Christain Smith '20 Recruiting Profile

Hello, my name is Christian Smith. Here's a little background information about me! Well, my full name is actually Christian Hope Collazo Rivera Smith. Yes, it’s a mouthful but that just comes with being a multicultural/multiracial kid. My mom’s family is from Puerto Rico and my dad’s family is black. Which leads to fun times and good food. One of my favorite Puerto Rican meals is chicken with rice and plantains.  Plantains are literally the best, I could eat them every day, 24/7 for the rest of my life.

A significant experience that affected my life was when I was diagnosed with dyslexia in the third grade. You might ask yourself, what is dyslexia? Dyslexia is a learning disability that affects your reading/spelling abilities due to your brain not knowing how to match the sound of the syllable to the word, so basically your brain has trouble decoding words. As a child, I would spell the word “hey” like “hay.” I would try to sound out the word, but my brain would mix up the “e” sound with the “a” sound. Fun fact, a non-dyslexic brain lights up (meaning the level of activity) in three different areas in the brain that deals with learning, processing and comprehension but in a dyslexic brain only one of the three areas lights up. When I was told that I had dyslexia, it didn’t really bother me. But when it came to school that’s when it finally hit me. I always knew that I was a smart kid, but I soon realized that I learned in a different manner than a lot of other people, which meant I had to work harder.   To help me master my learning difference, I started working with tutors that helped dyslexic kids. At first, I didn’t really like going to tutoring because it was hard work. I went to tutoring for years, and I learned important skills and techniques that have helped me throughout my daily life. One of the skills/techniques that I learned involved taking my time when I’m reading, so that I can fully understand what I read. Unfortunately, I did not have that opportunity for the SAT, so my SAT score does not represent my actual intelligence, but I feel my grades speak for themselves. I love science and STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math), and I plan to go into that field.  I want to help people.  Specifically, I want to design products that make it easier for people with mobility issues to get around.  I know what it is like to be different, and I now know that being different isn’t a bad thing. Through my struggles I have learnt that everybody is struggling in one way or another and that we as people should show more compassion towards each other.