With a background in psychology and a growing interest in sciences, I came to realize that calculus was something more than just a branch of mathematics; it connects most aspects of STEM. While I have spent much time trying to understand human behavior, the roles of calculus in forming the very base for any analysis of complex systems and accordingly changing biology, physics, and engineering have become clearer. It's a way to break down patterns and growth, which is at the core of so much of what we do in science and problem-solving. Even in psychology, where calculus isn’t used as much as in other fields, it still plays a part in advanced statistical modeling and research. Concepts like neural networks or predicting behavior often involve changes over time, and that’s where calculus comes in. The statistical methods I’ve come across, like regression or curve fitting, rely on these principles. It explained everything from the growth of populations to the distribution of diseases to the chemical reactions in your body. Epidemiologists, for example, use differential equations, as I now understand the greater constituent of calculus, to find out how diseases travel through populations and what we can do to slow them down. This kind of modeling is critical for public health decisions, especially given all that we have seen these last years. Engineering and technology take it to an even higher level. Engineers use it to design systems, whether a bridge is to be built, a piece of software designed, or an electrical circuit devised. It is all about comprehension-that is, understanding how things move, change, or respond to forces. Plus, when it comes to optimizing systems it's making something more efficient or cost-effective-calculus is the tool that makes that possible. It is clear that finding the best solution to a problem through optimization is, the maximization or minimization of functions something engineers deal with constantly, and it all goes back to calculus. Even economics and computer science rely so much on calculus. Economists will use this subject to study changes in markets, and in computer science, this is where algorithms involving machine learning come from. And that, of course, the more I learn about calculus, the more I can see how it connects with everything else in STEM, theoretical or applied. The understanding of calculus is slowly becoming more important to me. It helps to break down complex problems and gives a better insight into how things work. The deeper I dive into the world of science, the clearer it becomes that calculus will be important in helping me approach a lot of problems analytically.

My dream life would be a doctor. I am not entirely sure which specialty I want to practice in. I don't want to worry financially about whether or not I can finish school. I want to have a successful career in the field that I choose to go in. My dream life would include some of my heart's desires such as traveling the world. I want to be a mentor to others and help empower others that dreams are achievable. My dream life also includes my friends and family by my side because they have always been my biggest supporters and always motivate me to be the best me possible. I would also like to be married or be with someone that loves me.