Alyssa Rodriguez


UC Prompt: Describe the world you come from — for example, your family, community or school — and tell us how your world has shaped your dreams and aspirations.


My world is green and always moving, rushing, and never still, like a body of water, constantly changing. In my world, the sun is always shining, providing light, warmth, security; but this is not my world alone, it is a world to be shared. The earth is not owned but it is borrowed, to shelter us while we spend our time alive, and living; to share for our time being, but to easily give back to future generations in the same pristine condition we enjoyed it in.


I had just finished my granola bar and water, when I shoved the wrapper into the bottle, closed the cap, and tossed it into the trashcan. As I was walking back to my seat, I heard my sophomore Spanish teacher, Mrs. Hartz, say, ”It makes me so sad to see people throwing away their water bottles, when I took the time and liberty to bring in a recycle bin”. That was the moment when I became aware about our earth and what is happening to it, destroying it. Previous to this moment in time, I had an appreciation for out planet, and I enjoyed being outdoors, bird watching or simply staring into the vast blue sky. I knew that mankind was slowly destroying the earth, and that there was a problem, but I had never realized that I was a part of the problem. To me, that was a big deal and I felt horrible for carelessly throwing away water bottle after water bottle. I didn’t know any better- but now I do. Mrs. Hartz told me how a water bottle that gets put into a landfill would take up to one thousand years to decompose, and that truly is what made me want to get involved with helping the environment. The earth is not ours forever, and at some point, we give it back, so it is our job as individuals, borrowing this great planet, to take care of it, just as you would take care of a book you borrowed from your teacher.


Ever since then I have been an active and dedicated recycler, trying to do my part to save our earth, and recycling has taught me a lot that relates to life in general. In order to achieve something great and worth while, it is necessary to work extremely hard for it. Just recycling one water bottle will not save our earth or reduce my carbon footprint. Consistently recycling and spreading awareness is the only way to make an impact, and the hard work will eventually pay off. Recycling has shown me that working hard and persistently is the only way to achieve something great, and that is exactly what I intend to do.


Now that I have seen how being lazy and careless with something as insignificant as my trash, can have such a huge impact on something of extreme significance, our planet, it has shown me to be aware of all my actions, because everything I do is significant and can have an impact on someone’s life. Now that I am aware of this, I can make sure that the impact I have on others is positive, and reflect who I am as a human being.


In the future I see myself being a dedicated and disciplined student of UCR, and working tirelessly to get my Bachelor of Science and eventually becoming a pharmacist. I am going to work hard to finally be able to heal people, just as I am working hard to heal the earth. I am no Mother Theresa, but I intend to help those in need of healing, and broaden the amount of people fighting to heal the earth.


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