Valery Delgado

871 East 179th Street

Bronx, NY

 

September 6, 2018

 

Dear Professor Von Uhl,

 

I was raised in San Jose, Costa Rica a beautiful country everyone communicated in Spanish. From “hola” and “adios”, to “buenos dias” and “buenas noches”, these small simple gestures that I learned through my native language had very special meaning. It demonstrated respect, humility and harmony but all of that changed when I had to move to the United States. The simple gestures that had easily come to me, has now left my grasp and now I am lost in this vast new world. The sound of voices and the arrangements of letters laid before with such complexity it was beyond my comprehension.

 

Although a difficult and strenuous journey, when I grasped the English language I was able to deeply connect with my diverse community. Indeed, a diverse team is needed to collaborate and facilitate in the quest for knowledge. I am privileged to live in one of the most beloved cities in the world. New York is rich in diversity with cultural backgrounds among the population that can lead to a melting pot of creativity and innovation. I can think of no better community whose progressive development has not only helped our society advance forward but provide a lifetime of learning with limitless academic resources to choose from. I am truly grateful and privileged to live the American Dream.

 

In the vast field of science, those who question the unknown and seek to understand the world around us can present ideas not yet discovered. As a child, I would look into the night sky admiring the passing stars, wondering what goes beyond this planet. Mother Nature has so many wonders yet to be discovered, such mysterious ignited my passion for science at a young age. However, death is inevitable as I have lost loved ones to cancer. It was a tragic and emotional event as my mother had to deal with it personally and I was too young to cope with the concept of death and sorrow. Witnessing the destructive path created by cancer has motivated me to pursue a career in medicine. This opportunity will be my personal incentive to collaborate and attend to those individuals who are struggling and continue to fight.

 

From the characteristics that bind molecules in organic chemistry to the foundations of living cells in biology, further understanding of such concepts will help me pursue a career as physician assistant. This passion for science has ignited my interest into the STEM field. However, I was inspired by many influential scientific women of the time, that partook on such fascinating phenomena. Marie Curie made contributions by discovering the elements radium and polonium and Rosalind Franklin presenting the structure of DNA as a double helix. These were women that had contributed in a predominantly male field. It amazes me how much women have progressed in society throughout history.

 

Women were finally allowed to break away from the restrictions of a stereotypical role of just being a homemaker. However, there is still a gender bias women face in our current modern society. Women only compose approximately 30% of all STEM careers and that number becomes significantly smaller among African American and Hispanic females. For minority students, there are programs that introduce them to STEM based careers. However, minorities lack the educational resources to obtain information necessary for their intended career. The lack of academic enrichment and public safety awareness, leads to adolescents to make the wrong decisions. Without proper guidance, they easily become astray leading to higher crimes rates and drug abuse at a young age. As a society, we should take responsibility and guide our children. The children are the hope for our future, we can not let them perish into a life of ignorance, violence and prejudice.

 

As a social scientist, I’m excited to share my perspective about societal issues. The aspect with this course is to be able to have an open discussion. I feel that it would allow for an interactive education among the students and the professor. By having a small class, it establishes an environment that develops critical thinking and intellectual skills. I’m happy that this course would be a judgment free zone that allows any topic to be discussed even if it’s controversial. I would love to provide input of how doctor prescribing medicine has lead to an opioid epidemic. Which is ironic considering that fact that these prescriptions are suppose to help not worsen your health. And I would hopefully get the chance to speak about abortion, I feel that women should have the choice of whether or not they want to keep the child. I would love to see how all these concepts interconnect with other notion throughout the discussion.

 

However, I am scared that my opinion might offended individuals. When I have an idea in my mind, I just say what I think without considering how others might feel. Also, I’m anxious about sensitive topics we will be discussing in the future. While, I have an open mind and it’s great to learn a variety of ideologies, hopefully the material is not to overly sensitive that it makes the mood uncomfortable. Overall, it’s fascinating to see society progress and changing. Is part of humanity to always evolve to adapt to the the world we are living in.

 

Sincerely,

Valery Delgado