Love in every form that love presents itself. I firmly believe that love is the meaning of life. Being in the career you love. Surrounding yourself with people whom you love. Having a partner whom you love. Living a life that one can be proud of and is truly happy. Love is the meaning of life. Having a passion or in other words a purpose. Emotions are strong to begin with, but the emotion love can be almost overbearing. There were plenty of times when I felt truly loved, as if I could complete everything that I set my mind to. After having gone through what seemed like an eternity I finally got to experience what love felt like and it wasn't the type of love from another individual. I received the love from a mother, the unconditional kind of love. Despite all of the pain I caused, my adoptive mother never quit loving me. She has never treated me as anything less than her daughter. Even if I'm not related by any means, she continues to love me as her own and it's so surreal to have someone not only love me but she loves my 3 siblings as her own as well. We've all given her a hard time, but she's never given up on us. When the woman who gave birth to me did without hesitation. That in itself speaks volumes. Simply loving my life and making sure I'm surrounded by everything that I genuinely love is my meaning of life. I've lived through a lot to realize a life without love would be meaningless and love is one of the strongest emotions. Love heals all wounds and my family that I have now taught me that religiously and I am thankful to them for that.

I grew up hearing America being called the “promise land” because everyone goes to America in hopes of creating a better life for themselves. Hispanics see America as a way out, it’s commonly influenced to head North for those who have families and children to give their children a better life. They face a great deal of obstacles, danger, poverty, discrimination. My birth parents fled for different but similar reasons as well. I was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico, yet I have no idea or remember anything about my hometown. I have family members that still live in Mexico, and I hear how hard it is to live in a place where there’s absolutely no respect or sign of a better life like I live in America. I have little cousins who are so grateful and happy about what they have and sometimes I forget what it means to live in America. Sometimes I forget that I am living a luxurious life by simply having an education, a loving home. I don’t need to worry about anything that I’d have to worry about if I still lived in Mexico. It’s a privilege to have such a nice school as I do. We have a newly built school; we have the freedom to get an education and continue if we genuinely want to. I am extremely fortunate enough to live in a place where I don’t need to worry about being robbed or if I can afford to go to school because there’s resources here that help pay for college. Even for those who are undocumented, there’s scholarships specifically for undocumented students if we look for them. I hope to take advantage of the opportunities that are presented to me. I know that I want to change the world for the better, but I don’t think I could do it without a proper education. The ability to say I want to go to college is a gift because not everyone can make that decision. I am going to use my college degree to shine light on undocumented students and represent them. I hope to help change the world by going directly to the source, which is youth. I hope to become a teacher or a counselor, I have been called to help people, especially because I know how scary it can be to grow up in a society where being undocumented meant that you cannot progress further in life because our status. I hope to help get rid of that stereotype and help others not fear their status and think less of themselves because of it. I’ll make sure that those undocumented students who dream bigger than anyone are heard because it’s an overwhelming process to understand that you have a dream, but no one that’s going to support you or to fund your dream. I hope to give those who need hope for a brighter future, I hope to be the answer to someone’s prayer. I am a firm believer that I went through all the hardships for a reason. I have a purpose to serve others and protect others, so I hope to use my college degree for exactly that. I will not let the efforts of my birth parents go in vain, even if I no longer have communication with them because they are unfit parents. I am and will be forever grateful for having brought me to the United States.

There have been teachers that have made a negative impact, others who have made a positive impact. From an early age, I knew that being a teacher is what I wanted to become. I had a tough childhood that prevented me from being the best I could've been in my academics. I had one teacher in second grade love and adore me as if I were hers. This was because she wanted to create a close relationship with her. I would always stay after school and help her clean up her classroom. Every day she let me stay after school to help her with whatever she needed. I began to enjoy staying after school with her. She never let me get behind in my academics because of things going on at home. She absolutely adored me, and I loved having her as my teacher. When the school year ended, she had thought we were going to go back to Mexico. She was so heartbroken, but after the summer, we decided not to leave. Ms. Ligget made an impact in my life because she was there for me when I felt that I had no one. She allowed me to get close to her, she looked after me as if I were her own. It made such an impact that it's what I had my eye set on growing up to be. I wanted to create close connections with my students and help create impacts in their lives. I remember how hard my childhood was and those good teachers helped make it better. I felt that I was worth not giving up on. As I started middle school, I found it hard to study or even focus on my academics because of my home life. My birth parents let our lives, by ours I mean, mine and my 3 siblings' lives. We were homeless and separated for 2 years. I couldn't think about my dreams anymore, I was given a bigger responsibility. I had to put my focus on my siblings, after we were rescued by my adoptive parents, everything changed. The things I went through, all the things that were endured for the greater good. I spent years raising my siblings as my own. I knew that despite what obstacles I had to face, one way or another, everything would work out in the future. I knew everything that happened wasn't for me, but for me. I wouldn't have been influenced to choose such a career if it weren't for the things I went through. I experienced firsthand how much impact teachers make on their students. Especially when those students need someone to show they care. I hope that when I become a teacher, that I will save and help my students just as I was saved. I believe that teachers can either save or ruin a student. I have been saved continuously, even if I've had hard and bad teachers, those teachers motivated me even more. I knew that when I had the chance, I'd be a better teacher and teach children that school isn't a waste of time and help show them that someone who also went through a hard time go through it and became something.

Doing the things that I love, while surrounding myself with people who I love. There are a lot of things that I am doing now that will create long-term benefits. I hope to keep a fitness level because I know that I need to have movement in my everyday life. I believe that if I am happy, if I am at peace with my life, that I live my every day without regret, without guilt, there should be nothing that could affect me. As someone told me, if you lead with love nothing else matters. Sometimes throughout life, we will meet people who don't care for themselves, which results in them taking it out on the world. They aren't leading with love, which is why love doesn't come to them. I hope to always lead with love, to never stop being grateful for the things that I do have, instead of focusing on what I don't. Appreciating the insignificant things in life is a perfect example of living a good and beautiful life. I sometimes get so caught up in the future or in the past that I forget that I am in the present, the only place that exists now. If I focus more on the present moment, never taking any opportunity for granted. That is another example of how I will live a long and beautiful life. Loving and enjoying life's smallest blessings and always giving nothing but the best.

VR I believe that it is a crazy way to play or to talk with other people. It feels like you are in another world and it's unbelievable. Things look so realistic that it's literally insane. I have seen countless videos of people online having so much fun with VR. This guy went I believe about 2 weeks without opening his eyes, he did everything on VR for about 2 weeks. He was able to watch TV and talk with people around the world. Do yoga with other people. It's crazy how much technology has advanced, and at such a rapid rate. I believe that people will be able to communicate with each other even easier now. I believe that maybe at one point people might just want to play on VR instead of interacting in person with one another. It's entertaining and allows for a new world to be unlocked. I have had the experience of playing with VR and it was insane. Especially when you play horror games. It's a fun thrill and something you can do with friends. I believe that at one point as well, if COVID doesn't seem to get any better, we could potentially have our classes through VR. It would even feel like real school. We could have the students and teacher interact with each other without any problems. This would be amazing to see. It would make it easier to learn if others are like me, I don't like distance learning because I love learning in person. There is just something about being in person, with teachers and students your age. VR really could help change the game if this pandemic doesn't seem to get any better. VR could help you become active too. I have seen VR sports games, you sweat as if you are playing any type of sport. This could even help those who believe they aren't good at sports. I believe VR is helpful in many ways other than just entertainment.

I realized that not everyone has the things that I have. I realized that when I was struggling. I was on the other side of the fence. I took for granted the home, the food, the stability, the love and care. Up until I had nothing, not even a home to go to. I never felt so alone in my life, but it taught me many things. I am now in a new, better family. I have never felt so loved and cared for. I want to make sure that I help those who will potentially go through the same. I make sure to always give back no matter what. If I see people that are in need, I will make sure that I can help them. If I see that people are struggling or suffering, I help no matter what. I tutor students in my AVID class who are first-year students. If I see a homeless person in the cold with their dog, I buy food and a blanket for them. It's hard to see people suffering while you are doing good. I feel that everyone deserves love and care regardless of their situation. I love people and helping is just a plus. If I have the means to help I certainly will without hesitation.

As naive as it might sound, I want to change the world for the better. How I will do that is by becoming the best teacher that I can possibly be. If I want to change the world, I must start by going directly to what our future starts with, which is children. If we do not correctly teach/guide the students of the future, if we fail them, they will fail society. It comes in full circle, but teaching isn't the only thing I hope to do. I understand that my purpose is to be an advocate for youth. I began to understand this is what I was meant to do, when I looked at my past, I looked at all the things that I went through. I realized that my whole life fell apart for a reason. My suffering needed to happen for me to use what I went through to help children who will potentially go through the same. I want to be the voice for those who cannot speak. Which might overlap into politics because sometimes I cry to my mom, and I tell her that there needs to be a change. There is a lot of injustice that happens, and it makes me want to fight for the world to be a better place. The world is such a beautiful place, but we humans create and make bad decisions that make this world a horrible place. I know that I am not the only person who wants to help create a better world for the future. I hope to help change the world for the better. Those are my goals for the future.

It has always been hard for me to be creative; I never saw myself as someone creative. It wasn't until recently that I figured out that I can be creative if it's something I want to do. There are things that I enjoy watching and that's YouTube and I love going on Pinterest. I get a lot of creative ideas from these apps. Which makes me want to be more creative. I try to apply creativity into school projects such as presentations and trying to add cool edits and cool templates. When writing notes, I try to write aesthetically pleasing notes, especially because it would help me engage even more in my notes. I put a lot of effort into having things that are pleasing to my eyes and fun to look at. Which means that I gravitate a lot to colors, I enjoy having colors. I also enjoy plain colors but only when it comes to some things. Color creates personality and brings me happiness. For example, my bed has stuffed animals, butterflies, cars, etc. I enjoy having a variety of things that bring me happiness. Things that bring out my personality. I try to show cute and aesthetically looking things. I still struggle being creative because I feel that isn't my best quality, but if I am trying, I feel that there isn't anything I can't do. Another thing I enjoy doing is surrounding myself with creative people, when I see my favorite YouTuber's do cool and creative things, I become inspired to do so as well. It's an effective way to see my creative side.

I am passionate about dancing, but not in a professional way. I enjoy doing this as a hobby. The specific dance that I enjoy doing is watching K-pop videos and I study these dances and learn the moves. Which has opened a doorway for me to believe that it's capable for me to dance. I have tried to practice at least an hour or two a day. It's something that I love doing, it's fun and in the end, I am moving my body. I make sure to put in time to practice a contemporary dance for about 2-3 hours. It may not be a major talent or something that I have been doing since my childhood, but it was possible for me to learn it now that I am 18. It's something that I do to pass time and to remain active. I hope to practice a dance with friends and perform for the talent show at my high school as a goodbye. It's a fun way to remain active and helps me stay creative and is overall fun for me. I try to perfect my moves and my posture as I see the groups do. It's engaging when my favorite groups are the ones who I am trying to imitate and perfect. The groups that I watch and practice the dances are: BTS, STRAYKIDS, TXT, MAMAMOO, NCT 127, Jessi, and Monsta X. They are all Korean groups; I think it's fun to watch the videos. I never was interested in dances until I discovered K-Pop, but I am happy to have discovered it because it opened a whole new world.

Hoping to fix the education system and that all our future teachers create amazing students. I grew up in a tough environment and at some point, my birth parents got separated. I went through a tough time in my life because I loved my family, it felt impossible to live a single day. I want to keep kids in school, I want to help motivate students regardless of what is going on in their lives. I love children and becoming a teacher has always been my dream career. My dream or my goals are to help create a better future for everyone. I want to emphasis that there is a lot of love and help in this world, but for us to defeat all the hate we would have to work 10x more. Being kind goes a long way and I want to help advocate that. I believe we all have a voice and should use it. We do not need anything but perseverance and the passion to make a change. If people are passionate enough there should not be a problem. All my life I have protected my siblings from my birth parents, from an early age I raised them because my birth parents weren´t always the best parents. I have seen outside of my own personal life that there is a lot that needs to be done. Our world is corrupt, and I have a huge passion to help change it all. I know that I am not the only one who wants to make these tremendous changes. I hope to have others who also feel the same way.

Music, family, friends, pets, nature, and school. There are lot of things that make me happy, but I will always be happy with myself. I make sure to make it known that I do not need anything to be happy. I can and should be able to make myself happy regardless of the things around me, but all the things that I named are factors that create even more happiness in my life. I have gone through various things that might have taken away my ability to be happy in my life, but I´m simply glad and incredibly happy to be back and not let anything affect me negatively. I am happy that I have gotten the chance to go through extremely hard things because I understand how to value everything I do have in my life. I am more grateful towards my family, towards my education, towards my friends and my pets. I love having genuine friends in my life, I have always had an attachment towards people in my life, but I understand now that I do not have to fear being alone. I enjoy having friends and it helps create more joy in my life, but if for some reason I no longer have any, I know that I would do simply fine with or without them. Having supportive teachers makes me happy because I know that I have people who will support and help me when I need them. Making cards for my teachers makes me happy because I am being genuine towards the ones who keep me sane, it makes me happy because I know I am loved and cared for, and they should know I appreciate everything they do for me. Sharing love makes me happy.

Family has always been my top priority. My siblings and my birth parents where my universe, but there was a point in my life as I was growing up things shifted. My birth parents split after 15 years of constant fighting. My birth mother then became my only parent, I still have nothing but respect for her because she brought me into this world and raised me, but after she left my birth father there was a switch. She quit caring, my whole life I grew up looking after and basically raising my siblings, but after this change it was completely up to me again. I have vivid memories where I wanted her to be a good mom for us. I have 3 other siblings, including me, we are 4. 6-year-old Tony, 12-year-old Raely, 16-year-old Dafftne, and me Cinthia 18. We were all younger at the time of course, but not having my birth mother or my birth father really involved in our lives broke me. Seeing how my birth mother prioritized her boyfriend's children more than her own. What I learned is that now as it has been 4 full years without having either of them in my lives is that, I will never depend on someone else to love and reassure me that I am loved. I will never force someone to become an adult and be responsible. I will never question my worth over people who cannot see that they have all they need already. I finally know my own worth; I know I deserve to live a life outside of having to be a parent at an early age. I am so at peace and much happier now with my mom who adopted us. I am extremely sympathetic to who I was, but I am stronger.

Peace and love to all. Our world is very divided, whether it be due to money, riches, power, revenge. I would stand for peace and love. I hope that my generation creates a better world for everyone. I have a dream that it's possible to change how we have been living. It's frustrating when I try explaining that our world is important, and that if we don't take care of it, we won't exist anymore. Our world is dying because of our careless and selfish decisions, but it's an easy fix. I see how much impact helping outside of their own lives helps other strive. I hope to do that. Helping people is the most important thing. When you give back to your community it will eventually help you as well. If we share love and give with the genuine intention there should never be a problem. Influential women such as Malala Yousafzai, Angelina Jolie, Mia Farrow, but there is something that I want to help create. I want children, teens, young adults, adults, elderly that there is hope for the future. I want to create hope and not only have something that isn't action. I want to create a different world for ourselves and our future children. I have this passion inside me that is crying to come out, sometimes I feel like the world will be against me. I hope I am surrounded by others who also have the same values. People who want to make a change for the better. We all deserve a fair chance and having a great, happy, and loving life. Not all of us are born into great situations, but I hope to help those out of horrible situations because I feel called to not because I'm forced.

Trying to make the world a better place. Maybe I am extremely naive, but I am passionate about creating a better future and present. Considering that my career choice has always been to become a teacher. The joy of being surrounded by children and teenagers, knowing that I could make a change by making sure I care for my students and give them the best education. I hope after a few years of working as a teacher that I can become a social worker. I grew up being the oldest, grew up with birth parents who left most of the responsibility on me. Growing up I protected my siblings from my abusive birth parents. I see that our world has a lot of love but also a lot of hate. I am hoping that my generation can hopefully help create a better world for everyone. I feel that I have a calling to protect children in this life, it breaks my heart whenever I watch or hear about children being abused or like the Gabriel Fernandez documentary. Seeing an innocent child being abused by his own mother broke my heart. I could not fathom the fact that people would do that. I have a little brother that is 6 and another one that is 12, I simply cannot imagine such a thing happening to them. I believe that everyone has an equal right to be heard. I hope to be the best teacher that I can possibly be, that I can help motivate students who need motivation. I hope to be the one teacher who helps push students to become the best they can possibly be. I am passionate about helping create a better future for not only us but for our children.

I never understood how traumatic an eating disorder was. It all started because I would binge eat and then throw up because I was scared to get fat. It started out of nowhere. I would constantly eat a bunch of junk food and then feel bad about myself and force myself to throw up. This happened for about a month, almost two months. One time my big brother came in and never thought anything about it. I told him I did not feel good and threw up, if he had told my mom I would have gotten in a lot of trouble. It became so addictive, I felt so fat and ugly if I did not throw up after binge eating. It got to a point where I knew I had to stop. I promised myself and God that I would never binge eat and throw up. I knew that it could kill me if I did it enough and because I did not want my family to find out about it. I have never told anyone that I had or almost had an eating disorder. I hope to never have any of my friends or family go through an eating disorder. Eating food should be something we do without feeling guilty. We must eat to nurture ourselves; we cannot live without food. It sucks to constantly be focused on a scale or on your image. I hope to help others become confident and learn to love themselves, so they do not feel forced to throw up all the food they eat. We all must understand that we do not have to look like all the models or ¨the perfect body type¨. I hope that we learn that we should learn to accept ourselves and others, and if others do not accept us that is okay. We do not have to live up to other standards, and others do not have to live up to our standards. We are never going to satisfy others but if we are happy in our own skin what does that all matter? Most of my life I grew up in a tough family, but I was never made fun of because of my size. Maybe because people´s opinions never mattered to me. Understanding that I chose to begin throwing up, I chose to hurt myself constantly by making myself throw up. It has been 2-3 years since I threw up and sometimes, I still get urges to do so. That is when the realization hits me, and I realize that sometimes I still want to throw up. It´s something that I now must fight, I make the decision to not relapse. I am glad that I did not choose a path that I know could have potentially killed me.

When someone is heard you feel that they truly care. I hope to give others the respect I would want. A lot of the times I am too eager to share what I believe without thinking that others opinions also matter, but half the time others wait for one to speak in order for them to feel comfortable to speak. Listening can mean different things, the main one would be listening to music. Music is one of the most important parts of my life. Listening and understanding the lyrics and understanding why they chose the instrumentals and why the particular songs sounds that way. We are all different and listening to what others have to say can benefit you in one way or another. Sometimes I try and think about a question that I've been dying to have answered and I just listen to the conversations around me and that answer could be out there if you simply listen.

Very ironically, I have friends who have a tough time at home, they share stories about the tough times they are going through and my heart aches for them. Simply because I understand how it feels to be a part of a family that doesn't feel or treat you like your family. Regardless of the situation, I make sure to message them or verbally tell them that they mean a lot to me in my life. I value friends and family dearly because I share special moments with them. When I have the money to do so I make sure to get them something for holidays or birthdays. I want to prevent my friends from ever feeling like they are alone, especially when life at home is tough. I hope that my friends understand and can feel the sincere love and care that I have for them. My family and I have gone through a lot. I no longer live or see my birth parents, that was the hardest thing I have gone through in my 18 years of being alive. My siblings and I weren't always close, but I raised them. Since I was little, I had to grow up and look after them because I had incapable parents. I understand that I might have failed in different ways because I can get so caught up in trying to be a parent when I'm simply a child too. But I make sure that they don't ever feel like it was their fault. Make sure that they know they are loved by our new family because although it wasn't easy taking 4 children in, our mom did. I'm not the best at verbally showing appreciation but I never forget to be grateful for what I have today.

There is a difference between being happy and radiating with happiness and joy. Sometimes I have had those days where I don't know but I am just happy to the point where it can show. I hope to continue having those good days where I feel like I can do anything. Radiating with joy and happiness means that others feel the energy that you are creating. Going outside to see the sky and just admire the life that I live creates joy. I'm not always grateful or understand that I am extremely blessed because of everything that I have in life. Seeking out joy always felt out of reach for some reason, but as I'm getting older I came to the conclusion that I am in control of how I want to feel. I gave everyone the permission to dictate how I was going to feel that day, forgetting that it's my life. I hope to never forget my own worth or underestimate my ability to do anything. This is what makes me happy. Validating and reassuring my own worth and my own being because it's not anyones job to do so. I hope to find joy within my own realms. It can be easy to be pushed by others perspective of what happiness or joy should be. Seeing my family grow brings me pain to understand we are all growing up and it's simply inevitable. We can't run from change and growth, but being there during the process is rewarding. In the same way that I have grown into the person I am today.

I have always loved to be independent, it’s nice to have the ability to do things on your own. Being independent means that you can depend on yourself. Being independent means that I can properly take care of myself. The feeling that I’m in charge of my own routines, my own meals, my own bills. When I feel that I’m independent, I feel that I’ve made it. Being independent gives me space to grow, to be free to make my own decisions without the influence of anyone else. I’ve always been indecisive, but I need to understand how to trust myself. It has affected my life by the things I went through growing up. At an early age I had the responsibility of looking after my 3 siblings. I’ve felt independent in a way that they looked at me as a parent figure for a long time, I felt that I could do it. I grew up too fast, I was forced to become an adult too soon which is why I am so independent today. I rarely feel the need to ask anyone for anything, If I feel like I can do it myself no problem. Going off to college is another wonderful opportunity to reach full independence, although I won’t lie. I am kind of terrified because this is full independence, I won’t have my siblings with me this time, which depresses me and worries me, but I have faith. I understand this is what I need to do to become who I need to become, and another thing is that this won’t be forever either. I will come back and teach close to home, but independence is something I understand very well. I understand what it’s like to be independent and what it’s like to be dependent.

Hello, my name is Cinthia Velasco Vargas. I am 18 years old; I was brought to Utah at the age of one. I have lived in Utah my entire life, but my other family is still in Mexico, Aguascalientes. I am undocumented student who will succeed. I grew up with two parents who constantly fought. My birth father was an alcoholic, my birth mother had me at the age of 16 and felt that she needed to force my birth father to step up. Because he was the one who wanted to flee to avoid responsibility of being a father. While I was growing up my birth parents were always on and off, they would argue, go away from each other for about 3 hours and come back and apologize after throwing and hitting each other. While keeping that in mind I grew up in this atmosphere. Having parents who constantly fought was all I knew. At the age of 12 my life went downhill, my birth mother decided it was time to leave my birth father for another man. My birth father left us with an irresponsible mother who soon after got us evicted. My siblings and I were homeless and had nothing to our name but the clothes we were wearing that day. After 5-6 months of moving from house to house my friends’ mom offered us her home for all of us to stay for a couple of months while my birth mother saved up money. 2 months passed and my birth mother never actually took the time to care for us, even though all she had to do was save money and take care of us. he decided she couldn’t live her life with her being tied down to her children. So, we are now living with my friends’ mom who is now my guardian mom. I never had the luxury of only focusing on my education because I had to worry about where our meals were coming from, how my siblings were, considering we were all separated and homeless. I grew up and had a messed-up childhood but I'm glad that my siblings don’t have to grow up in that atmosphere anymore. I’m glad I was the one to go through the worst so they could grow without those responsibilities that I had. They need to be children, not adults. It has now been 4 years since we’ve been with my now mom. She took all four of us in, she’s our legal guardian but I see her as much more. My mom now has 6 kids whom she supports, and I don’t know how I could ever thank her. I had no time to worry about my education because I was too busy worrying if my siblings were safe, if they were fed, if they were being taken care of. I had to figure out if I was going to find a ride to school the next day to escape being on my own in a basement. I can say that being in a stable family, in a stable home has allowed me to fully focus on my studies and got me to where I am today. I am a senior in high school, I already applied to colleges. 4 years ago, applying to colleges didn’t even seem possible. I felt that my life was going to just consist of struggling, finding ways to make a living for my siblings. My upbringing wasn’t easy but without it I wouldn’t have learned how to become as resilient as I am today. I learned how to not give up on life, out of nowhere my life completely changed. But I’m glad that I went through such a tough time because I wouldn’t be who I am today without those challenging times. I believe that what I went through will help me once I step into adulthood, and especially in college. Since I was little, I have been drawn to becoming a teacher, it’s quite funny now that I think of it. Education is the field of study that I want to go into. I love children and would enjoy being able to work with them all day. I also think that I want to be there for them, especially if they potentially go through something similar as I went through. I hope to protect kids, in ways that I wasn’t protected, even if it’s from one's own parents. I want children to feel safe and protected once they enter my room. I wanted to become a teacher even before all the things occurred in my life, but I can say that I'm even more drawn to become a teacher now because I just feel that it’s my purpose to protect children. In anyway form. I want to help guide them throughout their crazy lives. Sometimes we don’t get the most important life skills at home for whatever reason, so I want to make sure I'm teaching them those important life skills. I understand that teaching isn’t an easy profession to go into, everyone around me has emphasized that part, but no one encourages me. No one tells me how rewarding it will be, how happy I will be because I’ll be surrounded by loving little humans. I hope to change the way that my future students see themselves. There aren’t many teachers that I see are incorporating self-love or self-acceptance into their days. I don’t see teachers talking about diverse cultures and holidays that people around the world celebrate. When I was a little kid, I only celebrated American holidays, I wish I could have been taught diverse cultures. I hope to open the minds of my future students, to help them become more open-minded. My philosophy in education is to be of guidance, I never want to become a teacher who tells her students what to become. I believe kids should have the liberty of choosing for themselves, yes there are things that they cannot choose for themselves but most of the decision making they can. We are all here for a purpose, I just think we need some guidance and open doors for us to find our own purpose. I hope to change my negative ways, the way that I can talk badly about myself, to only see the negative things instead of what I did right. I teach a preschool at my high school and sometimes it’s difficult to understand if your lesson is working. But I hope with the proper practice and work time that I will get it down. I hope to change lives and I’m willing to do anything to fully be there for my future students, I hope to help them grow into who they are supposed to be. Sometimes we need help to become our best selves.

Showing genuine love to anyone I meet. Meaningless relationships, empty relationships are one of the most depressing relationships there is. I always try to show love to those who are long term friends, or people who I meet randomly. I believe everyone deserves an equal chance to be respected and to be loved. Yes, even to a stranger you don’t know something could be going on and they just need love or someone to tell them they’ll be okay. This can potentially create a ripple effect. There will be multiple people who understand how it feels to go through something and begin to show love to everyone, so they won’t miss a single person. This to me is a positive way to change the world. We live in a world that is filled with a lot of hate and I don’t understand why. I hope that my future generation can help to fix this problem. I hope our future children can also help contribute to this. Genuine love I believe can help heal a damaged heart. For example, I went through a tough time, I felt so alone but I surrounded myself with loving friends. They helped me out of a tough time. Along with music, it has helped me cope. It’s always been hard for me to talk to anyone about personal issues, but music has helped me cope in healthy ways. I hope to be there for anyone who goes through anything that they feel is too hard to manage on their own. No one should go through anything alone or feel that they are alone. This compassion will lead to a better more positive world, hopefully in the future.

Background story, I lost both of my parents, but not in the way you are thinking. I was 12 years old when my home life became difficult. My parents got divorced, my father left us, we were left with my mom. After this we got evicted from our apartment and I became homeless. My siblings and I were separated for almost a year. It's been now 4 years since I quit living with them. I live with my guardians now, whom I see as my parents. I want to explain that not having my father was difficult. I believe that everyone should have both a mother and a father, although not everyone is fortunate enough to have both. But I was a freshman in high school, when I was going out with this guy who was 18, I was 14 almost 15. But I never understood why I was attracted to him; it's been 2 years since I stopped speaking with him. But I was because he reminded me of my dad. They were both alcoholics, they never prioritized me, didn’t want a good life for themselves. I knew I was hurting but I thought I had worked it out. I only suppressed my emotions. I created even more damage to myself but made another problem in my life. I won't lie, I grew up with an alcoholic father who thought it was okay to give his children alcohol. So, I too had a drinking problem, but regardless of what happened I chose myself. Having both parents abandon me, leaning towards alcohol to suppress emotions, and finding someone who reminded me of my dad. I am a senior now, I have been sober for about 2 years and I will be graduating.

She was my 5th grade teacher; she was the first teacher to ever make a classroom feel like a family. It was her first year of teaching, so she was figuring out her style. She came from the University of Oregon, which lead me to wanting to go there too. All my childhood friends were in the same class, that was where I met half of my long-term friends. We were all introduced into being in a drama in elementary. Some of us were a part of the main cast and the rest were the stage crew. I can honestly say that we were all like a family. In the way that she was so welcoming. I remember I once called her mom by mistake, that's how much love I had for my teacher. All the students were friends, that was the best part. We felt that we could be ourselves in class. She was so involved in our education; she had the ability to make us all feel like we were together and equally loved. At the end of the year, she told us she was going back to Oregon. We were so sad and cried because she was leaving. She gave us her information for us to keep in contact with her, but I lost the paper. I hope that I can find a way to get into communication with her and see her, I hope that she can make it to our high school graduation. Her name is Ms. Collins, it's been seven years, but I still remember her. As a first-generation student, I can say that ever since I was little, I knew I was going towards college or university no matter what. I never was pushed simply because I'm first-generation. It has always been my own dream to continue my education. I have big aspirations that I am going manifest into my physical life. I understand that we can all talk, but some find it hard to walk the walk. I hope to take my words and create actions. I know that once I get into college that I will take full advantage and learn. I understand what my purpose is in life. I went through a very tough childhood. To explain in a couple of words; my birth parents both abandoned my siblings and me. It's been 5 years since I last lived with them. It all happened when I was 12, my siblings were all younger, I was the oldest. So, by saying that, I honestly say that I wanted to give up. I had no time to care about education because I was focused on raising my 3 siblings. I have been stable, with a new family who took my siblings and I in. Let me just say that it was my friend's mom, she took us in. We have been under her care for the last 4 years. She is more than my guardian she is my mom. She is the reason I could go back to focusing on school. Without her I would have given up. It wasn't possible to focus on an education while raising 3 kids as a 12-year-old. I am so fortunate enough to be in the position that I am in today. I thank myself for pushing through because it was hard. But I am now 18 years old, I'm going to graduate and head to college right after. I can say that I made it.

Family, no sob story but I had both of my biological parents abandon my siblings and me. I always understood what family meant, or so I thought. After this happened, I learned that I had to stick closer to my siblings. I went about 2 years without having them in my daily life. Yes, I missed my biological parents too, but I had already understood that I couldn't miss someone who wasn't going to properly take care of me. I missed my siblings; we went through so much alone. I have a 16-year-old sister, 12-year-old brother, and a 6-year-old brother. We were all younger of course but going through so much and not having each other took a toll on us. Luckily, we are all together now, but it took about 5-6 years for us to become that stable. I grew up raising my siblings, but at age 12 I had to become the only form of parent they had. This changed my whole perspective; I grew up too fast. I learned something, I learned how to keep going regardless of how bad my life was. I am the living example of what is being resilient. Nothing about what happened was easy, but it's 4 years later and I can say that I'm finally starting to heal. I have learned to appreciate my family that I have now. Not taking them for granted. Letting my guardian mom know how much I appreciate her and my guardian dad. Knowing they took four kids in even if we weren't blood. This taught me that you can love unconditionally even if we didn't come from her. She has never made me feel less than her child. I feel that I have a family again.

(1): It means the world. I am a first generation high school student, I will also be the first head to attend college. Many people including myself doubted me, but I knew deep down that I would buckle down and graduate. Growing up there weren't any conversations about how important it was to go off to college. I just knew I wanted something greater for myself. I am stuck between being so happy and proud of myself with being sad because my high school career is coming to an end. But I don’t think I have been any more proud of myself than I am right now. Especially after everything I went through with my biological parents abandoning my siblings and I. I think I did great. (2):For a typical day I get picked up by my sister around 2:30 pm. I usually talk to my mom and sister about how my day went. Depending on the day and how it went I will talk about it but if I am just drained I won’t talk. I get home & I immediately make myself something to eat, I am starving by the end of the day. Yes, even if I had lunch at school. I then talk to my mom and ask her about what she did and she usually tells me important information that I need to remember or stuff she just wants to talk about. I then watch YouTube for about an 1 hour and 30 minutes and then tackle any kind of homework I will have. By this time it’s already 6 pm, once it’s 8 pm I shower my baby brother so he is ready for school tomorrow & put them to bed at 9 pm. I then try to keep a routine of working out and finishing by 10 pm. After this I shower & then read or watch YouTube and try to go to sleep. (3) I don’t think I am that curious that I need to do something about things. I am naturally curious but I don’t feel that I need to do something to feed it. I have a lot of questions that cannot be answered, but honestly if they were answered I think I would cry… They are just so bizarre & make me question my whole existence which I hate and stopped doing. I think too much especially when I’m alone. But I try to question everything and ask all of the right questions when necessary.

I enjoy being of use to someone, my sister and I are the ones that our family goes to whenever they need help cleaning. I enjoy doing things that will make others' lives easier. I enjoy doing mine and my sister's laundry, I enjoy cleaning our room even when the mess isn't mine. I do it out of pure will because it will not only make my life better but theirs as well. I help my aunt clean her house whenever she needs help, that way we can finish faster and so she can do the things she needs to do. I enjoy doing chores or things that my mom needs to do but has had a long day. This allows me to do something good for her, so she can relax. I plan to do a lot of community service projects, I am currently in Key Club & will be joining Honors Society. They are clubs that revolve around community service. I want to join the Red Cross and help others in the summer. Doing community service is extremely important and rewarding regardless if you do it voluntarily or if you need to do it.

I am a very impulsive person, I hate waiting for people to make or do something first, I do not like to put my life in another person's hands. Being impatient has made a lot of situations and problems unravel. Which lead me to wanting to gain patience. Being patient will help you reach peace. You cannot live a relaxing life being impatient. There are good things that come in time, you cannot rush things that aren't ready for you. For example, you cannot rush food, you must wait until it's fully cooked to eat it. Being patient is extremely rewarding. You become resilient and peaceful. I lived in a very impatient house hold, both of my biological parents were extremely impatient. They were also very toxic; it was so hard to practice being patient. You aren't taught that being patient is beneficial because those around you aren't that way. As I no longer live with either of my biological parents, I am now able to practice being patient. Although it wasn't easy. I wanted to live a life that wasn't shown to me, the person who I am I had to become on my own. I learned to become independent because of the lack of responsibility that my parents had. But being very honest, I'm glad it happened. I now understand how to handle certain situations. I gained so much knowledge from this experience, not to say I know how to perfect handle another loss but at least now I know how to go about it. Having both parents leave my siblings and I needed a lot of patience and strength. You have to somehow understand that it happened for a particular reason, even if at the moment it doesn't seem like it.

I have always been a person who wants to keep their friends for as long as possible. I take friendship fall outs hard. I get so attached to people that it's ridiculous sometimes. I had about 8 friends who I grew up with, we went to elementary together and were together all the time. We went to middle school and we would spend so much time together, we spent all our summer days just hanging out enjoying each other's company. We went into high school and we were still together up until my sophomore year, everything changed. And it's not that we didn't know things like that happened, everyone told us that we would go our separate ways...But I didn't expect it to happen so fast. I still at times cry about it, I listen to songs that we would listen together. It's so surreal that time goes by so fast. We are all Seniors now; we will never go or be in the same place together again. As I lost them, I found a new group of friends. Which made me happy, I felt that things were good again. I never felt the need to be with someone to feel safe or happy. I am content with my own company, but I just love having good genuine friends around me. I am so happy to have some friends whom never lost contact with me. It makes me genuinely happy that some of my childhood friends still want me in their lives as I want them in mine. It's reassuring to know it's not just one-sided. In conclusion, friendship is a major part of my life. I hold all my friends close to my heart, especially the ones that fell off.

I used to not really put much attention into self-care. I remember clearly starting that it was very stupid to care about yourself. I always neglected myself, to only realize that we need to take care of ourselves. I try to give myself a schedule and routine to stick to which helps me stay on track. I try to do some type of mask every week. I make sure to keep a clean space, a clean space equals a clear mind. I cannot work in a dirty environment, although I do have times where I am just burnt out. I need to wind down by reading a book or journaling at night, it helps my body understand it is time to relax and sleep. If I were to ruin my self-care routine I will lose sleep, I will get really stressed. Routines help keep me in line and focused. As I grew up, I was not in an environment where self-care was shown and or practiced. I was living in a very toxic household, although I am glad to be out of such an environment. I am trying hard to continue taking care of myself, as I take care of others. At times I can forget that I am important too. If we are not taken care of or take time for ourselves, we cannot take care or be available for others. Our own mental health comes first. I hope to continue this journey because it has helped me. I now realize the importance of taking care of yourself & why so many people are doing it now. Especially with encouraging others to do so as well.

I was going into the transition from an elementary kid to a teenager going into middle school. While I was going through this, I had my birth father abandon my siblings and me. We were left with my irresponsible birth mother. We got an apartment but after 6 months we got evicted because she never paid rent. I was in middle school, in my math class when I received a call from my mother, she said " we got evicted, so you need to figure it out, there is nothing I can do for you." I was 13 or 14 at the time, so how do you expect a kid to understand where to go or much less what to do? I was homeless for about 4 months, although I had different friends offer me a place to stay. Sometime passed and my birth mother asked if I wanted to stay with only her and my little brother in a small basement, that she only had room to have 2 of her kids with her. I said yes but I wish we could’ve all been together. She wanted me with her so she could go out at night and so my little brother would have someone to take care of him. While I was with her, she mentally and physically abused me over money. She was never home. Some time passed & once again we had to move out & I again had to move in with a friend. This lasted for about 2 months, but then after I was offered by one of my friends' moms to bring all my siblings, including my mother, into her house. Where we would get one room for all of us and where she would be able to save up money for us to move out and be stable and together again. But then again, the whole time we were there she never once took care of us and not even to mention that she completely neglected my baby brother. My friend's mom had to take care of us. Finally, she decided that it was better for us to stay with my friend's mom, who is now my legal guardian, although I see her as much more. She took responsibility for us when my own mother did not want to. Which is and still is one of the hardest things I have had to go through. I have had to let go of all the things I was forced to learn to survive. I had to let go of those handful of good times, let go & simply understand there was nothing that could have been done. Overcoming such an experience has been hard, sometimes I get set back again and feel that everything is going to be ripped and taken from me again but now I am 18 & last week I gave applications to colleges, I cannot help but be proud of myself. I am going to become someone successful. I do not want sympathy, I just simply want to tell my story, it was not easy, but I am still here. I am still fighting for myself. I am trying to create my own destiny. I will be the first to graduate high school & to go to college. Those are 2 majors' things in themselves. I finally feel like I am living, I am a senior and I am trying to make the most of my high school experience. I am enjoying what is left. I hope to finally live a peaceful and happy life.

At 14 I was mentally and physically abandoned by both biological parents. I was homeless, parent less, a student & a mother to my 3 siblings. My life right off the bat started with chaos, I was born my birth father wanted to flee from the responsibility of having to care for a child whom he did not want. my birth mother then went ahead to follow him and force him to help raise me. I am now 18, with 3 siblings, how is it that the same man who wanted to escape responsibility still managed to have 3 more. I barley turned 18 on October 2nd, it has been 4 5 years since both of my biological parents abandoned me. I never imagined that I was going to be left by the exact same people who brought me into this world. I was 14, in middle school, homeless because my birth mother got evicted from our apartment. She then called me and told me that I simply had to figure it out because there was not a thing, she could do for me... My siblings and I were living with completely different people, my birth father fled to Texas because my birth mother after 15 years decided it was finally time to leave her abusive husband. You do not stay with your abusive husband just because you don´t want them to grow up without a father. When my birth father gave up on us, that day before he left, I begged, I begged for him to not leave us. But he said, ¨ He could not stand around seeing the woman he loves with another man. ¨ As if his children weren´t enough to have him stay around. Being left because they were simply too selfish to stick around has sucked. Even till this day it hurts, you learn to cope with it better but that does not mean it will ever totally feel okay. Now that I am 18, I have learned to get over it a bit more, but even then, living, celebrating with my now guardian mom and dad is different. When times get tough at home, it´s hard not to curse at them. Curse them for leaving me to fend for myself, to learn how to be okay without them. A child should not have to force themselves to let go of their own parents. There isn´t words that can express how I feel better now that they aren´t in my life. They made me grow up too soon, at the age of 5 or 6 I was already taught how to change my sister's diapers and how to care for her. I have had to learn how to cope with everything that was thrown at me, I have had to learn how to keep going regardless of the hardships. Seeing how cruel the world can really be makes me want to strive harder for those who will potentially go through the same or worse than I did. Children & teenagers need to be protected. I want to prevent a child from ever feeling as if suicide is a better answer than living another day because it feels like hell. Losing the person whom I saw as my best friend, my rock, my favorite person turns into someone who hurts and beats her own kids because they won´t do what she wants them to do. At times I would go to sleep crying on the floor, while I was holding my baby brother to sleep. Alone, because my birth mother was always out ¨working¨. But when it came to money, she never had any...funny. I not only had to fight for myself, but I had to fight even harder for my siblings. I was their only form of a parent they had. We only had each other. I want to pursue a career where I will protect and teach children how to go about life, how to guide kids who go through trauma. After what I went through, I know firsthand how hard it is. I never physically had anyone die, my birth parents abandoned us but at times it felt as if it were the same thing. At times it felt as if death would´ve been better because then at least I would not feel the need to worry about them, to wonder how things could have been, if my dad would have taught me how to drive. The pain and torture that is has been to force myself to forget them, knowing that they just simply made the decision to do so and that it was not like death, you don´t decide that it just happens. This was a decision they both decided on.