Even though I don’t major in Mathematics, it’s a subject that is truly special to me. Math is a language. It’s like its own art form that paints its way into every corner of our everyday lives, and the more I understand its complexities, the more I appreciate every piece of it. Part of my love for math must have to do with the positive experiences with my math professor at Hartnell Community College. She was sweet yet strict, but I never felt like I couldn’t ask questions or was dumb for asking in the first place. The only homework that semester that I could work on even if I was tired without having to drag myself through it was math because it didn’t require me to have an opinion on anything. I just had to follow the formula to find the answer! Of course, I liked math before that class, and I was disappointed that my community college only required a single math class for the general education requirements, but I suppose that is for the best. Math certainly is not for everyone, and even a single math class might be extremely overwhelming amidst other classes, and many find it very difficult to comprehend in general. You might be surprised based on how highly I speak of math, but I am also struggle to learn new math! Of course, math I already understand is a piece of cake, but I have never cried more while doing homework than when I’m trying to understand a math problem for the first time, or even worse when I only understand the first half of the problem and then trial and error my way to victory. That’s what makes it feel so awesome when I finally understand what I’m doing and all the pieces fall into place like a perfect puzzle. Not to mention, math creates everything else we love in life! Numbers and equations are everywhere we look, ranging from the simple problems that we don’t even need to think to solve, to the ones that take hours to get right. Baking is math with its ratios of factions. Computers are math with their code. Construction is math with each carefully measured and placed brick and pillar. Even art is math with its perspectives and angles! If anything is keeping our world held together, I’m glad it’s math and all it's properties.

The world is full of amazing people that put their lives on the line for others. I can only give my utmost respect for all of the people in the medical field, public defense, and educators that have served all of us as we’ve gone through our lives. Sometimes, I consider those positions and wonder why I can’t take one of them and find some worth in myself. Because if I was a doctor, I could help people, save people, and give people a second chance at life. I want so dearly to help people in the world like others do for me. But, it’s not something I do. All of my interests for careers are in creative fields like art in animation and creative story writing. I make animations and write stories. Sometimes I wonder why I don’t pick a different path, and still continue as I do. But, then I remember that I am this way for a reason, as all things are. We are all carefully crafted pieces of the puzzle of our human world. I animate because the art form in other people’s projects connects with me on a personal level with its visual communication, and I write stories because of how precious the fiction and characters within them have been when I needed something to connect with and cling to. I remember when I was suicidal and in a deep state of depression that didn’t see a future for myself. It wasn’t the “big things” in life that kept me alive the next day, but the silly things, ironically spiteful things, and things someone else might consider cringe, stupid, or utterly meaningless. But it was meaningful enough for me to be inspired and take the next step toward healing, and I know it might’ve been for someone else as well. We don’t always realize how heavily influenced we are by the media that we consume, and sometimes a silly story can really make the difference in someone’s life. Even just seeing a character that looks like you, or shares traits with part of yourself that you feel makes you worthless, can change someone’s outlook of themselves. With this in mind, I want to create fictional stories for people to indulge in that give them hope and joy. I want my fictional characters to give people something to see themselves in so that they can believe in themselves and believe that they are worth something. In these past years, I have been given a new perspective thanks to my walking through life with God and healing from my depression, and I don't need to base my will to live around those things anymore, but I still think that other people should have something precious, like I have had, until they can find their peace in living life to the fullest. The authors of those stories I read and the artists behind the pictures I looked up to may have not been doctors who could give me medicine or the teachers who tried to educate me, but they were certainly individuals I can thank for keeping me safe and alive during my darkest moments, and giving me the creative space to feel like myself. I can only hope to do the same for someone else with my work, and give back to others for everything I’ve been blessed with.

Hello, my name is Celeste. Photography is something that is special to me, and I will hopefully be able to take a few classes on it! There is something so warming about keeping a moment in time with you forever, and because of this, the only thing I love more than pictures is videos. I don’t have an actual camera besides my phone right now, or any professional experience with what good photography should look like, so I hope my little attempt here at something fun is worth the time and effort. I’ve been working on this portfolio for a little over a month now. At first, I didn’t really know what kind of pictures I wanted to include. I know I enjoy taking pictures, but what kind? I normally take pictures that I wouldn’t consider “portfolio worthy” since they are rather random, blurry at times, or too personal to show. However, when I started taking pictures, I found that I leaned toward taking pictures of nature. Plants, water, the sky, and images that show distance were very common indeed. What I ultimately decided was to include some kind of natural lighting, meaning from the sun, with also some kind of greenery, meaning plants. This is evident with the four pictures I presented here. Another aspect of note is that each of the pictures are taken at different times throughout the day. The first image, the sun shining behind purple borage flowers, is taken in the morning while the last image, the sunset over my school campus, is taken in the evening. I also tried to make the images taken to have a certain whimsy to them. It was a kind of perspective that makes everything look out of proportion. I don’t know if that makes any sense, but you might be able to see it a little bit. I planned to take a picture at night as well to really finish the group, but I struggled to make my iphone camera actually capture the moonlight the way I wanted. It ended up too blurry, or not enough pieces were in focus. I absolutely love the night sky and all the glitter spread across it, and that’s something I can dream of being able to capture in the future. Thank you for the opportunity to try and grow my skills, and have a fun time while doing it.

Hello. My name is Celeste, and I am involved in my community by volunteering at my local Library and Church. I wish I was more social because I always enjoy helping others. I intend to help wherever I can in the future when it comes to the people and communities around me. Realistically, I know that there is only so much time and energy I will have. I cannot rely on volunteering to survive, and will need to find a stable paid job. I’m sure the rest of my time would be used on schoolwork. If I don’t qualify for scholarships, I am unsure I would be able to attend at all. I come from a low-income household, and there is absolutely no way my family could support me financially while I attend college. Most universities are far enough that I might have to move to attend. Paying for both living expenses and college fees while attending full-time, will not be possible without some kind of external support. Otherwise, I might take quite a few extra years until I am stable before I can! As for the question about keeping children or youth safe from bullying, I honestly wish I had an answer. I am very fortunate to have no first-hand experience being exposed to in-person bullying as I have been homeschooled my whole life. However, despite growing up during the 2020 pandemic causing me to have even less social experience, it has exposed me to what online bullying is like on social media. I don’t even know why people say the terrible things they do, or even if they think about it before they do. I wonder why it matters so much what someone does in their free time if their not hurting someone, that you should say to kill yourself. It’s something that sadly becomes ignored after a while. Someone may be able to delete their responses, chats, or comments if they receive backlash or are accused of something, and that may incentivize thoughtless actions because there is little consequence. The only idea that I try to implement when talking with or about anyone is to love and give the benefit of the doubt. I try to think that maybe, if we actually remembered that we are talking to people, real people with thoughts and feelings just like yourself, we might take a moment to think before we speak. And if someone else is the first to say something rude, give them the benefit of the doubt that something is going on in their life, and this is their escape from it. The best advice that I can give is to not interact. positive or negative feedback to their actions only motivates them to do it again. I don’t know if this is a naive way of thinking, but it sure is a positive one. I just hope it’s something that’s had a positive impact. Thank you for this opportunity.

Hello, my name is Celeste Cruz. There isn’t anything that I don’t love about writing with a deep passion. Even if at times revising is lengthy, or showing others is difficult because of embarrassment, the whole process is a journey to love. Although, I cannot ignore the dread inside when becoming engulfed in the feeling that your writing doesn’t matter in the slightest. Sometimes I think it might be better to pursue a career that provides a stable income and allows me to become a productive turning gear in society. I could become a doctor, social worker, teacher, or some other occupation that directly helps people. I do want to help people after all, and sometimes I ask if that would be the best route for me. But regardless of what path I might choose or ponder choosing, I know at the end of the day I wouldn’t stop writing. I couldn’t stop writing. It wouldn’t matter if I had a keyboard or pencil and paper. Writing is a part of my life that lets me express myself in a way that nothing else will satisfy. I know others feel the same, whether they write for themselves or not. Stories create safe places for people to escape or inspire people to be better, poems express feelings that may be difficult to accept but help people not feel as alone, and little phrases and quotes give something small to hold onto throughout the day. I couldn’t agree more that “words create worlds,” because I have worlds inside my head that both come from my subconscious in the form of dreams and thoughts that come from my maladaptive daydreaming while I listen to my lectures. Other people’s words created worlds for me to wallow in my fears and sorrows, and to lift me into creating joy and satisfaction. This is something that has been a part of me since my writer uncle gave me a notebook when I was five, and I never stopped. As for how I’ll write in college. I do have some short-term and long-term goals. I don’t ever plan to stop writing, as I often write short poems or short stories to help let out life’s frustrations or joys. Those would be my short-term goals that I continue to exert now also. Long-term, I plan to write fantastical book series with the knowledge I acquire as I go through college. The subjects include psychology, language, art, math, science, and history. With this, I will create worlds that are friendly to a variety of readers, including me who has a sensitive palate to violence and other topics when reading. I desire to write books with proper representation when it comes to mental and physical disorders and disabilities. If I’m clever enough, I’d love to include themes and aspects that teach important skills and lessons and inspire people to learn, just like others have done for me. Thank you for giving me this opportunity, for as much as I love to write, I also love to talk.

I want to say the question should be closer to, “What won’t I do with my life?” But it would realistically be the same lost amount on either side. I won’t be anything other than some form of artist. I will write stories, and create artworks and animation to portray them, but I also want to learn all about human psychology, math, writing, language, music, cinema, and everything else. I cannot realistically major in every subject, but I can regardless use everything I learn to further develop the heart of my stories and make them more lifelike, informative, and factual with proper representation of serious topics. I will work with other creators, artists, and other professionals to hear their ideas and to have a better understanding of subjects that I do not focus on in school. If there are any of them with the ambition to create stories, it would be just as fulfilling to help them achieve their dreams in the field as it would to realise my own. I will create and draw and write until I’m old and I die regardless of how well it does because this is what I want to do with my life. As for how this would affect others, I have personally been positively impacted by other people’s art, books, and stories in all forms of media either because they created a new perspective, or gave an escape from my troubles in the “real” never ending world around me. Creating that is visibly filled with the love for its creation with realistic yet fantastical characters and a motivational message can inspire people to create themselves, leave them satisfied, or just give them a reason to keep trying the next morning. In addition, people are so diverse and intricate that not every piece of media or written story will impact them at all. Someone may hate my ideas, and another may love them. The same goes for every other person’s creations and their audience. The very fact that I am not those other creators means that my works will reach a different audience who may not have the media they desire. I bring this back to myself as I am someone who struggles to enjoy the mainstream because of my boundaries in what I consume. In short, there’s no reason to pick me. I’m just another artist in a sea of talented students.