Ever PrietoINTS 4550

Spring 20152/1/15

Personal Narrative

By Ever Prieto

INTS 4550

2/1/15

Ever PrietoINTS 4550

Spring 20152/1/15

Reflection

I was eating dinner with my friends a Sunday night when my cousin, who was with me

said, “Call your brother, your parents just had a car accident”. I had left my phone charging in

the car when I went inside the restaurant where I was eating at, so I was disconnected with the

outside world. My world was just shut down in an instant. I didn’t know what was going on, I

wasn’t aware of anything and out there somehow my family was in danger. I ran to my car and

got hold of my cell phone. It had thirteen missed called and 8 text messages. I called my brother

back and he just told me “come home, it’s an emergency, our parents had a car accident in

Mexico”. He didn’t want to talk more; he didn’t say anything else just to go to his house in that

very instant. A thousand questions were running through my mind but all I could do was to drive

to my brother’s house that was 120 miles away, almost a two hour drive.

My parents had gone to Mexico that weekend because my grandpa, my mom’s Dad, was

diagnosed with cancer and got sent to the hospital. He was very sick and my mom was very sad

about that. She didn’t wanted to go to Mexico because my sister was about to be due at any

moment, since she was already 9 months pregnant of a little girl, and my mom wanted to be there

for when she went to labor. I remember talking to my mom that Friday before and convincing

her to go to Mexico and see her dad. I remember telling her “everything is going to be fine; you

can go visit my grandpa, come back, and be here for when my sister goes in for labor”. I never

imagined that God had different plans for us.

I made it home in an hour. I remember speeding the whole way wondering what had

happen and how my parents and older sister were, since she had gone with them and was also in

the car accident. It was the longest trip I had even taken. I could say I can remember every single

mile of it. I was calling everywhere and no one would tell me anything. Just that my parents and

Ever PrietoINTS 4550

Spring 20152/1/15

my sister were involved in a car accident and that my mom was in critical conditions. I didn’t

know what to think, or what to expect.

Once I got home all my family was there. I am the youngest of four and I’m the only one

single and with no kids. Everything was quite. No one said anything. My bother hug me and

said the words that I will never forget, “My mom didn’t make it”. No words can explain the

feelings, no emotions can explain how I felt, and no other even in my life had impacted me like

this had done so. My world was shattered, my heart broken and I felt like if my life had been

taken away. It was a moment I will never forget that gave my life a 360 degree turn. It was

something that I had never expected to happen. Everything in one instant had changed.

Education

Math has always been my favorite subject. And since I’m always wondering how thing

are made and what can I do to make them better is what took me to Electrical engineering. But

after my mom passed away everything changed for me. I left school for a year I wasn’t doing

great in school and I was out of the engineering program. Since I had so many credits and I

wanted to finish school and get back in the program they told me I could get a degree in

Integrative Studies. I already had a minor in Electrical engineering and I was short a class to get

a minor in Spanish so all I needed was the Integrative Study courses to get a Bachelors degree

and graduate from Texas Tech, something I and my mom had always wanted.

In every job there are requirements that you need to meet to be able to work for a

company. The same thing goes for Zachry, the company that I am working for and I want to

continue working after I graduate. My long term goal is to be an Electrical Engineer for Zachry.

Zachry is a well known Engineering firm around the world and does projects for many oil field

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companies. Since I have worked in the oil field as a labor before, I have the physical experience

needed and I know what it takes to actually put your hands on the job. I also know what’s going

on and what it takes to work in the oilfield. But we can’t run without walking first, so before I do

that I need to graduate as an Electrical Engineer and that comes after I graduate with my

Bachelors of Science in Integrative Studies in May. My three areas of concentration are

Electrical Engineering, Spanish, and Integrative Studies. With my Electrical Engineering I will

have the background knowledge that I need to work for the company. Since one of my

concentrations is Spanish, it’s a big help to get the job. There are a lot of Spanish speaking

personal working for the company and being able to understand, speak and write Spanish is a big

help. It’s a better way to communicate with the workers who don’t know English and to make

sure they understand what is going on in the work field. That is a big plus in my resume. Also,

with integrative studies I can prove that I have the skills and knowledge for career advancement.

It’s not only about getting the job you want, but to start from there and make it better as you

work your way up. Every company wants to see an advancement and wants their workers to

make the job better not only for themselves but for the company. They want the employee to

answer questions, solve problems, and address contemporary social issues from multiple

perspectives. With the concentration of Integrative Studies, it will help me to do exactly that. I

can provide the company with necessary career management skills for work place success and

the ability to work with others to solve any problem necessary. With these concentrations and

with my bachelors in Electrical Engineering, that I am planning on getting after I graduate in

may, I will be set to work for Zachry and reach my long term goal.

Ever PrietoINTS 4550

Spring 20152/1/15

Aplication

Achieving everything like you plan does not always happen. That’s why is necessary to

stop, think, and see how are you doing in everything that you had planned. It’s necessary to see

what you are doing right and what you are doing wrong. If something is not coming out like you

had planned then some things need to change. Everyone makes mistakes and that’s part of life.

If something doesn’t comes out like you wanted you can always rearrange and make changes to

your life if something is not going the right way. That’s what life is all about, to learn from your

mistakes. When things don’t come out like you wanted, then you try again, and even harder.

That’s why I’m not going to give up until I have reached both my all of my goals.

School has been a big help. It has helped me with my resume, cover letter and a lot of

information on how to interview, what to do during interviews, during meetings, and a lot of

other informational stuff. It has also helped me to go more in detail and to make sure I research

good a company before even applying or trying to work for them. It has helped me go beyond

my knowledge and take a step further in to achieving what I want. Every Integrative Study class

that I’ve taken was of big help and everything that we did was just focused on our own personal

growth rather than anything else. Not only that but it gave me information that helped me find a

job and do something that I like doing.

When I went to interview for Zachry, the company am working for, I already knew what

to do for almost everything. I started by researching the company in detail to know everything I

could about it. I went and took my resume, cover letter and reference list to see if they had any

positions available for me. Later when they called me to go interview for them, I already knew

what to do and what not do before, during, and after the interview. I had already practice the

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questions they were going to ask me, my elevator speech, and I felt pretty confident about

myself. Now that I’m working for them I thank the Integrative classes I took because everything

that I did was because I had learned it in class. Now that I’m working there I don’t only apply

my integrative study classes’ skills but also my Electrical Engineering skills. I read the

engineers schematics and thanks to my previous classes I have experience and knowledge on

that. I also use Spanish when necessary and it’s always good to be bilingual. I am not an

Electrical Engineer for them yet, but I’m on my process. Now I just need to keep on working in

achieving my school goals and that way, whenever I graduate, I will even have experience

working for Zachry as a student and it will be easy to reach my long term goal. That is to come

back to tech finish my Electrical Engineering degree and be an Electrical Engineer for Zachry

Industrial.

Connections

Nothing comes easy in life. You need to sacrifice something to obtain something better.

But sometimes life does not take you where you wanted or where you thought you would go in

the future. There are many different patterns we can take and so many routes. Things come up

that we had never expected and things happen that change your life forever. The way we address

each event and how we continue in life depends on us. There will never be an easy rout and we

have to do the best possible to accomplish our goals.

Different events have happen in my life that is a tuning position. When my mom passed

away everything went downhill. Not only did I have an irreplaceable pain in my heart but also I

tore my ACL and I needed surgery. With this I had no place for school. I needed to work and

afford my surgery and there was nothing else I could do. But I did not give up. I took all this as

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a learning experience and here I am fighting to finish my career and graduate from school like

my mom always wanted me to. I find my mom’s death as a motivation as every day when I

wake up I think of her.

When I found out that I could not get back in the engineering program I also felt

devastated. I felt like everything I had worked for was gone, since I’ve always wanted to

graduate from Texas Tech. But it’s all about not giving up. I found out that I could do

Integrative studies, get a bachelors degree on that and have the possibility of going back into the

Engineering program. I only need three more semesters to finish my Electrical Engineering

Bachelors and after all the work I’ve done I don’t see it as much and that’s what I want to do.

Right now I graduate in May with a Bachelors of Science in integrative studies with

concentration in Electrical Engineering, Spanish and Integrative Studies. After I finish that I

want to come back to tech and finish my Electrical Engineering bachelors. With this I want to be

an engineer for Zachry, the company I am currently working for.

Every event in my life has led me to where I am right now and I’m happy for it. I know I

can accomplish all my goals and be someone important in life how I’ve always dreamed before.

I’m going to be the first one in my family to graduate from college and I want to make all my

family proud. I don’t take failure as something bad; it’s more like a learning experience and

something that can make you stronger and better for the future.

Ever PrietoINTS 4550

Spring 20152/1/15

Personal Narrative Grading Rubric

CriteriaPoints

PossiblePoints Earned

General

Paper adheres to APA formatting (title page, citations, references page, etc.). This rubric pasted at the end of the assignment.

10

Writing is clear with appropriate grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Headings are appropriately labeled

10

Reflection (500 words)

Summarizes and discusses a few key decisions/choices/experiences in life.

10

Relates personal stories, in first person. 10

Education (500 words)

Discusses education journey, including degree program, 3 areas of concentration and connections.

20

Application (500 words)

Identifies thread(s) that run through life experiences, 10

Utilizes metaphor to discuss “continuity within discontinuity” 10

Connection (500 words)

Discusses future plans/next steps. 10

Provides a convincing connection between previous sections and future plans.

10

Total 100