I hate being poor because that's all people see me as. Being poor has always weighed on me, but more so as I've gotten older. People notice my clothes, and how I look, and the haircuts that I give myself in the bathroom, but I am so much more than that. My name is Brinley Marie, but I go by Elliott Kester, and I am a transgender student at Mcnary Highschool. I transitioned in 6th grade from female to male, and have been working by myself as the only queer person in our Mormon family. My father was artillery in the military, my sister is a 2x highschool drop out, and my brother is in the navy. I'm a first generation college student, and I'm looking to go into political science and then Juvenile Criminal Defense as an attorney here in Oregon. My entire extended family is FLDS Mormon, and I have always felt like an outcast in my family. I don't have too many people that I can talk to about being queer. Particularly, the biggest challenge that I've had to overcome is my family going bankrupt twice in one year. My father, the main breadwinner of the family, lost his job at the start of my freshman year. He got a job back for about 8 months, but now has been searching for a job since. My mother works for a less-than minimum wage job in Oregon, making about 7 dollars an hour to support our family. I have always felt a little bit disconnected from my family due to this financial hardships. I've had to work 6-12AM shifts almost every night to keep all of my school expenses together and to afford dinner for myself some nights. It's taken a big toll on me, as I'm also involved in our theatre department and have collected about 600 hours throughout my entire highschool career in just theatre service alone, not including the countless classes that I've taken and the contests I've competed in for just a little bit of money. College is extremely expensive, and I've always wanted to go into Juvenile Criminal Defense. I want to use my education to help support other low income adolescents who may have turned to stealing or selling narcotics and to help support and give them a better life. I want to keep everybody, including some "troubled" kids safe. My sister growing up had a big problem with the law, and would get brought home by the cops. I love her dearly, but she had dropped out of highschool twice and created slight financial strain on our family. I want to use my degree to help the people around me in my community, and for the adolescents of Oregon to ensure that one bad decision doesn't put a family into financial ruin.