Alyssa
Taylor: Superwoman
Alyssa Taylor is eighteen years old and
already has two jobs. She works as a lifeguard and at an non profit
organization called Publicolor. At Publicolor the workers utilize color to
advocate education in schools and community centers.After working two jobs she
attends a writing program at City College of New York. In her spare time Alyssa
is an athlete. She is a swimmer and wrestler, but her love belongs to
basketball. As I patiently wait for Alyssa I observe that she is wearing a
purple sweater and black basketball shorts. “Alright, I’m ready.” she says.
Ms.
Taylor was born in February 20, 1995 in
Methodist Hospital located in Brooklyn, NY. Her cultural background
stems from a Trinidadian mother and her father being Panamanian. As I ask her
whether she is bilingual. Her answer is immediately no and her language
preference is english. Even though she prefers to read and write in english she
still wishes that her father taught her some of his native language.
Growing
up Alyssa Taylor mainly went to schools in Brooklyn. The preschool she attended
was Helen Owen Carey. Next she attended P.S 321 The William Penn School, which
is in Park Slope. School for International Studies succeeded her previous
education at P.S 321. Alyssa Taylor’s next school that she would attend is the
Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Women. As Alyssa makes her
transition from high school student to college bound scholar she will be
attending City College of New York in the fall. During her many years of
education Alyssa has always liked to learn new things and information about
topics. She states in the interview, “ I love to learn. I have a motto that’s
try everything once because you never know what you like until you experienced
it.”
As
our interview transitions to writing my next inquiry is about her most
memorable writing experience and she answers, “Am I suppose to remember that?” An unknown male figure laughs at Alyssa’s
remark as he walks past. Once the joke has died out Alyssa takes a dramatic
pause. She stops moving in her chair and with excitement in her eyes replies, “
Oh my gosh, my college essay. Not even that, the speech I made for Publicolor
is my college essay.” She goes into
detail about how the people at Publicolor made her rewrite her speech
approximately fifteen times before submitting a final draft. While retelling
the story she moves her hands dramatically and frequently emphasis the number
of times she rewrites her speech- fifteen is really the exact number. At the sound of it I had to ask her if she
really counted the number of times she rewrote her speech. However my question
was ignored and she continues to talk about the events revolving around her
Publicolor presentation.
In
both writings she discusses how she was set apart from the rest of the people
in her school: “I was a lonely kid. I went to a school where you had to be a
follower to fit in. People didn’t like me because I didn’t want to be a
follower.” This excerpt came from Taylor’s speech and I was surprised at how
her life was before I met her. On the outside I saw Alyssa as a superwoman who
could anything; how could she possibly be a pariah if she was so
indestructible? After a hectic process of editing and rewriting a speech that
turned into an essay Alyssa was denied admission into many of the colleges she
applied to.
Publicolor
is Alyssa’s pride and joy. Before entering the program she was an outcast and
now she is a better person with the help of Publicolor. The organization paints
schools in every borough to promote education in communities. Additionally the
organization helped improve the relationship Alyssa had with her mother. In her
college essay she states, “ My mom and I have a difficult relationship...My
experiences with Publicolor helped me step outside of the problems with my
mother.” Not only does Publicolor help to improve the education system in New
York, it also repairs relationship for people too. If Alyssa did not join
Publicolor her relationship with her mother would’ve remained complicated, but
now it Alyssa and her mother are able to work out their own situations.
Although,
Alyssa’s favorite subjects are math and science she enjoys reading. Her
response to what she prefers to read is everything. If anybody recommends
something to her she reads it. Taylor’s all time favorite readings is the Divergent
series by Veronica Roth. In her opinion the series is better than another
popular series called the Hunger Games because it has more action.
Many
people may have different reasons as to why they want to go to college and
pursue what they want to do. Alyssa Taylor’s motivation to go to college comes
from her brother and sister who did not attend college. She says that her
sister did not graduate from high school, but eventually got her GED and her
brother struggled in high school.
“Seeing them struggle and living with my mom motivated me to go to
college so that I wouldn’t have to struggle.”
As
the interview comes to a close my last question to Alyssa is where does she see
herself in four years. Her response is very detailed and meaningful. She knows
that in four years her life is not going to be revolve around sitting behind a
desk at 9-5 job wearing “uptight suits” and “typing my life away.” Alyssa’s
perception of herself is wearing comfortable clothing and being active with her
hands. If someone told her to design a product she would want to have the
ability to create the product how she wants it to be. Hence why she wants to
pursue a career in mechanical engineer.
Alyssa
Taylor is not your ordinary girl. Her lifestyle is adventurous and her
appearance shows that she is a strong, independent woman who doesn’t give up.
Waking up at 3:00 A.M, juggling two jobs and a writing program exemplifies her
hunger for success and her desire to be opposite from her older
siblings.Rewriting a speech and turning it into and essay shows that Alyssa is
the is ambitious and gets the job done
no matter how many times she has to revise something. Although Alyssa writing
may not be her favorite thing to do, her passion is for math, Publicolor and
basketball. After conducting our interview she sends me a picture with a
caption that sums up everything that is important to her in her life:
This
right here is me. All of me. Everything here is something I had to work for
[and] it's what I believe in. My two blue shirts: My Jersey represents my
blood, sweat and tears not only on the court but in life, sometimes things get
rough but you gotta fight through it no matter what. My Publicolor shirt
represents my colorful side, it may be clean now but when you get ready and
life throws different colors at you, you must use them to create something beautiful. My
tools: the brush is a symbol of how I create. The calculator is a symbol of my
greatest passion which is math. The pouch is my storage mentally, physically
and emotionally it may be small but it holds a lot. The ball which is my heart,
soul and brain, without it I'd be nothing. Last but not least is Violet, the
pillow pet. I've only had her about a year but she is always by my side when I
need her [plus] she's purple. Some say materials define our generation, but
they don't. These guys just help me understand who I want to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment