2011 Student Writing Awards Booklet - Santa Fe Community College

Personal Essay
Honorable Mention
Daniel Chavez
New Beginnings
When I was 10 years old, my parents decided to move from our
trailer in downtown El Paso,TX to Socorro,TX.There was a lot of crime
and poverty in downtown El Paso. All my friends lived in the same trailer
park that I lived in, so I hated the idea of leaving my friends and starting
new in a different place. I’d grown accustomed to the city life. Living in
the city was exciting for me, and I didn’t want to move to a hillbilly, boring,
ranch style neighborhood.There was nothing I could have said or
done to change my parents’ minds to stay where I considered home. I felt
that my parents didn’t consider my thoughts, or respect my feelings in
what I wanted or what was best for me.
Living in downtown El Paso gave me and my friends a great sense
of freedom. My friends and I became extremely close with each other
because with so many trailer parks, apartments, and residential neighborhoods
nearby, my friends and I would protect our turf.We would play tricks
and vandalize other neighborhoods, and we would certainly make sure that
wouldn’t happen to our trailer park. Sometimes we would even steal from
people’s homes or vehicles.We had access to public transportation, so we
would go to downtown businesses and vandalize those buildings too.These
types of things are what kids in the city would do for fun. Since I was the
youngest kid in our group, I was pressured to follow what the 13, 15, and
17 year old guys wanted, and that was to vandalize along with them.Those
guys made me feel like I was part of a family that respected me and my
thoughts. This is what I knew growing up in that type of environment, and
I didn’t want to change my life that I was content with.
My parents purchased half an acre of land and a double wide trailer
in the Socorro district of El Paso,TX.This district is only 20 minutes
from the edge of El Paso,TX, but in that close proximity, Socorro was isolated
from the city.There was nothing out there except for cotton fields
and acres of empty land. Every weekend my family would forcefully take
me with them to clear tumbleweeds from our land.We couldn’t move in
yet because we still needed our utility services to be connected by the district.
I had a bad attitude every time I was forced to go this desolate land.
There’s nothing out there but flat land, dirt, and tumbleweeds. Every time
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