My grandmother, Alicia Villamil, held a lot of responsibilities throughout her life. A mother, sister, and wife were just some of the few titles she held up proudly. But the most significant role that she had ever taken was that she was a teacher of different multitudes. Originally, she taught English in the town of Binangonan, Rizal; it was a place where her dreams of establishing a better pathway in life had evolved from a one-bedroom house occupied by a family of eleven in the small yet teeming town adjacent to Manila to a single-family house of three in the relaxed Los Angeles neighborhood of Los Feliz. Her most memorable lesson was when she took the first steps to paving a path to petition her family from Binangonan to Los Angeles. She was one of those people who wanted to expand their knowledge by immersing themselves in an engaging experience, packing a bag with a one-way ticket to Los Angeles to see what lessons she could advise to those who desired a similar path. The people who she ended up passing down this lesson to ranged from siblings, parents, cousins, and relatives with the purpose of pursuing their own aspirations. The family home in LA that she had continued to build with her love and diligence had become a classroom of sorts, where the newly immigrated family members lived until they were ready to implement examples of her lesson into their world; she was now revered as the embodiment of the strength and resilience that directly alluded to a matriarch. Living in the same house that many generations of my family had deemed a safe haven, my upbringing was more lenient on Filipino values. When my parents were often at work, my grandmother showed me at a young age how to navigate and embrace two different worlds. She spoke to me in Tagalog and showed me different forms of Filipino media, often through karaoke machines, the Bahay Kubo nursery rhymes, and TFC, from throwing Super Bowl parties to encouraging me to have playdates with kids in the neighborhood. Among the time I shared with her, what stood out the most was how eccentric and lively she was. It had carried down to me, unapologetically being an integral part of who I am now as a person. Contrasting the strong, traditional values of Filipino heritage, my grandmother was able to conglomerate these two into something that’s far more valuable as time passes by. I credit her for allowing me to be able to grow into myself more and for teaching me to appreciate myself as much as I appreciate others. Being in my school’s ASB, it is a beautiful organization where many different people and mindsets integrate and unify with the duty of being a leader. Through different art forms, I push the appreciation of identity and belonging through graphic design, making digital flyers for school events, which celebrate and effectively serve the school’s diverse community. My ultimate goal is that I want to further the importance of and recollect on how identity and upbringing keep a person appreciative of life through film, a visual lens that can powerfully weave different messages from different perspectives. I am fortunate enough to have an opportunity for a scholarship like this because this will alleviate my parents' finances for balancing college funds with personal funds, and not only does this give me the opportunity to proudly showcase my Filipino background, but it also serves as an example of what my grandmother aspired to reach others by.