Sandy Padron '23 Recruiting Profile

Most essays always start with the same thing or the same question. What makes you different from everyone else? I heard this question multiple times. The stuff I may do might not seem very different from everyone but the way I accomplish them is what is different. First of all, I didn't really come from a stable household. I lived in Las Vegas for 8 years. Until my parents had lost their jobs which had made us homeless. We ended up having to move to Los Angeles with my aunt. Which already had 8 people living in the apartment. With our family of 8 we knew it was going to be tight. We had 16 people living in a two bedroom apartment with one restroom. There wasn't enough food for everyone so everyone had a small portion, we ate the same meal for weeks. Took a while for my parents to find jobs. When they did, they weren't making much money. I learned to appreciate every little thing my parents were able to get me.  Then when I started the third grade, I experienced bullying. Not only from students but from teachers. I was never put in this position before so I didn't know how to stand up for myself. I had two most traumatic experiences that still go through my head until this day. First was when I was told that students wished the school bus would crash and I'd be the only one that died. I never went on a school bus until I started high school. I was just in the third grade . Then when a teacher wouldn't let me go to the restroom she had me stand up by my seat and I couldn't hold it so  I ended up peeing myself in front of the whole class. I was called names for the longest after that and I was only 9 years old. After being bullied I had put that as my motivation because the way i see it now i learned to never let someone over power you. As of today I'm no longer being bullied. I speak up for the kids that are being bullied because I've been through it. All I needed was someone to be by my side so that's what I do for others. When I was attending school my parents knew there was something wrong. Turns out I had an IEP and what that stands for is an Individualized Education Program. The difficulties that I had were when I couldn't read a book and remember what I had just read. I couldn't pronounce certain letters in words. I struggled in math and English. I had to be my own motivator because the teachers would push me aside and didnt understand the way I learn. The one thing that kept me going and pushing through the rough times was playing soccer. I've been playing soccer for about 9 years. I self trained myself since i was 8 because i couldn't afford to be in a team. My parents were working everyday. Instead of laying around I decided to watch youtube videos and train myself. When I was about 12 I was able to join my first soccer club in AYSO. Being able to be trained by a coach really helped me improve. I've taken soccer really seriously. By the time of my 11th grade I scored more than 15 goals with an average of 12 assists  for the season. I helped my team make it to the playoffs. I had trained every day I could for hours because I knew that I wanted to go professional. I had to work the hardest to get there. I'm still training as of now because that is my dream. I've been playing forward every sense since my first soccer season. I will continue doing my best in school and soccer.