One thing that has ever truly made me content in life is seeing someone that is happy and feels safe and heard. I am the youngest one in the family, it's not always the typical stereotype where I'm the one that is spoiled and always gets what I want; that's not how it ever was. Being the youngest in my family, surrounded by an intelligent brother and a mom that is a teacher, I often felt unheard and overlooked because they never really cared to sit and listen to what I might have to say. On top of that, my social life was quite difficult as well. A little girl that never fit in with other kids, always trying out different things that were popular in order to fit in but it never worked. Constantly having to force myself to be someone I'm not and like things that I didn't care for was so exhausting. I came to realize that conforming for others is not the way to go and I explored things on my own time and eventually found my passion: criminal profiling. It started off as simply observing people's mannerisms and every slight difference in their behaviors. This has allowed me to be more insightful of what others may be thinking or going through. I feel for the people that may not feel confident in themselves or may be slower than others and being able to help them is everything for me. There is nothing I treasure more than seeing people feel better. The little "hobby" I picked up on around nine or ten years old has carried me throughout the years. I had the opportunity to learn more about criminal profiling in a sixth-grade project about future careers. Several years later, I have emersed myself in anything having to do with criminology, criminal justice or psychology. Now going into college I will use my passion for both my career and helping anyone and everyone. To be able to combine both passions aforementioned has been a true blessing in my life because although it may not seem like I will make the biggest impact; I know that my future job will help people in ways that may be overlooked. One can never know the terrible feeling of lost hope, uncertainty and uneasiness. Pursuing my degree in criminology will aid me in pursuing criminal profiling and it will get me on track to completing my main goal in life: ameliorating our society. There are many aspects in which one can improve the world, and the way in which I will choose to change it is by helping families and loved ones feel safe and be heard in a world that may be too preoccupied. There are people out there that make someone's world dull and scary, however, with the job I choose to pursue with my degree, I will help the person that deserves to feel at peace. One case at a time, I will choose to improve the world we live in and help people see the beauty in it.

Never being able to fit in was the very thing that has motivated me to help people and the world for the better. The struggle of fitting in with others was and still is difficult. A little girl trying to figure out why she can never truly bond with other kids my age or force herself to like the things everyone else did so that she can make some friends. It was never genuine bonds that I was able to form; over time I had learned to accept the fact that I may never find at least one person I can truly feel like myself. Instead of playing or talking during recess or lunch, I began to live in my own world and it seemed as though I enjoyed observing people. As creepy as it may sound it was more than simply judging the people I see. I never understood what I was doing, but I knew that it was something I came to be good at. I would sit or just doodle on my hand and observe everyone around me. I was friendly and got to know a couple of things about people and started to try and connect the things I learned about them to their behaviors. I soon learned that what I enjoyed doing, trying to perceive and understand people's body expressions, their mannerisms and all types of subtle differences had a name to it: profiling. Upon learning this word, I was immediately swept up in the world of criminal profiling; the world of profiling has since then captivated my curiosity which has now grown into a passion that has yet to die. I began learning about a career that I was truly passionate about. I began to watch documentaries of serial killers, and television shows- my favorite being Criminal Minds. This whole new "world" to me was wonderful and fascinating, in that I found my true passion. It was exciting to me and once I was able to understand what Criminal Profilers do I knew that I wanted to pursue this particular career. This was my way of doing something I will truly enjoy, especially knowing that this career is a special way of ameliorating our society. It was in sixth grade that I was given an assignment to research a career that interested me and by then I knew what I wanted for my future. Ever since that sixth-grade project, I have never wanted to do anything else. Despite inadequately being able to find a group of people or even one person I genuinely felt a connection with, it was quite evident that one of my strong suits was in academics. Growing up, I was surrounded by an environment of numbers and books. This allowed me to be a quick learner but I soon came to learn that not everyone in my class was as fast a learner as I was. Fortunately, since I am the younger one in my family, they don't listen or care to hear what I have to say or any advice/ words of wisdom I would like to enlighten them with. This has led me to be empathetic for the people that are often overlooked or simply just falling behind. I used my advantage in my learning capabilities to help my peers not only with their work but to also feel better about themselves. Besides my dogs and Criminal Minds, helping people is something I love doing. Seeing someone with a genuine smile on their face is everything and being a profiler with satisfy this. One case at a time.

I never liked dolls growing up, and I never will. When I was younger, my mom imposed the concept of playing with dolls on me, and no matter how hard she tried I never got into it. However, I never truly fit in with girls my age with my lack of interest in dolls effectively leading me to find my own joy and comfort. Not doing what was expected of me made me feel like a disappointment and it took time finally accepting it. My dream version of my future self is not to be ashamed of who I am.