My name is Andres Mejia DeLeon, and I am a First-generation immigrant and student. I am currently attending Harold Washington college with the Ascend pathway in IIT. I was raised in Guatemala for 4 years which granted me the chance to experience life in a perspective I can't acquire anywhere in the USA. My mother side was from the poverty district and my father was from the coast. Living in poverty not only opened my mind to life experience it also made me humble and appreciative of the many opportunities provided in the Unites states educational system and corporations. It has been a struggle to succeed since the moment I was born when my parents decided that my mother should give birth to me at USA so I can be a citizen. This was the start of my journey that God has set me out to do. Both my parents have worked hard to give me and my 8-year-old brother a chance to live comfortability and succeed. We have devoted ourselves for 13 years to help the church we currently attend, we take our responsibilities at church with big heart as it helps us and others. By devoting ourselves to God, it has helped us learn from our failures and keep our ambition greater. I'm grateful for following my morals and beliefs as they have made me want to accomplish more in life to not only to thank my parents for their sacrifice and hard work. I thank God for the experiences he has allowed me to go through and get out of, to one day help my family and others back in Guatemala in district 3. Constantly seeing the most influential people in your life work hard for the benefit of someone else really inspire you. Since I was young, I have wanted nothing more than to be successful. This ambition rode with me until high school when I still prioritized my studies, but I lost myself which affected my studies. I have forgotten all the sacrifice and hard work people around me were doing to help me succeed until I low spot in my life where God was the one who helped me get out. Because of my bad decisions it changed the coursework of my life, but I know it helped me as I now know how it feels to be at a low spot, and I don't want to ever be in that hole again. In my last year of high school, I participated in ACE mentor group where I found my love for architecture. Thats when I knew God still had a big plan for me and I am now more ambitious than ever. Architecture has changed my life as it includes everything I have worked hard for. I have been in honors math which will help me in calculating necessities in projects. I also have always been creative and architecture challenges me with that every project making me think from my experience with architecture and art. My first year as an architecture student has made want to triumph from all stones in the way whether it's financial, spiritually, personal and educational. My ambition to triumph and succeed have made me stand out and I was invited and currently a member of the Honors society PHI THETTA KAPPA. As a first generation in many things, I am ready to keep being the first in my educational and career journey to show my parents that their hard work paid off. This scholarship will help me with time management with my education and leadership roles.

The topics of mental health and suicide prevention are more relevant because of the commonality of these issues between teens and adults. Gen-Z is the new generation of young adults and teens; we have negatively changed the graphs. This relevant topic is now critical because there is dedicated time for this, more professional help, and more awareness due to previous incidents. Mental health in today's generation is concerning as 32% of both females and males are in a depressed mood. Males with 42% and females with 63% with mental health problems as stated by SPRC.org. This is concerning as this percentage is nationwide and affects many teens and adults. Gen-Z is also the lowest to report good mental health at 45% between 4 generations stated by APA.org. The high percentage of low mental health stems from the increase of surrounding stress from personal harm, danger to family, and traumatizing events. Suicide is also taken more seriously than before as the percentage of suicides has increased in a younger audience. Having one of the younger generations start having problems regarding life and death makes a drastic change in how things operate in the education system and how morals and society affect people's individuality. In, 2020 there was a critical change when 19–23-year-olds were at an all-time high with suicides in the age range and third overall. Between the years 2000-2015, there was a shift in suicide where people started doing it later in life from the age of 40 being the all-time high to the age of 55 being the all-time high. The all-time high from 2015-2020 was completely different than in 5 years when the all-time high suicide age went from 55 to 23. This makes people wonder how many factors are responsible for the change in mental health that made Gen-Z have such high suicide rates so early. My own experience with mental health has been a spiritual journey and lesson-learning experience. As a kid, I faced some traumas that most kids in my school wouldn't understand, and this changed how I viewed my intermediate family and friends. Christian morals were a part of my parents even if they weren't fully converted to Christianity. In part their mistakes, made me have no respect and resentment towards them. During my teen years, I departed from my morals and wanted public approval which caused me to spiral into a bad state of mind and make bad decisions that affected my educational journey. By working to get others' approval I started to disregard myself, my educational responsibilities, my family, my thought process, and how I access myself and others. When I realized my change, I felt like I had been this person for so long that I had no choice but to play along and ignore what I truly wanted which brought me sadness, stress, anxiety, loneliness, and unacceptance. It wasn't until my last year of high school that I had a switch of environment and saw this new opportunity as an Architect where I could shine with all the talents I had. Once I realized my ambition, I gave myself and my future to my God, and from then he has started to work in my life. Since then, I still have had problems and stress, but I don't put my focus on that only to succeed and follow the dream that I believe God has given me to accomplish.

A problem that has been on my mind is the current discrimination we have towards certain students. This discrimination involves a financial standing, career opportunities, priority in acceptance, educational support, and in responsible decision-making. The controversy between Merit-based and DEI-based. This problem has affected me at the start of my degree-seeking educational journey which is why I believe there has to be a middle ground for the left and right. Discrimination occurs when we start prioritizing the color of people's skin more than their achievements, help with family financial responsibilities, and prioritize the number of ethnicities in school or workspace. In the society in the USA, we have now set standards where all humans have equal standing. I don't believe there is a problem with using a DEI and a Merit. Having these two opens horizons to many hard-working students and immigrants. I think the issues occur when we start prioritizing Dei as it awards 38% of students across all universities as stated by J Orthopaedic Experience and Innovation. Merit-based scholarships are awarded to 22% of students across all universities as declared by Searchlogistics. DEI is important has it offers a better chance for historically disadvantaged minorities to get all current opportunities they could have missed before. In addition, it helps students who are doing equally or less but also are in greater need of financial support. The problem with this is that it gives diversity more importance over excellence. DEI can be used to make average students take over instead of excellent students just because of their ethnicity. As a Hispanic first-generation college student, DEI can help me with more opportunities, but as diversity is so important it lowers my chances as well because there is someone who is more diverse and needs more financial help. Because there are always families with struggle financially regardless of the reason, they prioritize them more than a family who still struggles but is also successful. Although DEI is a very good cause it stems away from the educational system where the more you succeed as a student and nationwide test the more you are eligible to get scholarships. The merit base awards students who have worked hard and have dedicated their time to succeed. The struggle with Merit base awards is that they require a student to give up time and resources to get credibility in a resume, many students as I had to give up extra time to pay for utensils or had to use their time to help their family while other students were able to use their time to help them succeed educationally. If we can find a middle ground between merit and DEI where a student of any race has an equal chance and if a student needs extra help the organization, or school can find resources to help them specifically instead of a general disadvantage to other races for diversity.