- 2020 Highlights
Personal Statement
My name is Marc Bruno and I am a 17-year-old Haitian American from Flatbush, Brooklyn. I love basketball and I am always on the go. There must a connection between my nature and the spirit of this sport. From time to time, I am eager to find out what it is to explain the growing passion I am having for this sport that my father and my mother have not taken the time to even watch, nor enjoy since they were growing and living in a country that is marked by soccer. No wonder that Basketball is not in my gene since my parents were not used to it.
My father, who likes soccer, started to explain that “ Man is the product of their environment”. I asked him to get to the point. But, my father likes to philosophize. He continues: somebody’s personality is made of his gene and his environment. That is, you inherit from your parents and the environment influences you. “How do I become who I am? Why do I love so much to move and to play basketball?”, I interrogated. “Now, you are getting the right attitude to learn. You ask questions”, he added. My son, when you were one year old, your mom and I bought a CD that has the ABC and the counting, addition, subtraction tables, word, and simple sentences. The characters in the video sang, danced, played basketball. You were repeating, dancing like them, and mimicking them throwing the ball while sitting in your baby chair. You enjoyed the CD. You started speaking before you were 14 months old, identifying the big M from McDonald and counting. That was amazing. You were healthy and always jumping. When you turned two you articulated very well.
However, my life has changed suddenly. I have become quite a little, more thoughtful, and more conscious of my immediate family. My father lost his job. He made a lot of effort to keep up with picking up me from school. I was in sixth grade at John Wilson Junior High school. It was more than one hour from my home. I overheard my father complaining about getting money to buy fuel. My mother was an on-call job position. She was not called that often. They went through hard times to pay for the mortgage. I don’t know. They found a way to put food on the table. What was hard for me was that I don’t have choices anymore. I have to be satisfied with what they could give me.
After my graduation in middle school, Brooklyn Institute picked me to do my high school studies. My parents and I felt great because the school is a few minutes from my house. I love it there: the teachers are great, the principals are like my parents, the parent coordinator and other staff of the school including the security team inspire me and make the basketball team every year. I improve so much in this sport that I am considering going to a college with a strong basketball team where I get the chance to get a great education and make it to the NBA. I wonder if I can make it to college and study hard so I can go on with education, many reasons get me doubtful. What I want for my American dream is a good education and success in the NBA industry. The only way I can achieve it is to get admitted in a famous college with a great basketball to which I will contribute with my talents and my intelligence. The college will assist me to brighten my future and I increase its pride and fame around the world.
