Being a first generation and an immigrant know the struggle first hand I know what it is to not be able to pay for something because my parents will not able to afford rent. but being an only child, my family didn't want me to have a job because I would not focus my full attention on school, which is something I will always be grateful for. At home, I didn't only focus on homework I help translate important papers for my family since I am the only one who speaks and read perfect English so is my responsibility to do all the translation. This has taught me a sense of responsibility at a young age. I have seen how adults have to deal with paying bills and dealing with finances. I saw that not only is it stressful, but it makes you think of how much pressure and responsibility we face as we enter adulthood. After seeing people facing problems in my community, I decided to start volunteering. I volunteered in libraries and at food banks. Even though I may be facing issues within my own life, such as anxiety. I know these will never stop from persuading my dreams, and even though my problems may look big and scary to me, this will never stop because I have seen firsthand the sacrifices people around me have made to put me in the position I am in right now to be able to enter college, and also because I want to create a better future for myself and I want to be a part of the larger picture of showing others behind me that it is possible to face problems and situations and still be helpful and continue to participate in social activism and volunteering while dealing with your own personal problems. Is also possible to go out and follow your dreams even though they look impossible these dreams are possibilities. But a plan to make all this happen and help others around me see that even though dreaming big and seeing how your family has struggled with money, is still possible to be out there and be able to go to college and get a higher education even if the path looks difficult there is always help out there and always there is other people who had went through the same and know what sources you can use to be suceesful at college.

As an immigrant from El Salvador who moved to the United States at a young age but without knowing any English, it was hard to adapt. Even though I was 9 and a half, it was still hard since I came from a whole different environment with a whole different language. Even though English was spoken in the elementary school I attended, it was not the only language spoken in my elementary school or the places outside my house. At the time, I saw how challenging it can be for a person who doesn't speak any English to adapt to a whole new environment; how long it takes to even master a foreign language; and even how ashamed a person can feel because they don't speak the language. Another example will be how it affected my life outside school. I remember being scared of speaking English because I thought people would judge me because of my accent. It took me around two more years later to finally feel comfortable speaking out loud and not be afraid of speaking out loud, and it was not only myself who helped me finally speak and not be ashamed of myself, but my friend and my family members who told me that having an accent was beautiful and I should never be ashamed of it. No matter their legal status, immigrants can still be treated less favorably or discriminated against because of their immigrant status. For example, there are certain people who will tell them to go back to their country and to speak English. It has helped shape my ideas as an individual person who thinks everyone should be treated the same no matter where they come from or even how they look, but it has also helped shape what I want to be in the future as an immigration lawyer because I want to help those who are sometimes afraid of speaking because they feel they will get deported or not even be able to visit their families because they will not be able to enter the United States again even though they have been building a life inside the United States, and these are some of the main factors that have shaped my whole person, but also my will for learning and getting new knowledge every day since it makes me investigate and stay informed on current topics happening around the world.

Being a first-generation student has never been easy, and I expected nothing to be easy for me, not only because I am a first-generation student but also because I am an immigrant. At the age of nine and half, I moved from an environment that I was familiar with to a totally unfamiliar country. Even though there are many people who speak my first language, it was still difficult because I was away from people I had known my whole life. I was also entering a new school where I faced bullying from other kids who were in the same grade as me. I remember coming home and saying, "I don't want to be here, "Let me go home." Where my grandma and all my friends were, no one looked at me weirdly because I did not speak the same language and acted the same as them, and where I will not feel alone in the playground. And when I saw that my mother looked at me with a look of guilt, she told me that I should not let them put me down, which I did. I showed them that the new girl from a foreign country could smile no matter what they said about her and that she could still learn a lot. The level of bullying got to the point where they called me a wetback and said they would not play with me because they thought I didn’t have a green card; all of this shows me that even inside my own community, there is discrimination against people who don't have the same opportunities as others. I remember thinking that it would never be easy for me to make friends and that I would always be alone, but thankfully, I found beautiful people who stood up for me and defended me, which all helped me overcome the bullying because, as time passed, I stopped paying attention to everything they were saying about me, and the next year, they all stopped saying and treating me like a lesser person. Thankfully, now I can stand up for myself and just don't let people or comments affect me because I know I am much better, and when I am just facing bad times, I just take a moment for myself and remember that I matter and people will always have something to say even if you are persevering in life.

As an immigrant from El Salvador who moved to the United States at a young age but without knowing any English, it was hard to adapt. Even though I was 9 and a half, it was still hard since I came from a whole different environment with a whole different language. Even though English was spoken in the elementary school I attended, it was not the only language spoken in my elementary school or the places outside my house. At the time, I saw how challenging it can be for a person who doesn't speak any English to adapt to a whole new environment; how long it takes to even master a foreign language; and even how ashamed a person can feel because they don't speak the language. Another example will be how it affected my life outside school. I remember being scared of speaking English because I thought people would judge me because of my accent. It took me around two more years later to finally feel comfortable speaking out loud and not be afraid of speaking out loud, and it was not only myself who helped me finally speak and not be ashamed of myself, but my friend and my family members who told me that having an accent was beautiful and I should never be ashamed of it. No matter their legal status, immigrants can still be treated less favorably or discriminated against because of their immigrant status. For example, there are certain people who will tell them to go back to their country and to speak English. It has helped shape my ideas as an individual person who thinks everyone should be treated the same no matter where they come from or even how they look, but it has also helped shape what I want to be in the future as an immigration lawyer because I want to help those who are sometimes afraid of speaking because they feel they will get deported or not even be able to visit their families because they will not be able to enter the United States again even though they have been building a life inside the United States, and these are some of the main factors that have shaped my whole person, but also my will for learning and getting new knowledge every day since it makes me investigate and stay informed on current topics happening around the world.

There are many reasons why I want to attend school. The main ones are: because I wanted to be one of the first in my family to finish, and since it was the last wish of my grandfather to see me as a professional and get my degree in something I loved, and as I started to grow, I developed my love for the law field because I saw how it could help different people, and also because, as someone who comes from a developing country, I know how important education can be to young people, and as a woman who comes from a place where women sometimes are not seen in the law field because they think it will be too hard for them, I want to become one of those women in the law field because I want to close the gap between men and women getting a law degree and prove to a lot of people that women can also work in the field, I want to become one of those women who is trying to close the gap between women and men getting 

As an immigrant from El Salvador who moved to the United States at a young age but without knowing any English, it was hard to adapt. Even though I was 9 and a half, it was still hard since I came from a whole different environment with a whole different language. Even though English and Spanish were spoken in the elementary school I attended, the most common language everyone spoke was English inside my elementary school or in the places outside my house. At the time, I saw how challenging it can be for a person who doesn't speak any English to adapt to a whole new environment; how long it takes to even master a foreign language; and even how ashamed a person can feel because they don't speak the language I know all of this because I felt it during elementary. I was ashamed of speaking my native language and embarrassed since I had an accent and didn’t understand half of the things the teacher said. But it didn’t only affect my grades inside of school but also outside. For example, it affected how I behaved around my parents and strangers . I remember being scared of speaking English because I thought people would judge me because of my accent. It took me around two more years later to finally feel comfortable speaking out loud and not be afraid of speaking out loud, and it was not only myself who helped me finally speak and not be ashamed of myself, but my friend and my family members who told me that having an accent was beautiful and I should never be ashamed of it. And it was also my personal experience that made me realize what I wanted to do in life because I didn’t want people to feel ashamed because of their accent and legal status, which made me decide to become an immigration lawyer because I didn’t want people to feel shamed or scared that something was going to happen to them because of their legal status. Immigrants can still be treated less favorably or discriminated against because of their immigrant status. For example, there are certain people who will tell them to go back to their country and to speak English. It has helped shape my ideas as an individual person who thinks everyone should be treated the same no matter where they come from or even how they look, but it has also helped shape what I want to be in the future as an immigration lawyer because I want to help those who are sometimes afraid of speaking because they feel they will get deported or not even be able to visit their families because they will not be able to enter the United States again even though they have been building a life inside the United States, and these are some of the main factors that have shaped my whole person, but also my will for learning and getting new knowledge every day since it makes me investigate and stay informed on current topics happening around the world.

Celica It's not Cecilia or Celia. Celica: That's the name my biological dad gave me when I was born. I remember growing up in El Salvador and not knowing the meaning of my name. I remember my mother telling me that was the name of my biological dad's grandmother. The moment I heard that, I hated my name for someone who never felt any love and never saw her biological dad in her life. It felt like a curse to be called by the name of someone I despised, despite never meeting them and knowing they were related to someone who had done such damage to my young self. Everything got worse when I moved to Texas, where everyone started having to call me Celica since it was my first and legal name and none of my teachers knew how to pronounce it. They all said Celia or Cecilia. I remember thinking to myself, "Is my name really that complicated?" and feeling embarrassed to even correct them. Instead, I simply respond when they say Celia or Cecilia. But as I started high school, I started to get tired of them calling me Cecilia or Celia, so I started correcting them. But it was until one of my teachers asked me questions about the meaning of my name that it got me wondering what the meaning of my name was. Celia's name was heavenly, and Cecilia's name meant blind. All those names people called me for 17 years were not my names. For Celica, it was hard to find the meaning since it is a pretty uncommon name, even in the Hispanic community. I remember getting different meanings from different sources, but it wasn't until one family member told me "you know your name is pretty," and he asked me if I knew the meaning, which he told me was "la que vino del Cielo," which translates to the one who came from heaven, which to me it connects pretty well since most of the sources say celestial. It gave me a new sense of power over my name. I didn't have to connect anymore with someone who was never present in my life. I started to find it pretty, even though I grew up hating my name. The meaning was so beautiful and it meant so much since I grew up without love from my biological dad and to think he was never in my life. At least he gave me a beautiful name, which maybe to him meant something since I was his firstborn. He left something beautiful in my name, which taught me that no matter how weird a name may sound or spell, they all hold a beautiful meaning, and I am proud to say now that my name is Celia or Cecelia. My name is Celica, and I am the one who came from heaven.

I have many dreams and goals, but the main one is to be one of the first in my family to finish school and get a degree, since it was the last wish of my grandfather to see me as a professional and get my degree in something I loved, and as I started to grow, I developed my love for the law field because I saw how it could help different people.

As an immigrant from El Salvador who moved to the United States at a young age, but without knowing any English, it was hard to adapt. Even though I was 9 and a half, it was always difficult because I came from an entirely different environment with a completely different language. While English was spoken at the elementary school I attended, it was not the only language spoken in my elementary school or in places outside my home. At the time, I saw how challenging it can be for a person who doesn't speak any English to adapt to a whole new environment; how long it takes to even master a foreign language; and even how ashamed a person can feel because they don't speak the language. One example will be how it affected my life outside school. I remember being afraid to speak English because I thought people would judge me based on my accent. It took me around two more years later to finally feel comfortable speaking out loud and not be afraid of speaking out loud, and it was not only myself who helped me finally speak and not be ashamed of myself. But my friends and family told me that having an accent was beautiful and that I should never be ashamed of it, and at the end of the day, no one should be. But even today, we can still see discrimination against immigrants. Regardless of their legal status, immigrants can still be treated less favorably or subject to discrimination because of their appearance or even their way of speaking. All of these It has helped shape my ideas as an individual person who thinks everyone should be treated the same no matter where they come from or even how they look, but it has also helped shape what I want to be in the future as an immigration lawyer because I want to help those who are sometimes afraid of speaking because they feel they will get deported or not even be able to visit their families because they will not be able to enter the United States again even though they have been building a life inside the United States, and these are some of the main factors that have shaped my whole person, but also my will for learning and getting new knowledge every day since it makes me investigate and stay informed on current topics happening around the world.

As a person who is still in high school and sometimes cannot sleep thinking about how much college costs and wondering if I'm going to be able to afford it and pay or if I will have to take a loan to afford college, because as a first-generation student, college has always been in my plans since I was pretty young, and also as an independent person, I want to pay my own way in my career and get my grades to pay for it, because the last thing I want to do is put my parents in debt by worrying about my tuition.

A woman that has changed my life on a different level will be my grandmother since she started working at a young age, which did not give her time to attend a school which finishes letting that now my grandmother doesn't know how to write or read, since she comes from a poor family this doesn't give her resources to study. This never stops my grandmother after she has her seven children from raising them the best she could, and giving them the best education, she could, since money was not a problem, not more. She also raises some of her grandkids, which one was me, and always told us, ways to always save money and be good people to everyone, not mattering if they are poor or rich because she always says that money doesn't define your personality and how you should behave with people. What I can take from my grandmother is that never judge any base on how they look and their level of education, because behind them is a beautiful person with dreams and a life.

As an immigrant myself, it was hard for me to adapt to the American lifestyle, with the language I think it was just hard the first two years, and since I got bully the first year in America in my elementary school because I did not speak or understand English by some students. It took me some time to be comfy speaking English out loud because I thought people will bully me, and every moment someone was judging me because I got an accent when I speak it. Thankfully I also meet some of the most loyal and awesome people in those two years, that it did help me be more confident, not just with speaking and not caring what people thought about my accent, but also with mine self confident, with on those two years was almost destroy. since those two years, I still struggle with my confidence sometimes but is less and I'm really thankful for those people every day, and even if it sounds weird for the people who bully me because I know at first hands what is like to face discrimination just because you don't know the language and put aside because they think you're less. this specific even help not only my dreams but my attitude to others, which is always trying to be welcoming mostly when I know they just move from another country because I don't want them to face the same discrimination I face when I was just between ten and eleven. it did help mine dreams and vision for the future, because not only I want to become an immigration lawyer to help people who are just looking for a better future for their family, but it also makes me want to fight for the rights of POC and minorities because even today does not matter if we come from the same country or we share the same beliefs we still face discrimination because the way we dress or the if we speak English or not.

Growing up as an immigrant myself, it was really hard to adapt to a new environment, with a totally different culture to me, and not only that, but the language barrier was a big problem since I only knew Spanish and everyone around me was mostly speaking English. Most of the time back when I did not Spanish make me feel like an outcast and even embarrassed to speak Spanish. Until I find out beautiful people, which help grow in my English, but it also makes me feel more comfortable when I speak it. One of the things I hope to meet in life is to become a role model to the young ones in my family and making them attend college as a second generation of Salvadorans descent and but more representation in colleges and universities. I also plan to attend college myself, making me the first generation to attend college. another plan I have for myself is to become an immigration lawyer, this has always been my dream to help others get their legal status. this is because I know these people have suffered pulling themselves of nothing, in a country when they sometimes they don't even have a family or neither do they speak the language and they even face discrimination. giving them the hope that they can travel their family and homeland when they couldn't because of their legal status be sad, but them having legal status here will be easy for them. This will be my second main goal help minorities get their legal status and I know one day in the future this will become real and I will make my family proud and become that role, I know I could be to the younger generations of my family that no matter your dream it could become real.