My identity resides with my family. I have a twin sister and she is my absolute soulmate. We go through all of our hardships together and grow and learn together. My mother, born in Guyana, and my father, born in Trinidad, truly shaped my values and my behavior through their teachings to my sister and me. The one thing they always emphasized was the most important value I should take with me and my future was education. Whether I used my degree or not, or whether I would find a job after graduating, I would still have to go to college. My parents had me in their late thirties and through their incredibly different paths of life, they both saw the importance of education. Not going to college was never an option for me and I am incredibly grateful for the support my family has shown me. Unfortunately, being a first-generation student with my mom working a low-level job in an elementary school and my dad working a basic-level job in his company, college is becoming more and more unmotivating. Of course, I am going to go to college. After the importance of education is reiterated to you from the age of 4, you do not back away from that. I want to make it clear,  that I am so grateful to have been supported this way my whole life because I am aware that many kids- no matter what background- could not say the same thing. However, the joy and passion for college are there but being blocked by the stress of financial burdens on my family. Now you know who I am, Ananda Boodoo. My parents are amazing. There is no such thing as perfect parents, and they are very far from being perfect, but they are good people and I owe my entire personality to them. When I was little, I was always told I had a big heart. My teachers used to praise me not for my skills in school necessarily but for my behavior. Growing up, however, I thought it was abnormal of me to be considerate and selfless to people who I may not know but I know need help. My imperfect parents would lecture me when I was “overly compassionate” for people- wanting me to grow out of my selflessness. For example, I never looked at homeless people as “lost causes" but as people who were once a kid like me and fell through the wrong path- whether by bad choices or systemic pressure. I remember my parents being almost furious that I would want to help every homeless person we walked past. Unfortunately for them, I did not grow out of my caring spirit. No matter how hard they tried, they could not get rid of my nature as a human. I believe society makes hopeful and compassionate people feel naive when really they create the most change- especially in the U.S. where there is high competition and loss of community.  My goal for the future is to not let my empathy and urge to help others go to waste when it could directly improve others' lives- and I believe the best way I could do this is through nursing. I want to be a pediatric nurse, not only to help the children but also the parents. I look at people through very complicated and personal lenses because nobody’s life is simple and general. I want to take advantage of my emotionalness in a place where I could be the support for hundreds of people.