Personal Statement #2

So I need to resubmit my grad school application this week. WooHoo. So, here is my rough draft...

To whom it may concern:
My name is Jamie Luthy and I am applying for the Masters’ in Rehabilitation Counseling program for Fall of 2011.
Helping people has always made me happy. I am very much a person who thrives on the success of others. I currently work as a job coach aiding a woman with a developmental disability hold a job. I also work in an employment resource center helping others find jobs.
I have a great since of who I am and where I want to be. I have wanted to be a part of the Rehabilitation field for many years. I have a great tenacity and an inner commitment to myself to go after my dreams. After learning about this program I studied hard and did not pass the Miller Analogies Test the first time. I took it two more times and passed on the third try. This shows that I am not willing to give up when things get tough.
For the past three semesters I have appeared on a panel of people with disabilities for and introduction to Special Education course to help raise awareness of disabilities. I want to continue to do so, bringing to light that they may have a disability, but that does not make them any less of a person.
I worked in an internship position during the Spring 2011 semester, that of my final semester while earning my bachelors degree. I worked forty hours a week as a job coach for two men with disabilities, putting together six different schedules- one for each day of the week, Monday through Friday in fifteen minute increments showing what they needed to be doing throughout the day. I also helped look for work and strengthen their job skills. I did this while taking Dr. Smart’s course Psychosocial Aspects of Disability.
I plan to work as a Rehabilitation Councilor and help those who need some extra help and encouragement. As someone who has spent my life surrounded by some who believed in me, and others who did not, I know both sides and want to be the one who believes. To know that there is help available in this world for those who need it is exciting to me.
I know that the techniques which I will learn in this program will be able to help generations. I firmly believe that everyone has their own innate set of strengths and that sometimes we loose track of our own strengths and need someone to help us find our way. This is what I hope to do; help people find their way.
Having been raised with several people who have varying disabilies and friends with disabilities ranging from cognitive to physical and psychological I feel that there is much for me to learn, and a lot that I can bring to the program. I have had family members who have had Alzheimer's’ disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes, neuropothy in their feet, hearing impairment, Attention Deficit Disorder, bipolar, depression, Dyslexia, apnea and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I have had friends with Aspergers, seizures, cancer and acquaintances with depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, diabetes, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita and many other disabilities. Having a brother with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result from the war has made me more determined to help those who need a little more love. Having watched the way that society approaches those with disabilities can be saddening and harden society. In a world full of anger and hate, I feel that having a loving face to encourage them along just might be what is needed. They have been beat down enough, let’s work to lift them up.
Thank you for considering me for the Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling program. I hope to do great things with the education which I will be afforded.