Creed

My grandpa's American dream.

By Adam from Okemos High School in Michigan

Edwin Pino, a 55 year old working man who makes an above amount of money. But how did he get here? What is his story? Everyone has a story, where they grew up, how they were treated, what they wanted to be. Everyone has a dream. Some are so passionate about their dream that they go and get it until they succeed. Some have dreams but they’re more like wishes because they don’t want it bad enough. But Edwin wasn’t a wisher.

Edwin was born in New York. Living in the city with his mom and 6 siblings wasn’t easy. Edwin grew up at a time where gangs, violence, drug were all around him. But he never gave into that nonsense, he just did what he had to do to get by. His dream was to simply get out of town and move to a nice place. A fairly simple but that didn’t mean it took any less work. Because he was Latino American Edwin had to work his way up more than a normal person. He was seen as a scrawny, short, latino kid. But he didn’t let anyone’s words stop him. He quickly showed employers his vigorous work ethic, his want for success, his knowledge, and was given respect. After some years of living in various spots in New York and having 4 children Edwin finally made the move out to Michigan for work. He has been here ever since and has achieved his simple dream of moving to good place.

Edwin achieved his American dream. Everyone’s dream is different though. That’s what makes America great. People can have different goals and anyone can reach them if they work enough. Edwin is a perfect example. He grew up with less and has a great job, while there are people who had more and have worse jobs. With enough effort and dedication anybody can achieve anything they set their mind to. The only question is, do they want it? 

Okemos High School

American Literature with Mrs. Reed

Students in American Literature in Mrs. Reed's courses

More responses from Michigan

Surprise Me

More responses about "family" and "immigration"

Surprise Me

Writing Our Future: American Creed is part of the National Writing Project’s family of youth publishing projects, all gathered under the Writing Our Future initiative.

Writing Our Future projects are designed by educators for educators and the young people they work with. Intended for use in schools, libraries, and other educational settings. All projects are COPPA compliant and educator-managed. NWP is committed to supporting young people’s writing and civic participation by providing a safe and supportive environment for youth writing, media creation, sharing, and publishing.