My experiences with finances and financial education have been shaped both by formal learning and personal experiences growing up in a low-income, first-generation immigrant family. From a young age, I witnessed the financial challenges my parents faced as they worked tirelessly to provide stability and opportunities for me. There sacrifices instilled a deep appreciation in me for money and a strong motivation to build a more secure financial future. In high school, I took a personal finance course that introduced me to essential concepts such as budgeting, saving, credit, and investing. Rather than treating it as just another class, I applied these lessons to my own life. I created and maintained budgeting spreadsheets to track my monthly income and expenses, which helped me become more disciplines and intentional with my spending. For the past two years, I have worked a part-time job, where I earned a promotion through consistency and responsibility. This experience not only gave me financial independence, but also taught me the value of hard work, time management, and earning money through effort. Instead of spending impulsively, I focused on saving and investing. One of my proudest accomplishments has been opening a Roth IRA recently, allowing me to start building long-term financial security at an early age. This account has direct access into bi-weekly paychecks and my checking account to automatically move 30 dollars into this space of investment at the beginning of every month. I'm hopeful in its saving abilities during future times of financial hardship, specifically battling college loans and debt. Additionally, I have taken the initiative to educate myself about investing beyond the classroom. I have researched the S&P 500 and followed major companies, including the "Magnificent 7", to better understand market trends and long-term growth strategies. This self-driven learning has helped me see investing not as gambling, but as a strategic tool for wealth building. In the future, I plan to continue expanding my financial knowledge and using it to make informed decisions about saving, investing, and managing debt. As I pursue higher education, I aim to minimize financial burden, while maximizing opportunities for growth. Ultimately, I hope to not only achieve financial stability for myself, but also to support my family and break the cycle of financial struggle. Financial education has empowered me to take control of my future. By combining what I have learned with my lived experiences, I am committed to building a life defines not by financial hardship, but by stability, opportunity, and generational progress.

The concept of mental health is never a steady road to a continuous state of peace, but instead a rocky pathway full of struggles and challenges. I, for one, have had my fair share of obstacles that have impacted personal relationships, physical health, and perspective on life throughout my time in high school. I used to live life with the mentality of only accepting perfection, or nothing at all. I graduated middle school as the valedictorian of my grade. I trained everyday in sports to keep myself in shape and thin. But as a result of these patterns, I missed out on spending time with friends, damaged my body from over-working it, and isolated myself from my concerned loved ones. My mental health has never been a topic of concern if it interfered with my prioritizations of school, work, social life, or sports. However as I matured and took more time to reevaluate my own health, I realized that perspective changes everything. This past spring break I achieved an all-time low in energy and motivation to continue my daily routines. I could hardly get out of bed, only leaving my room to go to work out of fear of getting fired. My first waking thought would be the image of me re-entering my bed after a long day of school, followed by sports, and occasionally a closing shift at my part-time job. Friends and family began to worry for me, yet I continued to close myself off from the rest of the world, as if I simply stopped existing entirely. Through this episode of a decline in mental heath, I began to see the effect my behavior had had on my mother. She has always given me her support, love, and care, to which I responded with cruel silence. Watching her mood begin to also diminish ignited a strong sense of guilt and worry for her. I realized it wasn't fair of me to act the way I was without any explanation. As I began to reenter into society through trying to engage in daily conversations again with my parents, conversations with my friends at school soon followed. One of the worst periods of my life had now ended and I felt normal again. This experience of spontaneous remission taught me that life will bring some of the most difficult tasks to get over or go through, but however impossible it may feel to survive, we usually do time and time again. What once felt like an eternity of misery is now a past memory, and most importantly, a lesson in the power of perspective and effort to change your life. You must choose yourself to get better, in order to actually get better.

I come from and multi-racial family of Hispanic and Asian descent, both of which did not have the opportunity to attend college. My mother immigrated to America from Colombia in search of a job, and my father immigrated from Taiwan for a fresh start after serving as Military Police. They began their lives together in a small apartment that often never had lights on because the electricity bill could not be paid. As a young girl, I remember joining them in cleaning houses on the weekends for extra cash. I remember disputes about whether or not we'd be able to pay for laundry. I remember the sound of my mother's keys jingling at the early hours of 4 A.M. everyday, as she leaves the house to her job. Being a first-generation college student and hopeful graduate is not only for my own future career, but it is also a representation of the years of hard work and efforts my parents have put into giving me the best life I can have. As I began to grow conscious of their struggles growing up, I looked to finding a part-time job to work while attending high school. After applying to multiple stores and restaurants, I was hired at a small fast-food chain known as, Playa Bowls. This extracurricular activity taught me the challenges of working within the food industry and customer service skills. I am still working there, for almost 2 years now, and have been promoted to a Shift Lead status to manage the store when the official manager is not present. Although my position could not amount to the stress a parent has over their child, I began to understand the weight of responsibility that came with leading others. My job has taught me time-management skills, social skills, and most importantly, the ability to persevere in difficult situations. Obstacles such as customer complaints, busy days, and especially late-night closings have all built up my character of dedication and positivity. I am personally proud of my small, yet important to me, accomplishment in becoming a valuable employee, and am grateful of how much work my parents have contributed to my life. Working part-time as an extracurricular activity on top of high school sports and academics gives me a tiny outlet into what my parents most likely experienced, trying to balance monthly bills, the health of their child, learning a new language, making sure their kid gets an education, going to work, and still finding time to focus on their own relationship. Being a first-generation college attendant is not to show that a student has accomplished more than their parents, but it is instead a representation of pride towards their origins. I am attending college to show what has resulted from the hard-work my parents have done for me, and will continue to act in appreciation for what challenges they have overcome, so that I am able to pursue any career I'd like today. I now understand that college is a privilege, not a guaranteed experience for all kids, especially not those of immigrant parents. My identity as a first-generation hopeful college graduate and commitment to a part-time job has helped me grow into the introspective, thankful, and understanding individual today. I couldn't have gotten as far as I have today without the help and support of my loving parents.