User:Kerryy

Although the story of my existence may not be considered “rags to riches,” I am living proof of the American dream. My ancestors first stepped foot in the United States over 100 years ago, with nothing but the support of the family and faith in a better life. With each little step of social improvement that the generations made, I find myself lucky to be enjoying the standard of living that they once dreamed about.

The first generation to leave the homeland was my mother’s grandparents. Her paternal grandparents came over from Naples, Italy to Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania in a ship full of livestock. Like most Italians at this time, they were escaping the poverty of Italy and searching for a better life. In the 19th century, peasants and unskilled laborers had a difficult time because the Italian government did not offer much chance for personal improvement. In addition to this, between 1870 and 1900, food production slowed creating malnutrition within the country. Neither one of my great-grandparents was able to speak English and remained illiterate throughout life. My great grandmother worked as a homemaker for her eleven children, while my great grandfather worked on the railroad. At the time, railroads offered thirteen cents an hour or $1.30 a day. Because of the small skill requirements and benefits of receiving a salary, many Italians took advantage of the railroad employment opportunities in the north.

Their youngest son was my grandpa. Unlike his parents, he was given the opportunity to complete twelve years of high school. After graduating, my grandpa joined the army where he served two years during WWII. Although he had to put his life on the line, being in the army allowed my grandpa to receive his Associates degree in construction engineering with help from the GI Bill. The GI Bill, singed on June 22, 1944 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was an attempt to provide a smooth transition into the civilian world after the separation from the service. Like my grandpa, many veterans took part in this opportunity. In the year 1947, 49% of college enrollees were Veterans. After getting his experience in the military and his education, my grandpa was 24 years old and he fell in love with my 19 year old grandma after meeting in a local bar. My grandpa went into the construction business and eventually opened up a lumber company. He was extremely successful because he earned his support from the locals and was not in competition with huge businesses that dominate the market today.

.My maternal grandma’s grandparents came over from Ireland. They, like the other two million refugees, were escaping the Irish Potato Famine. The famine began in September 1845 with a mysterious fungus on the potatoes. Winds carried the spores throughout the country, infecting even the healthy plants. With the huge dependence upon potatoes, total deaths due to the famine reached over one million. Most of the Irish immigrants did the labor of building canals, roads, and railways in contributing to the expansion of the country. My great-great grandfather found work in the mines with dynamite, while my great-great grandmother kept the house. Although things were going well for them, the fate of the next generation was not as fortunate. My grandma’s father had been killed in The Florida Keys Labor Day Hurricane of 1933 after a terrible train accident. He had been working for the government by building bridges during the depression. A few months later, my grandma’s mother lost her baby boy after an unexplained death, SIDS. The combination of both tragedies caused her to develop a mental disorder, incapable of taking care of her three children. Unfortunately, this one time practical nurse was put into a mental institution for the rest of her life.

When my grandma was five years old, she was put on a train with a sign displaying her destination to Scotland School for Veteran’s Children in Scotland, PA. She was about to reunite with her two older sisters who had left a few months prior. My grandmother spent her entire childhood at this orphanage. Her new family included the bitter old maids and the troubled youth with whom she shared the orphanage with. At the age of seventeen, my grandma graduated and left this horrible place behind. She joined her older sister who had already begun her life in the real world and worked as a hair stylist. Later, my grandma took on another work shift of making dresses in a factory in order to support her mother. After marrying my grandpa, she took on the job as a homemaker and finally had the family she never had.

My Polish great grandparents on my dad’s side both immigrated to Ellis Island in the early 1900s after realizing Poland did not offer the opportunities they thought America would bring. At the turn of the 20th century, polish immigration exploded. Imperial repression, shortage in land, and lack of employment made life too difficult to remain in Europe. With the independence of Poland after WWI, immigration slowed. However, by the 1920s, two million Poles immigrated to the United States. They searched for cultural ties among other Poles and settled in the mid-Atlantic states and New England.

On my paternal grandma’s side, her father went to work in the coal mines in Ashley, Pennsylvania, eventually working his way up to being a dynamite person. This harsh life brought about black lung from the years of inhaling coal dust. He died at a young age. While my great-grandfather was working in the mines, my great grandma raised ten children while maintaining the farm. As one of the oldest of the ten, my grandma held great responsibilities to the family. She quit school after 8th grade and worked cleaning houses to earn her family extra cash.

My paternal grandpa’s mother died of cancer when he was only seven. My great-grandfather never remarried. With the ten children in the family, two girls and eight boys, my grandfather was raised by his siblings while his father maintained a farm in Shickshinny, Pennsylvania. My grandpa went to school for eleven years in a one room school house. After school, my grandpa joined the Air Force during World War II and was a nose gunner in the “flying fortress.”

My paternal grandparents met at a church function in the 40s. My grandpa impressed my grandma with his private pilots license and used to buzz over her while she walked home. They married when she was 20 and he was 22. Early on in their marriage, my grandpa became a mason. After several years, he fell off a second floor scaffold and did major damage to his back. After surgery, he was given a wheelchair and the sad news that he would never walk again. Meanwhile, my grandma worked the night shift in a factory to support the family. Somehow, my grandpa overcame this omen and eventually walked again. He took another job as a draftsman after getting his Associates degree in Design Engineering. In 1966, my grandparents bought a farm in Shickshinny, Pennsylvania and raised cows, chickens, pigs, and their four children.

My mother was the oldest of three. She grew up in a small city in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. My mom always took studying extremely seriously and when she was seventeen, she made her way to Penn State University, where she majored in political science. Upon graduation, the only teaching jobs fell under a group of corrupt individuals. In one instance, my mom was offered a job if she left an envelope with $5,000 on the superintendent’s desk. Rather than be a part of this dishonest system, my mom went to work under her father at his Lumber Company.

My father was completely opposite of my mother. Life was all fun and games for my father. School offered a chance to terrorize teachers and socialize with friends. As the youngest of four, my father was the only sibling who was given the chance to go to college. He attended a local catholic college where he majored in business administration. Like my mother, there were no jobs available upon graduation. In 1983, there was a 9.7% unemployment rate. After working for my grandfather at the Lumber Company, he realized this was not the life he wanted to have. He joined the United States Navy in 1982 after an intensive six months of Officer Training School. Shortly after, he married my mother. The shock of the new lifestyle as part of the military was not apparent until the first assignment in Norfolk, Virginia. It was here where my dad spent 6-9 months on submarines and ships, traveling around the world. My older sister Amy was born here in 1985. Nineteen months later, while my dad was on a mission in France, I was born in Kingston, Pennsylvania. The moving was constant and we found ourselves stationed all over the nation. Throughout this time, we also expanded our family with Maria’s birth in Washington and Laura in Michigan. With my dad out to sea so often, my mother took on the job of raising us. Eventually, my father worked his way up to a point where his job allowed him to stay on land, but we still were required to move often.

Until I became a teenager, moving did not make much of a difference. I found it fun to experience different places and never had difficulty adjusting. It was not until the summer of 2001 when I really felt the difference. It was our first time overseas and we found ourselves in Rota, Spain. I had absolutely no idea what I was up against. I remember walking out the gate that separated the military base from the Spanish town experiencing a complete culture shock. Looking around I could not believe what I was seeing. Old men and women sat on benches while young people sped by on their mopeds. Stray dogs and children roamed the streets. The scenery included several bars, churches, and small stores in which only a handful of people could fit inside. I immediately stereotyped the Spanish people as pushy, loud, and lazy. It wasn’t until I had lived there for several months that I realized how mistaken my stereotypes were. I discovered that Spanish people have a different outlook on life. While I was used to people living to work, Spanish people work to live. They value time spent with their family and friends along with their religion and history. Although they are loud and sometimes pushy, they are also friendly and intimate with others. It was an amazing experience to actually get to know people of another culture.

My four years spent in Spain were the best four years of my life, full of memories and learning experiences. Not only was I able to spend time in Spain, but also other parts of Europe. I spent time in Germany and England, as well as Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and even Iceland. Being part of the Department of Defense school district allowed me to travel for sports and academic clubs. I had the opportunity to become a world traveler, witnessing other cultures first-hand. I feel this traveling has enriched my life greatly, and I have experienced something that few others will ever have.

The day after high school graduation 2005, I boarded a plane to head back to the United States. My dad got stationed in Pensacola, Florida. Just as I had experienced culture shock upon my arrival in Spain, so had I upon returning to the states. The materialism is overpowering. I remember getting lost in the mall, being overwhelmed with the selection of products in the Super Wal-Mart, and being overrun by SUVs on the road. Our way of life as Americans is so different from the Europeans. It is ironic how I feel so much respect towards the European system when my ancestors risked everything to get out of Europe to come to the United States so long ago.

As I ponder upon my existence, it leads me to think about my present and future. Here I am in the fall semester at University of Florida. My experiences thus far have been immensely different from in high school with my class of 33. However, I now find myself surrounded by a variety of people and find this very beneficial. I am majoring in nursing right now with a goal to get my masters and become a pediatric practitioner. I have always been interested in the medical field, and with the growing demand for nurses, I feel I have made the right choice. I find it difficult seeing myself in one place for the rest of my life, and therefore foresee a future of traveling. The world holds so many learning possibilities, and I want to make it my personal goal to experience as many as I can.