I fell in love with the STEM field when I was a kid. I always found it so fascinating that the various different subjects in STEM could all correlate to form life and explain the complexity of being alive. Being the oldest of three girls and living in a Mexican household, it was almost obvious that it was either going to be school or work. At the ripe age of 10, my mother took me to go cherry picking for 8 hours with her under the beating sun. From then on, I have always held the uttermost respect for agricultural workers. There, I set my first goal in life: that I would work in a job where I would not be under the beating sun. My second goal was to get a job where I could take care of my parents once they got older and not have them break their backs any further. I knew that in order to achieve these goals, I needed to attend an outstanding college, obtain a well-paying job, and have excellent grades. In the last week of summer, when I would enter freshman year, my mother got an infected cyst in her arm. With multiple visits to the ER, clinics, and taking care of her infection myself, I started to have a kindlin over medicine. Then in November, when my mother suffered from Bell's Palsy, my heart was set on curing people. Medicine is one of the toughest fields to study, so as soon as the year started, I made up my mind that I would earn that 4.0 and graduate as valedictorian. I mean, I did not go blind-sighted into the career; I volunteer at my local hospital inside the emergency department to get first-hand experience. In contrast, it fueled my dream to become an emergency room physician. Already taking college classes through Washington State University, I know the cost of what this career can entail and the course load that it carries with it. However, I have a dream to become a doctor, so the cost or how hard it is will have no effect on the end goal. I want to help someone’s mom when they can no longer take care of themselves, learn all the complex organizations of the human body, and most importantly, help save lives.

I have set my mind to becoming a physician. Although it was not apparent growing up, most of the people I went to school with were poor. Living in a trailer park, having no public transportation, and living in what is called a ghetto community really did not settle in when I was a kid. However, my community did try their best to make sure that we, the children, would not fall behind in our education. Since our trailer park was located 20 minutes from the center of the city and almost 30 minutes away from the nearest library, most of our parents did not want to go out and take us to the library to check out books. However, my parents were the exception. They understood the importance of education and the need for knowledge. They taught me valuable lessons that still impact me today. My community put out a request saying that the children of our neighborhood needed an education and to bring books to them so they could check them out. I remember vividly going into this library bus filled with hundreds of books and checking out 2–5 every week. Sometimes, I forget how much I enjoy reading in my free time and the memories I had growing up with them. Thanks to this library bus, I was able to learn English, continue to solidify my skills as a Spanish speaker, and have a good childhood because of it. Ever since I moved out, I have not been to the library much, and it really shows how bringing resources to people encourages them to use them instead of waiting for people to make that initial move. In my first year of high school, I became determined to pursue a career in the medical field. This was after I saw my mother suffer from Bell's palsy and a cyst in her arm. It was an awakening for me to realize that my community needs Latinos in the medical field. After much research and solidifying a volunteer position at my local emergency hospital, I was able to confirm that my community needed Latino representatives in the medical field. I have only worked in emergency escorting for about 3 months, and I can't count the countless times that Latino parents and children have felt relief when they realized someone could understand their pain and frustrations. Being the first one to greet them at the door and knowing that in the hospital there is someone who will not dismiss their symptoms or concerns is such a relief to the Latinos in my community. As long as I have worked in the hospital, I have not seen one single Spanish-speaking physician, and it truly saddens me.  The effects my community has had on me, from allowing me to learn English to motivating me to continue studying to become a physician, are something I will forever be grateful for. I am lucky to have a wonderful community and supportive family that wants me to succeed, and I hope to accomplish those goals of mine. To become a Chicana doctor who can give back to the community that allowed me to become a doctor is the greatest goal in my life.

I desire a bookshelf filled with love, fantasy, color, and people who act like me. A bookshelf that encompasses my life and my thoughts and is a narrative of how life has treated me; a place where it reminds me of the good things in life and the horrible in them as a reminder of how lucky I am. Books that I can look at and see a point in my life, a book I can relate to. A book that I would include would be The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins. Not only was it the first book that I was influenced to read, but it was a book that I could not get out of my mind. That book reminds me of ambition, the drive that it takes to become famous, and how that will influence my love life. A character like Evelyn, who would do anything to get famous and who strives to become better but, at the end, is just human, reminds me that whatever I do will only be left here and that my legacy and the actions I took will stay. Similarly, A Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir sounds like an empowering book. A book that mixes romance and fantasy but also explores the power of being a woman—a woman who would do anything to make sure that her family is safe. Complex love interests, the world they live in—it would be a perfect match for my bookshelf since it is highly recommended in the #BookTok community for its great story building and how it catches the audience attention. As a female, I love books where the main protagonist is a woman and is a great character whom I may look up to. The Name Bearer by Natalia Hernandez is a book where all the characters are Latine, and as a Latina, I am glad to see representation. The cover is beautiful, with colors that are comforting to me. The large diversity in love and representation in the book is a great addition to my bookshelf. With magic elements and Latine symbolism, I would see myself loving this book. This book may not be for everyone, but as a Latina who loves fantasy, love, and strong female characters, it is a must-have on my bookshelf. Finally, to finish my bookshelf, I would include the book You Sound Like a White Girl by Julissa Arse, a book about the experience of what it is to be a Mexican American in the United States. Not only is it a book that represents me entirely, but so do thousands of other Mexican Americans living in the United States. It reminds me that it is important to keep my head up high and that everything I do is for myself and my worth. I am the person who is proud of my accomplishments and what I make of my life. As someone who likes seeing the world from a different perspective, this book sounds like it will place me in the millions of instances that I have already lived and pick at them one by one to break me. It is a must-have, a book that will remind me of who I am and what everyone else thinks of me, but it is also empowering. It empowers me to become better, to prove everyone wrong, to become someone in life, and to break generational traumas. These books were recommended by a diverse set of people, and I hope that people who read from my bookshelf, see who I am!

I have a deep appreciation for my parents. First, they gave me life and raised me to become a young lady. What they never thought they could have done for me was inspire me to pursue a career in the medical field to help them. They came to the United States with so little and raised me in Pasco Washington, where the only work for immigrants is picking apples, and cherries, or working in construction. Due to the lack of money, my parents worked 12–16-hour shifts at a time. I was raised by myself and learned quickly how to take care of myself at a young age. However, once my sisters were born, we were closer to being broke than ever before. This got to my dad, and he was later diagnosed with diabetes 1 year later and pneumonia. My sisters becoming sick so often didn’t help the bills stacking up and the credit cards declining. My dad then got surgery for kidney stones and was hospitalized for 2 days, all these bills kept stacking and stacking and we didn’t have anyone to turn to. I honestly don’t know how we got out of that place; I just know that my parents never stopped working and they always gave their best to make it seem everything was fine. I always have believed that I have gotten my determination and the ability to be “chingona” from my parents. After 2017, life began to become balanced, until the job that my mother put too much stress on her, and she got diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy, a neurological disorder that paralysis half of the face. Not only that but she later had grown a cyst on her armpit near her breast, she got it checked out and they determined it was just a cyst. But this cyst was so painful for my mother, it was the type of pain where she couldn’t move her arm, she couldn’t write, hand out food, sweat, couldn’t even touch it. What the nurse didn’t check was to see if it was infected, and one day, my father just checked it and found it was infected, so we took out all the dead skin, treated it with antibiotics and kept it gauzed. The sight of my mother being in pain from something so small, and not being able to help her, inspired me to want to learn why things like that happen. Taking care of my mother was one of the experiences that made me interested in becoming a nurse or a doctor. Being exposed to the common diseases that Hispanics get because of work. A lot of Hispanics sometimes think that their work is more important than their body, however, I want to teach them that their body is only one, and that work can be replaced by anyone. I want to help the Hispanic community by making them realize that they have to take care of their health. In simpler words, it was my parents who inspired me in pursuing a career in the medical field. To them and my community, I will dedicate my career, my tears, and my sweat. Just like they gave up their home, their country, and their family for a better future, I will dedicate my life to helping people like my parents.

Being a first-generation Chicana from a Mexican household, standing out in my community is the only thing I have been good at. As I have grown older, I have noticed that not everyone gets to grow old, or gets to experience going to places. Living in the Tri-Cities has taught me that it's either you work in the fields or you go to school and get out of this place. Going to college will help me get ready to become a doctor and help out my community. When I was a kid, my parents told me that if I wanted to be someone in life I would have to leave the Tri-Cities and get an education. It is not like this place is bad to live in, but it is the job opportunities that are given. My mother always advises me, "Become someone better, doesn't matter what you study in college but go to it." When my mom was younger, she wanted to be a nurse, but that dream didn't last long because she came to the United States. She came to the United States and worked in the fields till she had knee surgery. My father also works in the fields but he suffers from diabetes. I have 2 little sisters who are also planning on going to college. Both of my parents work their hardest to provide food and a roof over our heads. In reality, I know that their work isn't going to be enough to pay for college for any of us. As a high school student, I am so lucky to have my parent's support in going to college. I know many parents who think that going to college is a waste of money and that if they did have the money, their child is not smart enough for that. I believe everyone can go to college and become someone in life, however, I am not saying it is easy. Becoming a doctor is not easy, they have to study and work for about 8 years, but as my mother has told me, "Is the 8 years that a doctor studies enough to save a life? Doctors are every day taking care of people and they can't make a mistake or else they could kill someone." Those 8 years are a lot of debt, however, the profession I want to pursue can save lives and that is what I want to do in life. Going to college will help me pursue that career and help me save lives. I know I won't have my parents for much longer but I know that if I go to college and become a doctor, their efforts will not be in vain.

My name is Ashlee, not the Anglo-Ashley that everyone confuses me with. I am Ashlee, a student that comes from 2 Mexican parents that came with nothing but now are giving me their everything. My mother chose this name because each letter is an initial to one of my family members. A stands for my grandpa, Alfredo. S stands for my grandma, Susana. H stands for my dad, Humberto. L stands for my grandma, Lucila. E stands for my mom, Elsy. Finally, E stands for my mom's brother, Erik. I don't have a family member whose name starts with a Y. These people are my pride, all of the work I do, everything I say, do, and write, it is all for them. My grandma, Susana, passed away when I was 5 years old. I always looked up to her because she was so poor in Mexico that she could barely afford to buy food, but she still helped out people. She was a nurse in Jalisco, Mexico, and many people can't afford healthcare. My grandma didn't care if people were going to pay her, but she always went and took care of the sick/injured just because she wanted to help them. I look up to her because I want to be a doctor who helps people who are sick or injured. I want to give back all the help people gave me by helping their friends and families. I could go on and on about how much these people have helped me in my life from them seeing me take my first steps, and going to school, to me growing up. I love that I carry their names whenever they say mine. It means that they will always be there for me even after they're gone. It is important to me that when a person says my name they see the brown rich skin color my parents gave me, the black hair my grandma gave me, the wavy hair my grandpa gave me, and the intelligence of my dad. The power my name will have is going to save lives. I want people to remember my name as the name that saved their daughter, their mom, their dad, or their grandma.