My Role Model

When I think of the word role model, I think of someone I can aspire to be, someone who is intelligent, a philanthropist, and a Good Samaritan. At first, deciding who my role model would be was a very challenging process. There are so many prominent and intelligent people that I look up to but nobody inspires me more than my sister, Jessica.

Jessica Alvarado, the middle child of my family, was born on June 28, 1983 in Dallas, Texas. As a newborn, she spent five months in the hospital due to a birth defect, Spina Bifida. It is when the embryonic neural tube incompletely closes causing the spinal cord not to form completely. Many doctors have performed numerous surgeries to attempt to fix this defect but none of them were successful. This birth defect left her with many complications such as being unable to walk properly due to leg weakness and unable to grow to her potential height due to the gap in her spine being stapled down.

Ever since I can remember, education has always been a big part of my sister’s life. Before I even started school, she would teach me all she could. She always used to tell me, “Education is the key to success.” Throughout my middle school and high school career, she was always the only one helping me with my homework or just to study for tests and quizzes. She is always trying to learn something new or teaching other people. I know how hard she applies herself to her studies and how much she strives for perfection in everything that she does.

Due to her disability, Jessica had to switch schools to find the one that could accommodate all her needs. My parents finally found one that was suitable for her, Arlington Talented and Gifted Academy. The teachers went out of their way for her doing everything that they could. All of the students accepted her for who she is and did not just judge her or criticize her for her disability. She was able to adjust to the new environment and succeed academically. There, she graduated at the top of her class.

For high school, Jessica attended Tyler Street Christian Academy. This school was the perfect place for her. They made several changes to it to make all of the buildings handicap accessible for her. This was a very significant and stressful time in her life. Fortunately, she was a member of this scholarly group, Project Tomorrow, with the Salvation Army which paid for all of her tuition and anything else that she needed academically. When the Salvation Army had major Regional conferences once a year, Jessica was always asked to make a speech because she was elected as the President of Project Tomorrow. Many important and well-known people attended these conferences such as Barbara Bush and Laura Bush and she even had the opportunity to meet all of them. All of these speeches helped her to increase important communication skills, learn time management, and to be more responsible as a leader.

During her Junior Year of high school, Jessica started getting severe headaches due to the poor development of her brain and spine. She was forced to have major surgery to get a shunt installed in her brain causing her to be absent from school for 2 months. Even though she was sick in a hospital bed, she continued doing the work she missed so that she wouldn’t fall behind. Despite her lack of involvement in extracurricular activities due to frequent absences, she still found a way to interact with the whole student body by being friendly to everyone that she met. I admire her determination. It takes someone very strong to do something like that. Most people would have just given up on school and felt sorry for themselves but Jessica never thought that way. She felt that school was way more important and that she should not let her illness affect her. She still managed to graduate with honors in the top ten percent of her senior class.

After high school, my sister decided to stay close to home and go to a community college, El Centro. She graduated from there with two Associate degrees in Social Work and Business. She became a member of the Honor Society. This was just the beginning of her college career. Jessica just didn’t stop there. She wanted to further her education at a university.

She decided to attend The University of Texas at Arlington which is also close to home. She is currently working on her Bachelors degree in Social Work. Jessica just recently started her internship at Glenhaven Adoption Center. At the center, she talks to families to help them in any way that she can. At U.T.A, the role of reading and writing really comes into play. Jessica decided to join the school’s newspaper, The Shorthorn, as a co-columnist her first year there but she later had to give up that position because of her disease, Hepatitis B, caused by an infected needle. This disease caused her to be deathly ill. Doctors told us that she had cirrhosis of the liver which then caused her liver to fail. It was horrible and heartbreaking to have watched my sister suffer like that everyday. Nurses had to come to our house once a week for her injections. These shots made her feel weak and gave her headaches No matter how bad she felt, she made herself go to class and finish her homework. I could never do that. I want to have the perseverance she has and the ability to not let things bring you down. She plans to graduate this spring and continue to Graduate School at the University of Texas at Arlington for her Masters degree in Social Work.

Jessica has many characteristics that I would like to emulate. She is the most determined, outgoing, intelligent person that I have ever met. She never gives up on anything that she does no matter how challenging it may be. I admire Jessica’s determination to overcome all the obstacles that come her way. My sister is also a very extrovert person. She will talk to everyone even if she doesn’t know them. She gives everyone she meets a sense of joy. Even though she would miss days and sometimes even months of school, she has been able to maintain a 4.0 grade point average throughout her school career.

There are certainly many things that my sister has accomplished that I admire and truly inspire me. Her speeches at the Salvation Army Regional Conferences were so well prepared and presented. So many people were shocked and impressed by those speeches and that is an amazing effect to have on people when you are only in high school. Other than her amazing communicative skills, I admire my sister’s religious devotion. Jessica has made a commitment to go to Church every Sunday and Wednesday. She also makes time to do community service with her Church practically everyday no matter how large the amount of homework she might have. I hope to commit myself as much as my sister does to community service.

As a leader, my sister is very successful. Golemanetal says, “Gifted leadership occurs where heart and head-feeling and thought-meet. These are the two wings that allow a leader to soar” (62). Jessica has always had a special way with people. She is able to be sympathetic and relate to people without a problem. She also is able to think ahead and organize events. She makes sure that people do what is required of them but does not take advantage of that power.

It’s funny, my mom always tells my sister how she should be more like me but if she only knew that I have always wanted to be more like her. Jessica has always been the one person out of everyone in my life that is always there for me and I can always count on. Anything that I need, she tries her hardest to do what she can. She always stays optimistic and makes me think that way too. Someone that can overcome the obstacles that have crossed her path is someone that I consider a role model. I am lucky to have a sister like that who I can look up to and strive to be more like her.