I am a first-generation student and when I was back in my country I always heard people talking about the American dream. I always wonder what the American dream is. Now that I get the chance to live in the USA, I believe that the American dream is just an interpretation of what our parents or grandparents could not do back in our countries considering the resources available for them to live a decent life. Then when they immigrate, they come to America with their bags full of dreams ready to find in America what they could find back in their countries. But to be honest I am a first-generation student and also an immigrant and I don't even know what the American dream is. But I have to clarify I am grateful for this country because I can do a lot of things that in my country would be harder for me to do. The USA makes some things a little bit easier if we compared how are things done back in our countries. But it seems like the day-to-day life that we live, in the American dream, is to go to school, graduate, buy a house and have a family. That is what most of our family is expecting from us. I do not know what my American dream is, of course, I want to be successful but that has different meanings for everyone. My American dream is to graduate college and work or create a big company and make a couple of million? or just to live a regular life with an average income? In some type, I don't even know what to say but what is the American dream? How can I able to explain what it is for me when I do not even know, I do not have a concrete explanation of what are the requirements for me to live the American dream? I am sure that I can be the only one who thinks like this but Am I living a dream? Maybe I am and I have not realized it yet. But while in this journey of finding out what my American dream is, I am going to take advantage of what this country has to offer me because let’s be honest this is the reason that we are here to become better than you already are.

When people experience something difficult in their life, they feel like everything is going down but what people don’t know is that all they need to go high, is to go deep first. the loss of important people in my life… my mother. I lost the best part of me, I lost my confidence and my stability. I felt disconnected from the world around me. I lost myself, I felt worthless for a while. One day I was overwhelmed by everything that just happened in my life. Then, I have a moment of clarity. My mother always told me to do my best so the moment when I was depressed, I remember those words. Then I realized I was not doing my best so I decided to change that and started to find myself again. I put myself together to get ahead, and since that day I became stronger. I came to NYC in November with my brother looking to create a better path for us in this life. And since we got here, we have improved ourselves in a way I never thought before. My brother and I graduated from High school this year (2022), and I was salutatorian for my class, and I never thought I would have the honor to speak to my classmates and to the people present at graduation. This is how my story and who I begin. I learned: that I am blessed, stronger, vigorous, and thankful even though life has given me all the reasons to give up. I keep going into the battle and no matter how frustrating life can be, I still believe that good days are yet to come. However, the difficulties life has to show up, I am ready to face them because when I am in my dark place. In those moments when I thought there were no expectations for me. I learned independence, understanding, hopefulness, and most important faith in God and myself. I am going to college. to be honest I never thought that I would be in college in the USA. I want to major in human resources/management, also I want to know how people create a big network, interact with people, know their experiences and learn from them, and also create connections, and take advantage of opportunities like jobs, summer classes, and internships. In those four years, I am going to create the best version of myself, because I am going to learn from my mistakes, build confidence, connections, different environments, people, and materials, I will address life and the truth is that I am really scared of what is coming in those four years but whatever they bring I am deal with that because it does not matter how I have to create my version of me, the version that my mother wanted me to be and that I am going to be.

Big things always start with a small path, and I hope that I am on the correct path to find my way. I was born in Santiago, Dominican Republic. I grew up with my mother and brother. Only the three of us against the world. But what I do remember is that my mother did everything for me and my brother, we weren’t rich but we grew up, and we all we needed because my mother made sure of that. In the neighborhood, people thought we were spoiled but what they didn’t see was that we also struggled because my mother found out she had cancer in 2009. Since I was 11 years old, I learned how to take care of me and my brother because my mother was working, she always told us that we shouldn't be worried about her, that she is okay and everything would be fine, that our only worry is to have good grades because that makes her feel better. Everything was going well me and my brother was going to school, having good grades, and I remember that every time we pass the year she bought us a cake to celebrate, I was happy and comfortable with my life until cancer came back in 2018, sadly I lost my mother on December 26, 2018, due to cancer. The world fell on my feet, but I knew I needed to look forward to living the life that my mother wanted me to live. Everything was going well me and my brother was going to school, having good grades, and I remember that every time we pass the year she bought us a cake to celebrate, I was happy and comfortable with my life until cancer came back in 2018, sadly I lost my mother on December 26, 2018, due to cancer. The world fell on my feet, but I knew I needed to look forward to living the life that my mother wanted me to live. I came to NYC in November with my brother looking to create a better path for us in this life. And since we got here, we have improved ourselves in a way I never thought before. I and my brother graduated from High school this year, and I was salutatorian for my class, and I never thought I would have the honor to speak to my classmates and to the people present at graduation. But I don’t stop there, I am going to college I want to major in human resources/management, I also want to know people create a big network, interact with people, know their experiences, and learn from them also create connections, take advantage of opportunities like jobs, summer classes, and internships.

My favorite Disney character is Mulan because inspired me when I was little I remember that my mother bring home a new movie for me to watch on our DVD, she told me, it was about a princess but I first started watching it, she was like any other young girl, messy, with things to do, and responsibilities but her biggest one was always how to make her family proud, that is the whole thing about. Now that I grow up I see that many of the things that we do are to make our family proud of ourselves to look for the approbation because that is the idea with grow up within our heads and on some occasion, even our parents tell us that we need to make them proud in many different aspects no only in success some of the parents want their children to get married, have children… Mulan was different she did not want to get married, have children, or get approbation to be a good wife to an old lady, besides that when Mulan saw that her father was again called to fight in the war she take action on her own hands, Mulan went to the war, replacing her father’s place because he was sick, she pretended to be a boy because based on the settings of the movie, women at that time were just good to have children and be at home. Mulan became herself a soldier. She went to the camp at the begging everything was hard because everything is a process. She even gets kicked out of the training because they said she wouldn’t survive, but she never gives up, she keeps fighting until she succeeds. Her identity was revealed but that did not stop her, they even told her to go home but she didn’t because she knew they would need her help, she keep trying and fighting she never give up until she succeeds, and the whole country was in grateful because she saves the Emperor, she did bring honor and proud to her family. She makes me a warrior just like her, I know that I have to work for the time I want to achieve for me and my future, that the process is going to be hard sometimes and things may get really ugly but that’s not a reason to give up.

In my family only my mother and some of her brothers and sister went to college, she used to tell me that her father never told her to study or to do something related to school. That was her decision and she also told me that was the best decision for her. In a third world country there’s not a lot of opportunities so if you have the chance to go to college and earn a degree do it, but that would guarantee living like a rich person but it would be better than not doing it. My mother was a single parent, she paid for everything, she was the head of our family. For me and my brother, she always wanted the best for us and grew up in comfortable positions. We did have our struggles but we always move forward. She told us to be a good student so you can have a better future, so it’s technically the same idea that every other parent has, you need to go to college to be successful. My brother and I grew up with this idea but that isn’t the reason why I would like to have a higher education, to complete my education is important to me because I feel that I can achieve good things through a higher education. To be honest a higher education is important to me because of my mother, how I mentioned before she was the head of our family, she used to tell us that if she didn’t take the decision to go to college, my brother and I wouldn’t even exist because she used to said that her kids do not deserve to live the same experiences as she. That's why she prepared her future before having us to give us a better lifestyle that she had. She is my inspiration to higher education, I said to myself everyday on this journey that if my mother had more difficulties than me and she still did it, I would be able to do the same or even better and make her proud of me, because I want to be able to provide for my family and to get ahead for them. I have the chance to go to college, earn my degree and improve myself, why wouldn't I do it? because sometimes we do not know the future and the things that are going to show up and I want to be ready to face them like my mother was always ready to face them.

Big things always start with a small path, and I hope that I am on the correct path to find my way. I was born in Santiago, Dominican Republic. I grew up with my mother, and brother. Only the three of us against the world. But what I do remember is that my mother did everything for me and my brother, we weren’t rich but we grew up, we all we needed because my mother made sure of that. In the neighborhood people thought we were spoiled but what they didn’t see was that we also struggled because my mother found out she had cancer in 2009. Since I was 11 years old, I learned how to take care of me and my brother because my mother was working, and she always told us that we shouldn't be worried about her, that she is okay and everything would be fine, that our only worry is to have good grades because that makes her feel better. Everything was going well my and my brother were going to school, having good grades, and I remember that every time we pass the year she bought us a cake to celebrate, I was happy and comfortable with my life until the cancer came back in 2018, sadly I lost my mother on December 26, 2018 due to cancer. The world fell on my feet, but I knew I needed to look forward to living the life that my mother wanted me to live. I came to NYC in November with my brother looking to create a better path for us in this life. And since we got here, we have improved ourselves in a way I never thought before. Me and my brother graduated from High school this year, and I was salutatorian for my class, and I never thought I would have the honor to speak to my classmates and to the people present at graduation. I started my speech by saying that I didn’t want to do it and that was the truth because I was the type of person who didn’t like to talk in public, and I said I was because I felt some comfortable talking to them and expressing those two years that I spent in high school with them. But I don’t stop there, I am going to college in college I want to major on human resources/management, also I want to know people create a big network, know their experiences and learn from them also create connections, take advantage of opportunities like jobs, summer classes, and internships. In those four years I am going to create the best version or myself, because I am going to learn by my mistakes, build confidence, connections, different environments, people, and materials, I will address life and the true is that I am really scared of what is coming in those four years but whatever they bring I am deal with that because it do not matter how I have to create my version of me, the version that my mother wanted me to be and that I am going to be.

I have known God since I was a little girl. My grandma used to take me to church with her every night. I also went to a catholic school. I knew that God is real and that he is always by my side but I never experienced him like I did. My mother has been struggling with cancer since 2009. For a few years she was okay until the cancer came back in 2018 and sadly that same year my mother died from cancer on December 26. My mother was my best friend, I was her little girl, she was and will always be my first love, the person who taught me what love is. I was completely lost, I lost my mom, I felt like the end of the world and the pain is still there but God and times makes it easy to live with. After she died in December. I was looking to the sky and thinking, and light, voice, something happened to me it was like a person talking to me. it was a voice inside of my mind and that voice said “Why should you be sad if you still have God and his love ?” And after those words I felt a relief in my heart that I never felt before. I knew it was God. I felt peace in the middle of the storm. I owe God too much, he is the reason why I have papers in this country, my mother had a petition to come to the USA but after she died, I really don’t know what happened to it, the only thing it was in my mind is that I need to come to the USA to have more resources because it was difficult for me and my brother to move forward in my home country. In 2020 due to the pandemic, my family and I focus to improve our relationship with God, I learned about his love, promises, that we are his children and that he wants the best for us, we just need to accept him as our lord and give him all our of love because that is the only thing that he wants from us, love, loyalty, and respect. I remember that I prayed hard to be in this country because for some situation if I turn 18 in my country it would have been more complicated for me to get to the USA. Every night I pray that “if it is his wish I want and you know that I need to be in the USA before December”. God did. God listen to me because I came to the USA on November 26, 2020. For this and other reasons I am so grateful to God that not even the words can explain… I wanted to write in this statement how God changed my life, how he has made me a better person, but I can’t find the way to use the correct words to express the love, because God is love. God is the love that makes our heart feel full. In the human’s heart there is a hole that can only be filled with his love. He is always there for us, he would never leave us alone. God has made my life easier, he carries me through the pain and difficulties in this life. He is what we need and what would save us from the badness of this world that we live in. May God always stay with us and keep us strong at any moment in this life and the other.

I want to start by saying that Amazon has made me wish to have another name but at the same time, like me because now everyone has a piece of Alexa at their house. My mother never told me about my name. It's not a long story, I believe she told me that she heard it in a movie and she loves it and that is the reason for my name. I always thought that my name was unique, and I was right because for me it is the best name ever. I remember when I was little I looked up the meaning of the name on google and I remember I was disappointed because the information showed that “Alexa name means Protector of humanity.” At that time I didn’t want to be a protector, I was hoping to be a princess, a star, something cute and interesting to show off to my friends. Around my community and my school I only know one person with the same name as me, and it was the sister of a boy that I used to like, and the funny thing is that his middle name is the same as my brother's first name. so it was a little awkward and funny at the same time. But when I came to the United States I found out that there are more ALEXAs, much more, sometimes even my teachers make fun of how they have an Alexa in the house and also in the classroom. That really never bothered me at all, I used to tell them that the reason for that is because they never want to forget about me. Now I realize that my name has a meaning, and that is important because the word protector has a big meaning for me. I always like to make people feel comfortable around me, I like that people could trust me and find a safe space. Another thing that would also make me believe that I am a protector is because I am the older sister. Since I was young, I learned how to take care of me and my brother because my mother was working. And I still do it with my brother, my friends and even some of my family members. I even feel sometimes that I need to keep everyone around me safe and in a good mood. I don’t know if it is an older sister thing but I'm thankful that my name has that meaning.

Big things always start with a small path, and I hope that I am on the correct path to find my way. I grew up with my mother, and brother. Only the three of us against the world. I remember that my mother did everything for me and my brother, we weren’t rich but we grew up, we all we needed because my mother made sure of that. In the neighborhood people thought we were spoiled but what they didn’t see was that we also struggled because my mother found out she had cancer in 2009. Since I was 11 years old, I learned how to take care of me and my brother because my mother was working, and she always told us that we shouldn't be worried about her, that she is okay and everything would be fine, that our only worry is to have good grades because that makes her feel better. Everything was going well my and my brother were going to school, having good grades, and I remember that every time we pass the year she bought us a cake to celebrate, I was happy and comfortable with my life until the cancer came back in 2018, sadly I lost my mother on December 26, 2018 due to cancer. The world fell on my feet, but I knew I needed to look forward to living the life that my mother wanted me to live. Something that might block me from reaching my dreams besides the economic situation is my tiredness. I am still young. There are things that I know and things I don’t know, and that I still have to live but I am just tired right now. Here I am just doing my best to continue forward because I don’t want to give up on myself. I don’t want to fail, because if my younger self would look at me now she won’t even recognize me, I don't know how to feel about it because everything didn’t go as I hoped but It’s what it is, and this is life. But I am working on that. I am trying to figure out a way to feel that energy of fighting for what I want again, because this tiredness that I feel I know can become something good, because I have felt it before. But I know it depends on me to use this feeling to break me or help me create a better version of the life I always dreamed about. I came to NYC in November, 2020 with my brother looking to create a better path for us in this life. And since we got here, we have improved ourselves in a way I never thought before. Me and my brother graduated from High school this year, and I was salutatorian for my class, and I never thought I would have the honor to speak to my classmates and to the people present at graduation. I am going to college. to be honest I never thought that I would be in college in the USA. I want to major in human resources/management. In those four years I am going to learn by my mistakes, build confidence, connections, different environments, people, and materials, I will address life and the true is that I am really scared of what is coming in those four years but whatever they bring I am deal with that because it do not matter how I have to create my version of me, the version that my mother wanted me to be and that I am going to be.

When people experience something difficult in their life, they feel like everything is going down but what people don’t know is that all they need to go high, is to go deep first. the loss of important people in my life…my mother. I lost the best part of me, I lost my confidence, and my stability. I felt disconnected from the world around me. I lost myself, I felt worthless for a while. One day I was overwhelmed about everything that just happened in my life. And then, I have a moment of clarity. My mother always told me to do my best so in the moment when I was depressed, I remember those words. And then I realized I wasn’t doing my best so I decided to change that and started to find myself again. I put myself together to get ahead, since that day I became stronger. I am not a genius, I am like any other person in this world. I like to spend time with my family and friends, learn, teach, laugh, listen to music, and other things that I can’t even think about right away. This is how my story and who I am began. I learned: I am blessed, stronger, vigorous, and thankful even though life has given me all the reasons to give up. I keep going into the battle and no matter how frustrating life can be, I still believe that good days are yet to come. I’ve always set in my mind that I need to make God and my mother proud of me. Because my mother made a lot of sacrifices to raise my brother and me. And I need to make God proud for always being on my side, when I thought I was alone. However the difficulties life has to show up, I am ready to face them because when I am in my dark place. In those moments where I thought there were no expectations for me. I learned independence, understanding, and hopefulness, and the most important faith in God and myself. This is who I am, this is what I have to offer, this is what brings every step of my way, all these experiences make me this awesome person. These experiences make me think about why I started in the first place. And I know there is a long way down to run, but I am ready to share my experiences to help others to grow up, to learn from others and to grow and become the best version of me. I am going to college in college I want to major on human resources/management, also I want to know people create a big network, know their experiences and learn from them also create connections, take advantage of opportunities like jobs, summer classes, and internships. In those four years I am going to create the best version or myself, because I am going to learn by my mistakes, build confidence, connections, different environments, people, and materials, I will address life and the true is that I am really scared of what is coming in those four years but whatever they bring I am deal with that because it do not matter how I have to create the best version of me, the version that my mother wanted me to be and that I am going to be.

When people experience something difficult in their life, they feel like everything is going down but what people don’t know is that all they need to go high, is to go deep first. the loss of important people in my life… as my mother. I lost the best part of me, I lost my confidence, and my stability. I felt disconnected from the world around me. I lost myself, I felt worthless for a while. One day I was overwhelmed about everything that just happened in my life. And then, I have a moment of clarity. My mother always told me to do my best so in the moment when I was depressed, I remember those words. And then I realized I wasn’t doing my best so I decided to change that and started to find myself again. I put myself together to get ahead, since that day I became stronger. I am not a genius, I am like any other person in this world. I like to spend time with my family and friends, learn, teach, laugh, listen to music, and other things that I can’t even think about right away. This is how my story and who I am began. I learned: I am blessed, stronger, vigorous, and thankful even though life has given me all the reasons to give up. I keep going into the battle and no matter how frustrating life can be, I still believe that good days are yet to come. I’ve always set in my mind that I need to make God and my mother proud of me. Because my mother made a lot of sacrifices to raise my brother and me. And I need to make God proud for always being on my side, when I thought I was alone. However the difficulties life has to show up, I am ready to face them because when I am in my dark place. In those moments where I thought there were no expectations for me. I learned independence, understanding, and hopefulness, and the most important faith in God and myself. This is who I am, this is what I have to offer, this is what brings every step of my way, all these experiences make me this awesome person. These experiences make me think about why I started in the first place. And I know there is a long way down to run, but I am ready to share my experiences to help others to grow up, to learn from others and to grow and become the best version of me.

Let’s start from the beginning. I was born in Santiago, Dominican Republic. I grew up with my mother, and brother. Only the three of us against the world. I never got to know or have a relationship with my father, I don’t even remember him. But what I do remember is that my mother did everything for me and my brother, we weren’t rich but we grew up, we all we needed because my mother made sure of that. In the neighborhood people thought we were spoiled but what they didn’t see was that we also struggled because my mother found out she had cancer in 2009. Since I was 11 years old, I learned how to take care of me and my brother because my mother was working, and she always told us that we shouldn't be worried about her, that she is okay and everything would be fine, that our only worry is to have good grades because that makes her feel better. Everything was going well my and my brother were going to school, having good grades, and I remember that every time we pass the year she bought us a cake to celebrate, I was happy and comfortable with my life until the cancer came back in 2018, sadly I lost my mother on December 26, 2018 due to cancer. The world fell on my feet, but I knew I needed to look forward to living the life that my mother wanted me to live. I came to NYC in November with my brother looking to create a better path for us in this life. And since we got here, we have improved ourselves in a way I never thought before. Me and my brother graduated from High school this year, and I was salutatorian for my class, and I never thought I would have the honor to speak to my classmates and to the people present at graduation. I started my speech by saying that I didn’t want to do it and that was the truth because I was the type of person who didn’t like to talk in public, and I said I was because I felt some comfortable talking to them and expressing those two years that I spent in high school with them was something that I won't never forget. But I don’t stop there, I am going to college in college I want to major on human resources/management, also I want to know people create a big network, to interact with people, know their experiences and learn from them also create connections, take advantage of opportunities like jobs, summer classes, and internships. In those four years I am going to create the best version or myself, because I am going to learn by my mistakes, build confidence, connections, different environments, people, and materials, I will address life and the true is that I am really scared of what is coming in those four years but whatever they bring I am deal with that because it do not matter how I have to create my version of me, the version that my mother wanted me to be and that I am going to be.