I am pursuing an associate's degree in Veterinary Technology to become a full time veterinary technician after completing the VTNE. My background in animal welfare comes extensively from volunteering with animal rescues during high school, totaling 200+ hours of volunteering. During my volunteer service with the local animal rescue, I walked the dogs, cats, and other animals available for adoption and educated the general public about the benefits of spaying/neutering their pets. It sparked an immense love and passion to care for animals and make sure they enjoy a good quality of life. I learned to handle cats, dogs, and rabbits through this animal rescue and I hope to continue learning more about animal care, anatomy and physiology through my Veterinary Technology associate's degree. I have always had a large interest in working with animals. I would consume any books and documentaries about animals voraciously, absorbing as much knowledge as I can about their conservation and care. I know many animals require specific environments. For example, cats benefit from environments with lots of enrichment, toys, and height. Dogs often require an active lifestyle with walkable areas and readiness to provide daily walks and regular grooming. There are dog breeds that have multiple layered coats, which need differing shampoo/conditioning treatments. By learning constantly about animals in various ways, I can educate others about proper ways to care for their pets and identify areas where we could improve their surrounding environment. My goals for serving animals in the future is to become a fully licensed veterinary technician by passing the VTNE and work with small animals (primarily dogs and cats) through local vet clinics after graduation. In my early career as a veterinary technician, I would work with pet owners to diagnose and treat their pets, provide medicine, administer IVs, and collect blood samples. Through that, I can improve the quality of life for the animals that come through the vet clinic and ensure suffering and neglect is reduced as a direct result of my work. I would also seek to educate pet owners on any medical procedures that could extend the lifespan of their pets. If I have the opportunity after working in vet clinics, I would love to expand on my knowledge of exotic animals and work for a zoo to conserve animals. Many animals are currently endangered and humans have encroached on their natural surroundings. I would be overjoyed to be able to contribute to preserving their species. Animals are essential to the well being of our ecosystems and can provide innumerable benefits for pet owners through psychological safety.

When I was laying down staring at the ceiling of my room every morning, barely being able to move a finger, I remember wondering why I was still working toward a career and what worth or value I held. Those days where my depression and struggles with chronic pain and scoliosis overwhelmed me, shape how I view my future. I envision a workplace where the culture is welcoming of all kinds of people and creates a learning environment where anyone can make mistakes, can take mental health breaks, meditate and receive proper nourishing care outside of the job. This is why I am choosing companies that not only talk the talk for supporting diversity and inclusion, but ones that actually walk alongside those with mental health needs. Those companies and nonprofits are the ones I want to work for. Mental health issues gave me greater empathy and compassion for people outside of my own circle and to give grace and leniency to everyone around me. Mental health is an invisible issue, similar to my scoliosis, and just as I would wish people to understand my pain, I wish to give others that same respect. This is why I try my hardest to be open minded and explore new cultures, religions, and see people as human whether they have a home or lost a home. I love talking to people and exploring their world in as much depth and color as possible because it brightens my life to see them grow. I believe that people have the capacity to bounce back and work their way back from their mistakes as long as their actions prove they have made a change. I have learned so much from my mental health issues, and I trust that vulnerability can bring me the best people into my life. By sharing our pains and leaning on one another, we can broaden and bring more love into the world even when everything looks painful and taking one step out of bed may be too much. I learned to appreciate myself. I used to belittle my own achievements and never felt like I was enough. By asking how others see me and reaching out to different friends, I realized I am not alone and I have more than proven my right to be here. While depression has definitely driven people away and scared even my own parents and family members who do not know how to deal with me, I also take it as an example to teach them and open their eyes. Having depression does not mean I lack capabilities. It does not mean that I am overly emotional and overreacting. Depression alone does not define me. I am more than my mental health issues and I have enabled my Asian American parents to understand that issue better. I educate them about mental health issues that are rarely or never spoken about in Chinese culture. I believe these issues have brought me a closer relationship with my parents when I explain what triggers a deep emotional response and finally learning to set boundaries as a young adult. It has been a long journey and there is still much more to travel. When it comes to my future and my career, I know there will be dips and rises in the way I deal with depression and scoliosis, but I believe that things will eventually come back up. I will get through this night to the next tomorrow. I want to be the example that I was lacking and I want to promote more visibility on mental health issues in Asian American first generation children. By venturing into companies and posting more videos and articles about our struggles, we make ourselves seen. I aspire to be a woman in STEM working with data and storytelling and broadening others' understanding of what it means to be Asian. There is no particular look to what depression should look like and how people with depression behave. I want people to see me outside of depression because it is only one way to describe me. I will continue to volunteer and serve organizations for animal rights, financial literacy, and sustainability because it brings me joy and serving others gives me meaning even when I am struggling to make sense of myself.

No-code will help cut down the time and attention needed to design all the elements of a basic website, hosting platform, and interactive page elements, and allow me to actively pursue the content creation, research, basically the "meat" of the dish that I have wanted to create for so long. When I took my first computer science class in high school, coding was incredibly challenging. It took so much time for code to be written, debugged, and was highly intimidating for someone who had not been able to touch and own a personal computer until much later in life. I imagined that it would be simple- a click and we are done; however, there is learning a completely new language, being thrown into unfamiliar interfaces, and encountering rigid syntax structures to deal with. For something that generates so much opportunity and flexibility in career paths and entrepreneurial opportunities, coding is difficult for any average person to start understanding and implementing. No-code tools open up doors for people like me to create these websites that assist first generation Asian Americans and other immigrant students from exploring the high school path, financial aid tuition options, and upwards into career path education. I had coded one very such website from scratch with HTML and CSS with big aspirations to assist people from a similar background. It was not only ugly, but failed to function properly and the dimensions and design made it look untrustworthy. While it vaguely fulfilled what I wanted, I dreamed of accomplishing more. I wanted this website to act as its own entity, funneling students through all these resources I had created and additional videos that I could add that would make the whole process less scary. I wanted to pave a path that had a variety of options for every first generation student of the next years to come. I dreamed that every first generation student could say they know what a subsidized loan means, they know how to fill out a job application and make a resume, and it all happened in one place. I want other first generation Asian Americans to see me and know that "Hey Christine made it, so can I". That visibility and representation would have meant the world to me. I hope I can also bring to life the future business I want to create. It will be a certified B corporation with a mission focusing on sustainability and circular supply chains, with social justice, diversity and inclusion, and volunteering initiatives and policies that benefit my employees, such as paid maternal leave and mental health days. I will focus on providing technological solutions paired with customer service solutions and outreach on the ground. I am reimagining the financial services industry with a personalized approach and a genuine enthusiasm to help. Making financial literacy education a mission to reach 100% of people. No-code tools will allow me to reach a whole new world of experiences that my level of expertise in coding would not.