UC Personal Statements:
Prompt #1 (freshman applicants)
Who is Leo James Fahmie? I am Leo Fahmie, a seventeen year old student at El Segundo High School and the only son in a family of four. I play on the varsity football and baseball teams and sports is my passion. El Segundo High School is a small public school located right next to Los Angeles International Airport and the campus is all brick and beautiful. The movie industry has taken a liking to the school and it has appeared on many movies including Super Bad. El Segundo is a closely knit community where rumors and information spread like a wild fire. I do not live in El Segundo, but I live just out of town. My family consists of my mom, my dad, my sister Nicole, and me. My sister is twenty-three and she has shaped me to become the person I am today.
My sister Nicole is has helped to shape who I am because she has a disability. My sister has cerebral palsy and lives a very difficult life. She cannot walk on her own without any assistance. She never was given the chance to attend a University and that is one of the reasons I want to attend one so badly. Everyday she has to fight obstacles such as getting dressed in the morning and having to navigate around a city without handicap accessible sidewalks. Nicole cannot walk so she uses an electric wheelchair. Everyday when I see my sister wake up and work as hard as she does just to achieve life’s simple tasks, it motivates me to work hard in everything I do. If someone who cannot walk or put on their shoes by themselves can wake up every morning with a smile on her face and a good attitude, then we all should be able to. Through the years of helping my sister get dressed and make her food, I have learned how good it feels to help some out. Nicole has taught me to approach life with a positive attitude and to never give up. If she can succeed at getting on a shirt after 5 tries, then if I fail at something at first, I’ve learned to keep trying. If I go into the football weight room after practice and try to bench 185 lbs and cannot do it, I’ll keep trying until I succeed. Sometimes it may seem like I’m the older sibling because my sister needs help with everyday tasks, but I look up to my sister and she has helped shape who I have become.
Living in a town with no handicap sidewalks is a hard place to live if someone’s only form of transportation is using a wheelchair. A few years ago, the streets around my house in Westchester, California were not handicap accessible. It is not a huge problem for me because I can walk, but it was one for my sister. My sister Nicole is twenty-three, has cerebral palsy, and gets around using an electric wheelchair. A couple years ago, all the streets around my house did not have handicap accessible curbs. Nicole was limited to staying home or waiting for my mom to come home and give her a ride somewhere. She could not get over to the bus stop or anything.
For months my sister and my mom sent in requests to have the city come and fix the burbs. After over a year of the city ignoring the issue, my sister filed a civil lawsuit. She filed the lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles for not replying to her request and because they did not take action. The very next Monday while I was driving to school, workers were at every corner marking up the sidewalks to be fixed. Within a two day period, workers were out and starting to construct accessible curbs. I could not believe how my sister had requested the fix for a while, and they did not respond until she filed a lawsuit. This incident has changed my whole perspective on what I wanted to become in the future. Before the curb problem, I had no idea what I wanted to become, but after it I knew what I wanted to become a lawyer. I want to become a lawyer because I do not want to see someone treated unfairly like my sister was. She spent months waiting for the city to respond and they never did. She had to do something radical for their response. I want to become a lawyer and fight for what is right. My mom works in a law firm at Mattel so I have a little bit of prior knowledge. My whole life I have been gifted with athletic abilities, but I know that I am not going to be a professional athlete. With my love for sports and my drive to become a lawyer, I would like to become a sports attorney or an agent. Today the curbs are completed and my sister can get all around town. From that one incident, I now know what I want to become in the future. Fighting for the rights of people in need is what I plan on doing. I do not want to see another person mistreated like my sister was and when I become a lawyer I will make sure it does not happen again.