Helping people is an important value in my life. I believe that the most special thing about helping others is that I get to make a difference in someone’s life. We all have days where we can’t express our feelings. Sometimes we are too shy or feel discouraged due to personal issues. Helping others regardless of how they’re feeling can help. We can help with a smile, carrying their groceries, which in turn, can help them think positively about themselves, making a difference in their day. I have written letters of appreciation to the people who have helped me throughout my life and thanked them for helping me in my journey. With that, I am able to acknowledge their impact in my day, express my gratitude, and maybe even make a difference in their day by appreciating them! I also always keep in mind that we are all humans, we are not meant to be on our own, we are meant to grow as a community. We as humans are created equal with different talents in our life, so collaboration is key as we get to learn from each other through difficult times and allows us to achieve our dreams. Communication and developing relationships is essential for humans to thrive. For instance, I have always held self responsibility because even though my mom reminds me to do my work, it was my responsibility to reach out for help when I needed to, and succeed academically on my own. In helping and being helped, in addition to spreading kindness to all, I also believe that we are able to develop connections with others, creating healthy relationships and leaning on each other through challenging times. According to my faith, we are supposed to love and help one another, regardless of religious beliefs, political affiliations, or any other difference in opinion. Many people tend to only devote their attention to people who think and act like them. However, it is important to help everyone, even if one’s values and beliefs are not the same as someone else’s. I am shy to share my faith but I am always able to show my faith by smiling and greeting them by their names, even if they don’t say my name back. I know this helps others know that they are loved and supported. At the end of the day, we are all human beings, before any other subdivision. We should all be treated equally. Instead of building boundaries and barriers among different people, I choose to build bridges and help other people, whoever it is, as much as I can. Lastly, by lessening the burden of someone else’s life, the help giver is able to nurture the other person’s mental health while still bettering theirs, since they will feel about themselves having made a difference in someone’s life.

I am really excited for the future and what it has in store for me. I know it will have its ups and down, but these challenges will help me grow as a person in the real world. In regards to my career goals, I am very excited to work in supply chain management, where I will get to use the skills I learned in my Economics classes in the industry of supply chain. Both in the near future in college and later on while working, I will be able to meet people with the same academic interests as me, and we will get to discuss real world topics and how we can use our economics skills to solve these issues. This will hopefully bring me more friends and a network of people that I can rely on. Growing up in an immigrant household, it also makes me very excited to think about being financially independent and being able to make my own money. I hope to invest, travel, support my future family as well as my sister as my parents are getting old. With job stability, I hope to be able to choose where I live, and I would love to move around to open my mind to new ideas and lifestyles. I hope to one day be able to settle with my family in a beautiful place with warm weather and for my children to grow up without wanting for anything. Lastly, I hope to become healthier, and focus on both my mental and physical health. I also hope to keep my faith as it is central to my experiences in life. This scholarship will help me by relieving the cost of my tuition. For a lot of students, financial problems only add to the emotional, mental, and physical burden from school. With help to pay for college, I would feel less stressed and would relieve some of the pressure over me. With that, I would be able to focus on my studies, and eventually get a job with a good salary so I could do other things for the community, such as volunteering, spending time with others who are lonely, and helping the less privileged. Another way winning this scholarship would help me is by motivating me to work even harder in the completion of my degree. In my tuition because this makes me want to work harder for my completion of degree, not only because it would give me the encouragement I need to know that I am capable of accomplishing difficult things, but also because the fact that my tuition will be aided gives me no excuse to not do my best and succeed in school. This would lessen my financial burden by paying less tuition, which means less debt owed, leading to less pressure and more time to focus on my classes, my mental health and on helping my community. Winning this scholarship would be an achievement for me because it would showcase my writing skills and how hard I have worked in order to become the person that I am today, revealing my grit and character. With that, comes pride in sharing my life story and goals with others!

Mental health is like a flower that is sensitive and can hurt due to different circumstances. In order to grow, it requires specific conditions, such as a specific temperature, sunlight, water, as well as a suitable environment. Like a flower, my mental health also needs certain requirements to thrive, such as love and care. It is also impacted by my environment, such as how much stress I am under, how happy and loved I feel or who I am surrounded by. To me, taking care of my mental health is equally important as taking care of my physical health. Both my mental and physical health are responsible for my energy, motivation, and basic well-being. My mental health is responsible for the decisions I make and my mindset in school and in life. With my mental health in check, I am able to make better decisions in life, be more motivated to perform well in school, and think positively of what life has to offer. I believe that poor mental health leads to me being more stressed, more quickly overwhelmed and losing hope. Recovering from bad mental health episodes is extremely challenging, and can take a lot of effort. These episodes can drag me down on certain goals that you want to achieve in my life. Thus, in order to maintain my mental wellness, I have several strategies. I believe that faith can lead to better mental health. Faith helps me to restore my relationship with God and listen to His plans. My faith is the most important thing God has given me. It is such an important factor in my life, as it helps me focus and achieve my goals, not be too hard on myself, and for me to keep trying and not give up. In addition to faith itself, religion has brought me comfort in other ways. For instance, attending church and getting to learn from the priest. Such practices have inspired me to help others and be a good example to my community, whether that is my school, my local church, my friends, or at home. Another way to maintain my mental wellness is by talking to counselors as well as upperclassmen in my university. This is especially helpful because I get advice and to learn from their experiences. They are able to suggest how they would cope or react with different situations if they were in my shoes. College can be lonely, being away from home and family. So, whenever I am feeling down, I reach out to them about personal challenges in life, whether it is in school or relationships, and I am suddenly calmer and know that I am alright. Moreover, having good sleep for me is essential to my well-being and performance in school. It gets rid of all the stress from the day, without having to think of any of my problems or school assignments, and I feel rejuvenated and energetic for the next day. A lot of my stress comes from burning out and feeling overworked, so getting good sleep helps me maintain a healthy mind. Lastly, I try to have a positive mindset because when I focus on the good rather than the bad, it helps me feel more confident in myself. When I have a positive mindset, I can think straight and achieve my highest goals and dreams, while boosting my mental health.

My grandparents first set foot in a small town in the state of Michigan with little knowledge of English. However, with faith and hard work, they were able to adapt to the American culture and lifestyle. My dad originally came to the United States with his parents, but went back to Vietnam to meet my mom and bring her here. Like most immigrants, my mom came to America with little English, and no idea how to be successful. All she knew was that my dad needed to work hard and provide for the family. My parents’ tireless work ethic was and still is admirable, but growing up in my immigrant household was not easy. My parents did not know how American schools worked and how to prepare me and my sister at home to succeed in school. I always felt inferior to my peers, and discouraged by the negative treatment from teachers at school. I became a rather sad child, with a low self-esteem. At home, the problem grew as my parents expected me to make big decisions when I was not old enough. I got yelled at and scolded for any mistake I made, no matter how small. This made my childhood feel hopeless and lonely. Nonetheless, I am happy that these things helped me become the person that I am today as a young adult, trying to learn about the world and all it has to offer. I have learned that working hard, having a positive attitude, and kindness can make one go from the bottom to the top, as I have watched my parents’ miraculous journey in America. Although I love my parents and all they have done for me, I would not parent my future kids in the same way. Instead of scolding them, I would encourage them, give them kind words so they could learn their lessons. Instead of focusing on others, I would tell them to look at themselves and improve to be a better version of themselves. We are humans, and we have flaws. With both inspiration and realizations from my parents growing up, these are the core beliefs I carry with me wherever I go. When it comes to my career aspirations, I have made decisions without much influence from my parents. They had always wanted me to study something that would provide me with a high-paying job, like a doctor or a businessman. Thus, the decision to study economics was one I made on my own. Studying economics is the true understanding of the human experience. The reason why I wanted to study it is because it will open doors for me to different career paths. In high school, I couldn’t decide between studying finance or economics, but I decided to stick with economics, because of how applicable it is to the real world. I wanted a different path from my parents, a new journey to embark on. Ironically, though, I am following my parents' footsteps in the sense that I am creating my own journey, just like they did when they moved to America. In addition, when it comes to career goals, there is quite a bit of tension between me and my parents, as they minimize my concerns about my mental health. To me, however, it is a significant factor in whether or not I succeed in school and in life. It is like taking care of our bodies. The disagreements between me and my family have guided me to make my own path, but at the same time, I carry with me their perseverance, determination, and positive attitude.

Growing up, my academic journey has not been the smoothest, with language barrier, mental health issues, poor academic performance, and the pandemic during my high school years. At home, it was challenging to balance and distinguish between my parents’ goal for me and my goals for myself. When I transitioned to college, it was even more difficult as I was away from home for the first time, and did not know where my classes were, how to choose my own classes and schedule, or how to reach out to teachers counselors. I felt physically and mentally tired, I was worried about my academic performance, and felt disappointed since my older friends from high school had glorified college life, with the freedom of living in a dorm, hanging out with friends, eating whatever I wanted and going to parties. I, however, did not enjoy the supposed college life. In fact, I felt sad and lonely, as I struggled to balance all my feelings and demands in the first few weeks of college. However, with determination, I was able to focus on the material and read ahead so that I would be ready and succeed in my classes. There were rather difficult times in college where I felt overwhelmed or incapable of doing something, but I persevered and ended my first year with great grades. With the new college environment, I was forced to adapt to a new lifestyle, one in which I am more independent and have more responsibility for my grades and well-being. I have learned that change is crucial for growth and versatility has enabled me to shift my mindset and accept that my life is in college now. With the new college environment, I was forced to adapt to a new lifestyle, one in which I am more independent and have more responsibility for my grades and well-being. I have learned that change is crucial for growth and versatility has enabled me to shift my mindset and accept that my life is in college now. On top of academic challenges and college, I have also had several issues with different social interactions when I was younger. In elementary and middle school, teachers treated me badly because of how I looked or that I needed to use a translator in order to understand the lessons in class. Many teachers undermined my abilities because of how I looked or interacted with other kids, which made me feel like a failure. My self-esteem was further lowered as the popular kids were the handsome ones or the ones that hopped on the new trends. I did not feel as “cool” as them, and my family could see I felt lonely and sad. As first-generation immigrants, my parents have always done everything for me and it was heartbreaking for them to see the way I was treated. Today, I can clearly see the lack of respect and equality my school demonstrated, so I have taken upon myself to treat others equally and with respect. I have taken all my pain and turned into kindness towards others because hatred will never get me far. I have learned to nurture relationships with respect and care, especially those who have always been there for me and supported me.

Throughout my life, I have struggled with my mental health, especially depression, although some experiences have triggered my anxiety. Growing up, I was judged on my looks and academic performance. When I was little, I was a skinny kid with braces, so people teased me. They believed I was weak and constantly reminded me that I had to eat more and that I was not strong enough. The constant bullying led to my depression. I went even deeper into it as I grew up into a teenager with low self-esteem. Later, my grandfather passed away, leading to a very dark time in my life. This had been the first real grief I had ever experienced because he was so close to me. The added pain of losing someone who gave me so much love led me deeper into feelings of loneliness. Then, when I was in high school, the pandemic happened. During COVID, I, like most students, had to take classes through Zoom, which sounds great in theory but after months of it, I realized that I had lost motivation, as staying engaged through online lessons was challenging. Teachers were struggling as well, and were not as accessible virtually. Staying at home all day and feeling like every day is the same was the worst part of the pandemic, and what led to my poor mental health. In order to get ready to pursue my education, there were several hurdles I had to overcome, especially through young adulthood. I learned that the academic journey is a personal one, in which the only competition I am in is that with myself. My experiences are only mine and thus my academic performance should only be focused on doing better before. I now understand that people who judged me due to my looks are unhappy with themselves since my looks should not bother anyone because it does not affect how kind I am towards others. With this, I have also learned the importance of healthy relationships, which I believe are those where neither party is hurt as a result of the relationship. I have learned to put up boundaries and cut people from my life who do not serve me well. In regards to my family, I appreciate everything they do for me and believe their criticism is a result of worry. Thus, I have set boundaries with them to preserve the healthy part of our relationship. However, I did not learn all of this on my own. I had several mental health practices, such as talking to counselors, establishing a healthy sleeping schedule, praying, listening to my pastor, and going on walks. With that, I was able to get myself to a place of emotional clarity to successfully transition to college and proceed with my dream of getting an Economics degree. This is not to say that I am immune to any form of traumatic experiences. In fact, there was a shooting in my university that put me in a dark place for a while. However, I used my mindfulness practices to bring me back to a stable mental place, and was able to regain my ground and succeed in school, even in the midst of chaos. Weeks after the shooting, our schedules were confusing, so I needed to cram two quizzes and an exam on a Saturday morning. This was very stressful as this material would set me up for future classes. In the past, I would have broken down and given up, but I decided to simply focus on the material, which resulted in great results on the assessments!