My freshman year of high school, I was stuck inside an oyster. A metaphorical one—I was new to the district, so I had no friends that I could rely on during the first few weeks of school. I couldn’t form an actual connection with anyone, only slight small talk and forced, awkward conversations while working on assignments. Even when I had made my first friend group, I never felt truly in place. More often than not, they just left me to eat by myself, not informing me where they were or what they were doing. I hated it. However, forcing myself out there seemed to hurt more than constantly being overlooked did. So I stayed within my oyster, marinating in my own resentment. That all changed, however, when I walked into my agriscience class for the first time. Craig Bal stood there, with his somehow charismatic crooked smile. He was a former Marine, and you could tell. He was massive and imposing, and somehow you could tell he was different from the other teachers. Despite all this, though, I could tell he truly cared about his students. Over the next few weeks, I found myself laughing at his jokes in class, participating more and more, and being inspired by his drive and dedication to ensuring that his students left the classroom with lifelong skills. He taught us how to artificially inseminate a heifer, how to castrate a calf, and most importantly, how to work hard. Eventually I applied to be an FFA officer and got accepted. He was the advisor of my chapter, so he taught me and my other officers important life lessons. Always show up 45 minutes early, or else you’re late. I began to wake up early for school, setting up several alarms so I was always early to an important event. Working hard puts us above the curve. I delved into my studies, practiced hard for every test, and constantly edited and revised my essays. Mr. Bal taught me important lessons in life, and he pried open my oyster. One day while I was printing out something in his office for him, he walked in with my friend and joked, “Remember freshman year, Carlos? I didn’t think he was going to make it. " In that moment, I realized how far I had come; I had turned from a shy and avoidant freshman into an outstanding senior who will put himself out there and work relentlessly for what I dream of. Mr. Bal has given me the work ethic I need to pursue a degree in a mathematics-related field. I couldn’t be more grateful for him stepping up and becoming our very own David Foster.

I was separated from my mother and father as a child. They were arrested and sent to jail for crimes I didn't know about. My mother was released early, while my father is still currently in jail.Thankfully, my grandma had adopted me as soon as possible to prevent me from going into the foster system. Despite the rough beginning in my relationship with my parents, they both cared about me. Leading them to better themselves in order to make them feel like they belonged in my life. Tragically, my freshman year of high school, disaster struck. My mother had suffered a stroke, and her side of the family hadn’t told me. I was devastated, she couldn’t even walk or talk correctly. In the next coming months she suffered more strokes, I was always horrified that the next one would put her in the ground. She never gave up though, she relearned to walk about three times. The worst part for me was seeing how it affected who she was. On bad days, she couldn't even string words together. Sometimes she just becomes really emotional and begins to cry right in front of me, leaving me to navigate my feelings and comfort her as she sobbed.I grieved the fact that she will never be the same as she once was. However, I realized that in grieving who she once was, I was disrespecting the monumental work she has put in to become who she is now. She’s forced herself to lose weight, been in the hospital more times than I can count, and has been forced to relearn to walk several times. I never realized that she was the same mom that I once knew, my grief was blinding me from recognizing her signature hard-working nature, and refusal to give up. My mom wanted me to have a woman in my life that is strong, relentless, and never backs down in the face of adversity. The best part is, she played that role perfectly; I dragged through long days at school and by myself thinking about what could've happened to her and what would've happened if the stroke had just never happened, but seeing my mom doing so well despite all she had faced made all that worth it. My mom is the reason I try, the reason I love, and the reason I give. She taught me that I can push through bad days, bad assignments, bad grades, and come out alright in the end. My mom gave me the resilience to work, and as I’m aiming for a Mathematics related degree, I cannot be more thankful.

When I was a baby, my mom left me alone on a mattress in a house full of drug-users. Sometime later CPS had forced my parents to hand over custody to my grandma. This is where my Nana came in; she immediately attempted to adopt me and the judge told my Nana to convince my Nana to sign the parental rights to adopt. My Mom and Dad agreed and I spent the rest of my childhood with my Nana in an okay set of apartments. She was 58 when she adopted me and is still working at 73. I wanted to be like her, a hard worker who’s stubborn and never backs down. Due to living in a single-parent household, we weren’t the richest. Sometimes I envied other kids who were able to live so elegantly in a house with multiple dogs, but I was so grateful for the people in my family. I dreamed of having a house with 4 dogs and a kid, and promised myself to never stop working hard like my Nana, but work smarter to achieve that dream. Living in a single-parent house with low-income aspired me to attempt a dog-grooming business to work hard and for myself. My Uncle was dog-crazy. When I was 15 he had around 7 dogs in one house and I visited him a lot for football games. I never cared about the football though, you could always catch me around the dogs making sure every single one of them felt loved. This made me think I wanted to be a Veterinarian, working hard all around at school to make sure I had good enough grades for Vet school. However I faced a rude awakening in freshman year of high school. I did more research on the life of Vets and decided I couldn’t handle the deaths of dogs being on my hands and the countless hours they work. After some soul-searching I decided I really liked dog-grooming, but something about it was mundane to me. The financial ceiling I always had and the lack of control always bothered me. My Nana waking up at 3 am and getting back home at 2 pm made me angry. I didn't want my own time in somebody else's hands. I wanted control over my time and my hours, so I had an idea. I loved Starbucks, Eegees, Dutch Bros, and Scented Leaf. I thought that by integrating a cafe in the dog grooming store, I could soften the blow of waiting for your dog and going out somewhere else to eat and create a safe and stable community for pets and their families.

In 2016, an 8-year-old me rushed through the theater; I was ecstatic and practically shaking to watch this specific movie. It wasn't some normal blockbuster, it was my favorite giant lizard: Godzilla. Shin Godzilla was a 2016 Japanese kaiju film directed by Hideaki Anno; a Japanese animator and filmmaker. The movie depicted a horrifying monster, this iteration's Godzilla, rampaging throughout Japan while evolving too fast for its body to handle. It also demonstrated the Japanese government's response to the catastrophe; a series of many slow, agonizing meetings trying to find a way around red tape that contrasted with the desperation and panic of the citizens being attacked. Shin Godzilla had a major impact on my life by inspiring me to think and analyze media on a deeper level than most. However, this movie subverted everyone's expectations in one way: Godzilla barely had any screentime. Despite being a movie about a giant lizard attacking Japan, the movie was packed full of what some considered "mundane" scenes of government meetings. Most found the movie boring and tedious. Its general audience thought it had too many meetings and decided it really wasn't that good; I, on the other hand? I loved it. The film was less about the monster's devastation to Japan and more about the incompetence of the politicians as they conducted useless meetings while thousands were in panic. It was the perfect example of government inaction in film. Pampered men in suits taking such a long time to attempt and save the Japanese citizens who were in danger of being killed by a giant monster. It was the proper and best possible response to the tsunami that scarred Japan. A mockery and criticism of the system that didn’t protect them when the time came for it. To me, the movie was a literary masterpiece. Shin Godzilla was my introduction to dissecting themes and deeper meanings in media while also being my first actual introduction to such public government. Giving me a head start when it came to analyzing papers in school and also inspiring me to read more deep literature like Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. I was able to look past the surface themes and properly analyze the suffering of Godzilla and how the inaction of the government ultimately ended up costing many more lives than necessary. This would prove to be an invaluable skill to have later on in high school where I was expected to have a expanded understanding of media literacy and comprehension of themes.