Personal Statement

My name is Robert Apodaca I was born in Merced, California where it usually isn't the
best unless you make the best out of it. I will graduate class of 2024. I'm the oldest son in the
family, and I make sure to hold that role and take care of my brother and make him a better me.
When I was the age of 5 my father forced me into football and to play for the El Capitan
Gauchos Youth League, I played and worked hard, and even had a good meal routine going on
at such a young age. After that first year of football had passed I was forced into another year
the next year, and that summer before was nothing but work and summer camps for a young kid
at 6 years old. The next year had come by, and I was playing for Merced Bear's youth football
this time. I knew it would be a better season, because of how much training I had had, and how
much I worked for it. In my family, it is important to do stuff on your own because my father
always told me that “ in life, nothing can ever be handed to you, you must work for it if it´s easy
then everybody will be doing it” and I always keep that in my head, when it comes down to if I
want this for my life or my future, if I want something I must go for it and that only. I feel like that
even comes down to when you want things done for someone or something, meaning if you
know you like it your way or even want it to be done a certain way then you as in yourself must
do it. I Remember to always keep this in mind because I know everything in my future will have
to be my choice and that's not only including my college choice and what school to go to, no it
means I start looking for my own house on my own, car, a new phone, and even a family to
start, all of this will be on my own so I stay strong to that. In my house its nothing but all boys in
there so everything we do is never handed to us, we always work for everything we want
meaning if you want a nice pair of shoes or something cool just to mess around outside with,
then you have to get your own butt up and look for something to start making money if you want
it. I say this because I know that now that I´m growing up in life, I will be walking into new
stages and new checkpoints and I will have to handle these situations on my very own, and I
know that I will be able to handle adulthood and go for my own job and money when needed.
get into a good college get my basics done with figure and then look around for what I want to
be in my life because you can't just stick to one thing. You could do that one job you wanted to
have and work for it and then right when you get it not like it after all, or even just say if you
wanted to try and go professional for any sport, well injuries happen and then what will you do
then after that messes your whole mentality and career up, for this reason, I do not want to just
focus on one thing right now and work on that, I want to still look for what I like and see how it is
and get a taste of it if I don't like it then I try something else simple. Also In the future, I want to
try to have a nice house with my own family and the job I love so that I won't have to want to
wake up every morning hating it and not wanting to go. I know that wherever I go I will be a
very hard worker, I´ve had a job that was a janitorial place, and I worked really hard so that I
could have that money and spend it on whatever I want whenever. There wasn´t a day I missed
nor was I late to any job sites we had, I was always there ready to work and get it done to get
that money at the end of the week. When it comes to me doing my own stuff I´m very good at
that, I rather work and do my thing and listen to music, than have my friends with me on the
same job laughing and messing around cause I'm just trying to get that money to go out with
them on weekends or even get things for my family or things I need myself. I will do well in my
future job and work very hard to achieve and get what I want in life and enjoy life as I should. I
mention all of this because I know that I will always work hard for what I want, or what I need in
life. I also want to be able to buy my very own car and even my very own house with no help
from nobody so that I can know that I did this on my own, that I never needed anybodyś's help
because I don't think I should ever depend on anyone or anything.

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

I am very good at communicating especially if I get into something I like and enjoy like
everyone should get into. I say I´m very good at communicating because I always tend
to help others if they need help on their homework, work at home, and even sports ill
help out. I also coached Merced Bears youth football team, so that´s another reason
why I would say I´m very good at communicating because I always helped the little ones
learn their positions, or what they should or should not do. I coached youth for about ¾
years and all of them were good seasons, never did we ever get blown out or had a bad
record at all, at the end of each season I grew super close to the ones I´ve coached and
when it was time for them to move up and go to high school they were all a little sad. To
this day I still keep in touch with them and teach them as much as I can still, by sending
them videos of workouts, telling them workouts i use to do, tell them what to eat, tell
them what not to eat, help them with school, and even if they want to go out to the park
and workout, iwould if im not busy. I would say i´m very good at communicating because
when there is a problem, for me i do not to try to put gas into the fire meaning to make it
worse, i will try to settle it down and understand everybodys point and meet in the middle
on it and not get into a big argument that who knows where it can lead to. I feel like a lot
of people tend to argue because they dont understand each others points especially
when what they hear or what happens, but i think if you were to communicate and talk
about what is what, then the problem will settle downor even get solved as well with that.
I say this will stand out for me as a candidate because in a job you need to communicate
no matter what job it is, you might have to communicate with one of your friends you
know so it will be nice and easy for you, then maybe one day you will have to
communicate with a person you don´t know and now your just stone cold, or even your
boss . This is why Communicating is very important in all jobs because you will have to
talk with your workers and bosses as well, and if you don´t communicate with your boss
how he wants you to, then I´m pretty sure that won´t go well at all for you and how It´s
going to be at work from then on.

2. Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this
interest inside/or outside of the classroom?

A very interesting academic interest I have would be how I much I am into space, I am
really into space because of how mesmerizing it is and the colors, and even how we
don´t even know about 5% of the moon, and that is not even including the whole entire
universe we have. Space really amazes me because mostly of how we don´t know
 about it, meaning we don´t even know if the space landing was 100% because of some
clips of certain things not doing what they're supposed to, but the galaxies as well it
shocks me how were such a tiny spect compared to all the other planets in our system
and outside our galaxy. I have a telescope at home as well I will look through it
whenever we have people over to show them how close it can get to the moon and the
stars. Another thing that really interests me about space is how some of the stars are
aligned and connected to the Greek gods, such as Hercules, his stars are aligned to be
like a stick figure with a box body. I think it is cool how they named them after the stars,
and how it matches them as well. One other thing is I wonder if there is any other planet
life out there, such as aliens or other live living beings that we don´t know about, and
what they are doing here as well as we are. My interest in space is very high, so I
decided to look into astronomy and how that would be, and that really caught my eye
because of how they study for other life and the planets as well. I really like this because
I would be doing what I like the most and finding new things nobody has ever seen, but
me first. The total years to become an astronomer is about 10 years and that includes a
master's in physical science and a doctoral degree in physics, which l said will take a
good time, but as much as I am interested in space I am willing to do it and go for it.

3. Everyone has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem-solving,
original and innovative thinking, and artistic, to name a few. Describe how you express
your creative side.

I would say that I actually am very creative when it comes to anything, such as teaching or
having fun, or even well as working. Creativity to be is like making something out of nothing,
meaning if you have a blank piece of paper then let's see what you can draw, paint, or
spraypaint it doesn't matter what it is, as long as its something is creative because at first it was
just a blank white paper. It also means to me that if you camping and you find out things to
make or even cook to live, then i would consider that as creative because like i said you just
made something when you guys have nothing. I would think my creative skill would be drawing,
working, and having fun because for one i really like drawing, I draw a lot on my notebook or
outside my notebook or even sometimes on my homework, to be honest, but never nothing bad.
Drawing to me is like just expressing your feelings on paper of you need to or even just
drawing/coloring itself seems to help me through whatever im going through. I mentioned work
as well because when it comes to work nobody wants to do it for ⅚ hours straight, so then i tend
to get creative and maybe see whoever can get it done fast and correct first or something just to
get us up and going and get our mind off of how were going to work for ⅚ hours straight.