Winston Churchill once said, “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” I do not define mistakes as failures; but as fighting through hardships. Despite the lack of stability in my life, I always persevered. I deserve this scholarship because no matter what obstacles life throws at me, I have the strength and determination to achieve my goals. Growing up Filipino, I lived by one rule: family comes first. When my mom told me family comes first, I thought it meant loving your family no matter what--that was not the case. When my mom got paid, she would send money back home--telling us to budget what we needed as we were low on funds. To combat my helplessness, I took online surveys and watched videos on Swagbucks to no avail. At 16, I found a job. Daily, I slept at 2 AM and got up at 6 AM for school. On good days, I would sleep a maximum of five hours! I worked so hard because I lacked stability. On Saipan, we have a CW visa that allowed immigrants to work for one year on a first-come-first-serve basis. My parents never had assurance with their jobs. During my junior year, the CW visa stopped. Thousands of immigrants were ready with plane tickets in hand. But, when everyone lost hope, our Senator's efforts prevailed. However, my dad's visa expired. He could legally stay on the island as long as he did not work. For one year, my mother was the sole provider of the house while we continued to send money to her family. When the coronavirus hit, my family and I just got back on our feet. For three months, both my parents did not have a job--living on what savings we had left. When my dad got his visa again, we lived off of one salary. One salary alone could not cover all the bills that grew over time, struggling to make ends meet. Seeing this, I took the initiative to start selling baked sushi to help my family survive. Finally, after six months, my mom started working again. However, our bills accrued to an amount we could not swallow. As I enter my first year of college, I continue to sell baked sushi. My parents losing their jobs took away all stability I had left. While we are still trying to find our footing, we are about to lose it again because of college tuition. I deserve this scholarship because, despite all the odds, I managed to persevere. Although I had a job, I managed to keep my GPA above 3.5 while serving as the NHS Vice President. By helping me gain my nursing degree, you are strengthening the quality of our health care, one person at a time. I cannot promise that I will cure every patient I see, but I know that my passion for the field will defeat any hurdle that stands in my way.