Hispanic+Essay+ICS18DAN

Many people who were once struggling are now very successful. Examples include Franklin Chang-Diaz, Ellen Ochoa, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Lionel Messi. Franklin Chang Diaz and Ellen Ochoa became astronauts, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was the first Hispanic in congress, and Lionel Messi became youngest player to represent Argentina in an official league. However, they have overcome struggles. Franklin Chang Diaz and Ellen Ochoa belonged to poor families. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen fled Cuba at an early age because of it's Communism. Lionel Messi has growth hormone deficiency.

Franklin Chang-Diaz and Ellen Ochoa once belonged to poor families. However, education eventually brought them up to a higher level. Franklin Chang-Diaz enjoys scuba diving, hiking, music, and glider planes. He has seven flight medals from NASA, two distinguished service medals from NASA, and three exceptional service medals from NASA, and a Liberty Medal from President Ronald Reagan. His father is Chinese and his mother is Costa Rican. Franklin Chang Diaz is the first Costa Rican Hispanic to go to space. Not much is known about Franklin Chang Diaz's childhood. Franklin Chang Diaz has spent more than one thousand and three hundred hours in space. He is a veteran of six space missions. (Astronaut Bio: Franklin Chang-DIaz) Ellen Ochoa is the first hispanic female to be an astronaut. Her parents divorced when she was in highschool, leaving her mother to raise five children.Ellen Ochoa has three brothers, and one sister. At a young age, their mother gave them instruments and they played in their school band. Ellen Ochoa has four schools named after her. She served nine days on space shuttle //Discovery// in 1993.(Ellen Ochoa)

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is the first Hispanic to be in congress. At an early age, she fled Cuba's Communism. Her family fled to Miami and her parents immediately became involved with stopping Fidel Castro. She is known as Lily to her family and friends. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is strongly against Cuba.She started her political career when she was elected to the Florida House of Representatives. She became the first female Hispanic in Florida's State Legislature.In 1986 she was elected to be a State Senator. In 1989, she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She has been reelected three times. In 2008, she received a phone call from Barack Obama to congratulate her. She hung up on him because she thought it was a prank call from the radio station. She then received another phone call from Obama's Chief of Staff, saying it was genuine, but she also hung up on him. She was teacher and principal for Eastern Academy for 10 years. Eastern Academy is a school she founded. Her interest in politics comes from her father, who focused much of his life restoring democracy to Cuba.(Ileana Ros-Lehtinen)

Lionel Messi was born as Luis Lionel Andres Messi on June 24, 1987, in Rosario, Argentina. When he was young, he came along when his two older brothers played soccer with their friends, unthreatened by the much older boys. At the age of 8, he was recruited to join the youth system of Newell's Old Boys, a Rosario-based club. He was much smaller than most of the kids in his age group, Messi was eventually diagnosed by doctors as suffering from a hormone deficiency that restricted his growth. He took nightly hormone injections until his parents could not pay anymore. At the age of 13, Messi was offered the chance to train at soccer powerhouse FC Barcelona's youth academy, La Masia, and have his medical bills covered by the team, Messi's family picked up and moved across the Atlantic to make a new home in Spain. Messi progressed through the ranks and was given his first appearance in the 2004/05 season becoming the youngest player to score a league goal. In 2006, Messi was part of the double winning team which won both La Liga, which is a Spanish League, and Champions League. By next season, 2006/07 at the age of 20, Messi was the first choice striker and a key part of the Barcelona team. (Lionel Messi) He scored 14 goals in 26 league games. In the 2009/10 season, Messi scored 47 goals in all competitions, equalling Ronaldo’s record total for Barcelona. As the seasons have progressed, Messi kept improving and breaking his own records. In the calender year of 2012, he broke the all time world record for most goals scored in a calender year. His final total of goals in 2012 was 91, thus beating the previous record of 85 by German Gerd Muller, and Pele’s milestone of 75 in 1958. Because Messi was brought up in Spain, since he was 11 years old, he has Spanish nationality. In 2004, he was offered the chance to play for Spain’s Under 20 side, but Messi decided to play for Argentina, the country of his birth. He led Argentina to victory in the 2005 FIFA Youth championship. Messi made his full debut in August 2005, during a friendly against Hungary. In his first game, Messi was sent off for allegedly elbowing a player. (Lionel Messi Biography)

I hope this has given examples of some Hispanics that have overcome challenges in their life. Ellen Ochoa and Franklin Chang Diaz were once poor, but are now astronauts. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen was once under Fidel Castro's control but is now the first Hispanic in congress. Finally, Lionel Messi had overcome his growth hormone deficiency and is now one of the best soccer players in the world.


 * Works cited list**

"Astronaut Bio: Franklin Chang-Díaz (9/2012)." //Franklin Chang-Díaz//. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2016. .
 * My teacher recommended this site.

"Ellen Ochoa." //George Seferis Collected Poems, 1924-1955. Bilingual Edition// (n.d.): n. pag. //Ellen Ochoa//. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Web. 25 Apr. 2016. .
 * My teacher recommended this site.

"Ileana Ros-Lehtinen." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016. .
 * This is a popular encyclopedia.They provide links to the original sources.

"Lionel Messi." //Fact Monster//. Who2?, LLC, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2016. .
 * My teacher recommended me this encyclopedia.

"Lionel Messi Biography." //Www.biography.com//. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 6 May 2016. .
 * My teacher recommended me this site.