Personal Statement

Since a very young age I was interested on building stuff related to technology and the
human body. When I was 12 years old, I built a mechanism for a prosthetic hand using strings,
aluminum rings, ice cream sticks and wires. It worked so well that my teacher took me with
other 2 students to the director’s office to present what we did and they offered me to take
special classes related to biology and technology, without knowing that later on I would be
interested on what is biomedical engineering.
I am someone who is not afraid of changes, one being that I have changed schools for my
better education, I have been in a private school which I have been an outstanding student.
During my elementary years I have received honorary diplomas through first grade to fourth
grade and sixth grade. I have had a lot of interest in math and chemistry, but I especially had
interest on the body structure and I used to compare it with machines, especially robots. I have
passed through a very hard transition which was changing to a bilingual school. This meant I had
to learn a new language and start all over again. I firs learned in an institute called “EBI.” There I
met 2 American teachers and my Bolivian teacher who helped me speak the language. After so
much hard work I can proudly say that I am bilingual. Thanks to my father and grand-father I
also know how to speak some Portuguese.
In my current school I have been in the honor roll for three consecutive years despite the
challenge of learning a new language and adapting to the school’s requirements. Apart from my
ability of learning a new language I have skills for mathematics, physics and chemistry, in school
these are the subjects that I most enjoy besides biology. I was also part of the NHS and NHS
council. For my last year I was elected class president for my class.
Some of my hobbies are sports and music. I have been part of taekwondo, baseball,
basketball, soccer and volleyball teams. In which I have being an outstanding athlete. I have
represented my school in the official soccer and volleyball team as well as my city in national
baseball tournaments for 8 years. From these teams I have learned respect, teamwork, patience
and helping others.
For me music is a very essential part of my life. I learned to sing since a very young age
and I play 8 instruments. I was lead tenor voice in my school choir and when I changed school, I
joined the worship team.
At my local church I am a leader for the youth group and part of the worship ministry. I
have also traveled to different missionary trips where I got to learn about the reality of people
outside the city and rural places. I learned to teach almost all subjects from math to spanish. I
have also done the military service for my country while I was still at school as a benefit for my
academic grades.
Besides the opportunities, money is a limiting factor for me and my family but I have an
opportunity to apply to college out of my country and I always wanted to take advantage of
every opportunity I have. I don’t have much to lose but much to win and achieve. I refuse to be
mediocre and wait to see if someone else gets out of the country. I want to be the one achieving
it. Going to another country to work on what I want and not only live there but also stand out is
something I want to do.
The idea of leaving everything I know to learn about machines that make processes to
treat deadly diseases, instruments for surgery, or even get to invent a new instrument for
medicine sounds like a dream to me, but the first step is being accepted in college to study
biomedical engineering.