From a young age, my fun fact at school has been "my dad is an FBI agent". My heart swelled with pride as I was asked about my dad's job by schoolmates. He was doing something important for not just my family by providing for us, but for my country. My dad is the most hard-working person that I have ever met. He inspires me daily to work half as hard as he does to make a difference. The work ethic of my dad has inspired me in my own life and plays a role in my mindset when I am faced with any obstacle. In my community, I choose to step up by volunteering at a local elementary school to help kids learn chess at the chess club and sharpen their wit in math-bowl. I love being able to help children in my community and teach them things that I too find joy in doing myself, from playing chess to learning the best ways to solve a math problem quickly But, going straight from school twice a week on the only days that I do not work at my part-time job, to deal with 90 3rd and 4th-grade students can be tiring and hard to feel inspired to continue week after week in the fall and spring. But compared to my dad's selfless actions in the FBI, this small act of service seems minuscule and it pushes me to continue on every day and show up for these students like my dad has shown up day after day, year after year at work. My dad graduated as a first-generation college student from law school and joined the US Navy where he served until he became an FBI agent which he has been my entire life. His entire life, he has been setting a standard of hard work with high achievement for me as his daughter. His whole life including today as he wakes up as he has every day for 27 years and works on all sides of FBI cases from paperwork to raids, he works hard. In addition to all of these career accomplishments, my dad and mom were the proud parents of 11 children. One of my brothers passed away when I was only 9 years old. This loss rocked my family and tested all of our faiths. While we were all grieving, my dad continued to go to work every day. With my dad's strength to continue working, I was able to find strength in school and my academic accomplishments even while missing my brother. I went back to school, although aching from the loss of my brother, and worked as hard by channeling the complicated feelings of grief into my school work so that I could make my dad proud. Showing him my good report card, made me feel like I too was making a difference although in a much different way than he. Hard work was the way to keep going for my dad, and it is the same for me. My dad has accomplished so much in his 57 years of life, that I cannot help but compare my actions to that level of accomplishment. At only 18 years old, I have so much to look forward to, but I know that whatever I do I want to do it with my dad's influence of hard work to achieve success. This mantra of hard work has been applied to all parts of my life and will continue as I move into college and my career.

When I think about myself and who I am and what makes me unique, there are so many different facets to explore, but they always come back to my empathetic nature and love of knowledge. The act of helping others and learning about challenging subjects are topics that come to mind when I think about myself and the attributes that I value within myself. Enriching these two key features about myself and further developing these identities is a goal that I want to work towards for the rest of my life, from college to my career as a nurse in order to give back to my community. Empathizing with others is a major defining characteristic of who I am. As one of 11 children, I often put myself in my sibling’s positions in order to understand their lives and situations from their point of view. Working with my siblings and others in my life to try to help and understand them is an act that brings me joy. Being able to sympathize with others going through something I may never experience creates a unique relationship between myself and others, and makes me feel more connected to and understanding towards them. Helping and working with others is something that I want to be able to do all of my life, and is a key component of why I want to become a nurse. The feedback I receive from working hard in order to improve my knowledge is something I have relished from a young age. Showing my dad my report card today still gives me the same satisfaction as it did when I was in 5th grade. From a family dinner to hanging out with friends, I love to add in a pertinent fun fact or an interesting perspective. Applying hard-won knowledge from challenging classes to a career that benefits others is the pinnacle of my definition of personal achievement. When I first took a science class in high school, I felt deeply inspired by the content that was being taught and how I was drawn to learning more about it. No matter how challenging the class, or how hard I had to work, seeing a good grade on my test and knowing that I had the knowledge to get that grade is a feeling I am constantly striving for. I knew that I wanted to feel proud of my hard-earned science-based knowledge and apply that to my future medical career. Gaining the ability to weave connections between these two parts of my life would influence the way I see the world and be able to help others in my future career. Using both hard work to gain knowledge and nourishing the natural empathy that I feel for others, will grant me success in my future career as a nurse and make a difference with patients. I plan to use the powers of my knowledge and empathy in order to give back to others as a nurse. Playing to my strengths will make my impact on others stronger, as I am the best vessel in order to help others because I have always had within myself these attributes. As a nurse, I will be able to directly help those in my community and impact their lives, no matter how small or how big an impact. The acquisition of knowledge in college and the personal connections I am looking forward to making as a nurse will influence everyone surrounding me in my community, from a life-changing diagnosis to a smile as I assist their comfort.