an ideal addition to City Year. I want to become a City Year member because I have the drive and experience to give back to my community and serve as an inspiration to other young children who can relate to my story. For example, going through a plethora of hardships and still being able to achieve so much in a short amount of time shows my dedication. In addition, volunteering, sharing my story with others, being a mentor, serving a community and watching it grow brings me a great gratitude. Furthermore, working previous at nonprofit organization in Monterey, gave me an essential tool that really made me incorporate to my daily life and made me want to become a member of City Year. That tool is having the ability to bring nature closer to people and people closer to nature through hands on participation in restoring our community all as one.
Essay 2
Discuss the social issue that most concerns you and the action you would take to address it.
A social issue that concerns me most is the ability to accept one another’s differences especially within young adults. Whether it be race, gender, sexual identity or just being their own individual self they get shut down. If I were to be admitted as a City Year Corps Member I would address this action by letting the kids be themselves and be as an example so they can learn to accept one another. In addition, addressing issues that they may have and serving as a peer mediator would be one of my other actions to addressing this issue. This social concerns me very much because I strongly believe that acceptance is a key factor in working with one another to help built a better and brighter community. Not only would it benefit the community but also the children to carry this wisdom with them and be able to inspire others to do the same. Growing up is a very difficult part for every young child, this is the moment where every child chooses to express themselves as an individual and sometimes due to their own individual expression they encounter prejudice which can lead to suicide and low self-esteem. I honestly think that with my experience and knowledge in the field of psychology I can shape and help others to being accepting of everyone’s differences through counseling in a more genuine setting such as the outdoors. I understand speaking to someone new can be hard to the children to feel comfortable sharing, but seeing me more as a person than a higher authority I believe they would open up and be able to feel comfortable sharing. My main objective is not to force sharing, but to make their experience in City Year enjoyable , memorable and hopefully inspirational for them.
Brian Estrada 2013 Undergraduate Psychology Capstone 