Autobiography


 * I was born in a small town named La Barca, located in Jalisco, Mexico. La Barca is about an hour and 20 minutes from the capital state Guadalajara. I am the third daughter of Aurelio Barajas and Maria de la Cruz Barajas. I have 7 siblings, five sisters and two half brothers. My parents migrated to the United States of America in 1991. I was only six years old when I was brought to Chicago. I had to be chased to come because I did not want to leave my great grandmother. I ran and tried to hide in the church since my great grandmother always told me church was a safe place to hide and be with god. It was hard to cope with migrating from a warm place and then to come to a cold place. It was in October of 1991 when I was first introduced to jackets and cold weather. While is was a difficult transition, I managed to get throught it because I had my family with me. Being that my native language is Spanish it was very hard to adapt to a whole new culture and language.**


 * My sisters and I attended Richard J. Daley** **elementary** **school for eight years. The school was first located on 49th and Paulina, on the south side of Chicago. The school went through some changes and a new builidng was built on 50th and Wolcott. During the openning of that school year I had the chance to meet Richard M. Daley, our mayor at that time. We had the honor to have him cut the red ribbon since the school was named after his father.**
 * In 1998, I was part of the first class to graduate from the new building**.


 * My sisters and I attended Thomas Kelly High School. I was involved in extracurricular activies like sports and organizational clubs. After Kelly I took a few years off and worked at Verizon Wireless. Thanks to Verizon Wireless benefits I was able to achieve a milestone and earn my associates degree in Paralegal from [|Northwestern College]. After graduating I became part of the Elizabeth Harrison Scholarship students at National Louis University focusing on elementary education, concentration in math.**
 * At Northwestern College I was introduced to amazing instructors that made me love education. I was introduced to the Socratic Method by Mr. Mason and Mr. Pecko. I wish public school would be able to implement this method because it helps students feel part of their education and in control. with this method students are able to feel comfortable participating in a discussion instead of sitting in a lectured classroom.**
 * In the near future I want to be able to help my commmunity and minorities. Building a workshop to tutor kids and also teach parents how to support their kids in their education. The support of parents in any childs education is critical to for them to succeed. Also, I want to give them awareness of how to save for their future and college expenses by having financial seminars. We will be offerering computer classes for adults and kids. The people conducting this seminar will be certified to do this type of training and will have experience in that area.**