Cybersecurity has been an eye-opener for my goals and I hope that becoming a Cybersecurity Engineer will ensure my ambition and desire to live a full and meaningful life. In the Fall of 2022, I was given the opportunity for a Cybersecurity Engineering Internship from Poe Security under the supervision of Brady Cusack, who served as the CTO of Poe Security. The variation of Cybersecurity that Brady introduced me to was Offensive Cybersecurity and upon explaining every detail of this branch felt like I truly saw myself pursuing a career in this field. I created a career project for my Interpersonal Communications course back in Spring 2022 and I interviewed Brady since I desire to have a career in the tech industry. After the interview was finished, I made a video and posted it on YouTube as required as the final part of the project and because the submission couldn't work on Blackboard; I continued to wonder if Cybersecurity could be a lucrative career that I can finally live my life on my own terms. The duration of my internship was mostly around learning the process and practicing commands, creating group access, and assisting Brady with programs. I found the process to be both fascinating and exhausting because I was able to learn about Cybersecurity, Engineering, and Programming from both my internship and two courses from PGCC; I saw my supervisor being more energetic and knowledgeable about the topics than my professor. Another aspect was completing two courses about Security+ and Kali Linux for my internship; Brady explained how passing and earning a certificate for any field of Cybersecurity would essentially become worth more than even a bachelor's degree. Cybersecurity was in my eyes; one of the most rewarding and high in demand due to the rapid evolution of the tech industry and how everything is becoming more and more digital, technology is a resource that will never be discarded. I see myself in 10 years working as a programmer for a major company/corporation like Amazon, Microsoft, or possibly Google; on the other hand, I hope to become employed as a developer for video games working for companies like CD Projekt RED, Xbox Game Studios, or perhaps establishing my own company/studio. Utilizing programming software like JavaScript, Octave, Raptor, and Kali Linux were amazing from creating a command to speak one sentence to creating a complex flowchart. Realizing that the tech industry was one of high demand and innovation is also one of great passion and flexibility, as such I felt that pursuing a career in Cybersecurity might give a life where I don't have to feel so limited or unstable because growing up in poverty has given me a somewhat of an inferiority complex. Nevertheless, I still desire to obtain a degree and a career that I can be proud of and work towards making the lives of the people I care about even greater. All things considered, I'm still undecided on what I should pursue from engineering, programming, and cybersecurity. However, from the continued guidance and encouragement from my brother, supervisor, and the people I care about, I'll continue doing what I can to secure my future and I won't let anyone stand in my way of greatness. Finding and keeping my motivation is a struggle because my environment usually causes me to commit a few things that I'm never proud of and keep telling myself that I'm already enough.

The role of the second son of foreign-born parents is the greatest of burdens because my family is highly complex and broken, which is why I want to escape and develop a life better than my current one. Whenever I applied for Financial Aid during my duration at PGCC from 2019 to 2023, my parents' income tax reports stated that they were "married-filed jointly" before 2021; however during my final semester at PGCC in Fall 2023, the tax records for my parents were labeled as "Married-filed separately". This incident began numerous frustrating appeals to the PGCC financial office in Largo, yet the Largo office kept finding new problems with my Financial Aid application and therefore; I felt there was no other option but to drop my two remaining courses before finals week. The upside from this incident was from submitting a transfer application to UMD College Park and I was accepted last October; I've then completed all the requirements necessary for a smooth transition for the Spring 2024 semester, however the same situation regarding Financial Aid impacted my journey yet again. Similar to how I dealt with the situation with PGCC, I spoke directly with the Financial office and the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and they recommended that I wait until March where I can speak to the department of undergrad students. I was able to speak with a transfer advisor who works with transfer students from PGCC since the Undergrad department recommended that I speak with the advisor first. The advisor then suggested that I speak with the Undergrad department and the Financial Aid office to see if I can receive deferment for the Fall 2024 semester. The Undergraduate department then stated that I had to re-enroll at UMD College Park if I want to access my resources and register for courses. The decision to consult the Financial office about my financial aid/scholarships before registering for courses was beneficial because Bold.org, Niche, and Going Merry have provided great and unusual scholarships for finishing my college journey. Upon applying for the fall semester however, for some strange reason while I was able to access the Schedule of Classes, I was unable to access the registration site and Financial Aid portal and the same issues happened again. After experiencing this, I spoke with the Financial office about the issues; the office directed me to the IT department about the issue while confirming that my financial aid was ready for review. The IT department suggested that I re-enroll for the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 semester, however I spoke with my older brother who is a first generation college student and convinced me if there's another way I could attend UMD again without having to re-enroll. All things considered, the role of the second son in a Nicaraguan family has had its ups and downs regarding financial and mental well-being. The completion of college is still one of the greatest challenges I'm facing, however I still have hope that I can continue and earn my degree; 5 years after graduating from high school and I still want an education to make something of myself. My family has been the highest form of support for my ambition and desire to live a better life than my parents and attaining my life goals will allow me to live without looking back at the failures of my college journey; however I'll still remember the fond memories of how I started college and reflect on my growth throughout this period in my life.

The STEM field is the most important area of occupations for thriving on an evolving tech-based planet. The inspiration and desire to join the STEM field was during the COVID-19 pandemic and I started to wonder what exactly I wanted for my future; I took the advice of my IEP case manager from High Point High School and my older brother's closest friend Brady Cusack who also worked as a CTO for a Cybersecurity company. The choice to major in General Engineering was the motivation I continue to feel and seek guidance since the world is a harsh and unforgiving place to thrive in. In the fall of 2022, I was given the opportunity to start an internship for Cybersecurity Engineering; under the supervision of Brady Cusack who instructed me to all sorts of programming languages, servers, and many others. Over the course of my internship, I developed a feeling of accomplishment and gratitude for having the opportunity to create basic programs, enable commands for the servers; but most of all, my supervisor Brady Cusack genuinely believes that I have a bright future in this field. Upon the completion of the internship, the network that I've created through Brady was the first of many networks to come in the future because from Brady having faith in my abilities inspired me to continue and believe in my own abilities as well. I fully intend to make the people who guided and supported me have the utmost of pride and respect for myself. The impact that I desire for the STEM field as one of the few of my family to attend college in the United States; it's become extremely frustrating and difficult to stay and finish college because of the FAFSA delay and new selection process. The past couple of months have been incredibly difficult to stay motivated, in addition to working with the office of undergrads at UMD College Park has been somewhat beneficial. Nevertheless, I still intend to complete my bachelor's degree because if I'm able to stay at UMD, I'll keep working hard to finish my journey and finally start a new chapter of my life; if not then, I'll just walk towards a different path without the need of a college degree. Another aspect that I hope to create a new standard in the STEM field is the use and evolving Artificial Intelligence even further. I always loved the concept of creating an A.I. whether based on an existing person or the creator themselves; in addition to using A.I. to solve highly complex issues regarding the climate, integrating alternate solutions for more plant-based diets and the restoration of the species populations. All things considered, the STEM field is the highest priority for any college graduate regardless of the major they have chosen or graduated with. The STEM field also offers various training programs like coding boot camps, seminars, internships, and even summer camps for gifted and underprivileged students. These past 5 years have taken a toll on my physical and mental health, however none of that will stop me from becoming part of the STEM field and contributing to humanity's future and evolution. Being a person of color truly opened doors for amazing opportunities and I don't have any desire to stand idly by; The long-term goal I have now is making the most out of my career without any regrets from looking back at the past.

The most favored game that myself, my older brother, and various friends of ours enjoyed playing is Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii; the reason is because my brother and I have always been super fans of Nintendo since our father bought us a GameCube in 2002 and we have been hooked on video games to this very day. Smash Bros. Brawl was my top favorite entry from the franchise and I still consider the soundtrack, the Subspace Emissary story mode, and the introduction of the Final Smash being the best and most iconic among the latest entry Ultimate. Other games for the Wii like Mario Kart, WarioWare Smooth Moves, Mario Sluggers, and various others were also amazing; however none of them could reach the standard that Smash Bros Brawl created. I fondly remember a certain session in the story mode for Smash Bros Brawl was during the final battle against the final antagonist of the game called Tabuu and he was and still is the most difficult boss to defeat in the entire campaign, even if the game's difficulty is set to normal or easy. My older brother and I spent almost three weeks trying to beat the final boss but to no avail; I decided to ask a couple of our family friends who defeated the final boss. Our friends mentioned watching a few people on YouTube doing a crouch and slam the floor technique that gave their characters a higher chance of surviving even in the most difficult setting. I showed the clip to my brother and after hours have finally defeated Tabuu and the ending of the story mode was just beautiful and shows how far the Smash franchise has come even to this day. All in all, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is still my top favorite game to play on the Wii and I still consider to rank among the best in the franchise with Ultimate coming into a tie-in. I could never understand why people hated Brawl compared to the fourth Smash game, which I consider to be the easily worst entry in the franchise. My older brother and I always have differences, however when it comes to games like this, I couldn't ask for a better teammate and opponent to play with.

The 23 years of my life I have experienced both life-changing and destructive aspects of my mental well-being because lately I have been greatly disappointed and ashamed of how the higher education system is treating students based on their Financial Aid, myself included. I was completely heartbroken and struck down on being unable to attend the Spring 2024 semester for UMD College Park and now I'm not even sure that I will be able to attend the Fall 2024 semester. Over the past few months I've tried to balance out everything for my well-being from applying for jobs and talking to the people at UMD if there's anything I could do to stay on track towards earning my bachelor's degree. The dilemma from having to go through all of this, has caused me to develop a somewhat of disillusionment towards college because in regards to how Financial Aid changed after coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The anger facing from the Financial Office of PGCC had greatly disappointed me in how they couldn't accept all the information I've provided for my father's taxes while they accepted the information for my mother's taxes. The consequences of these incidents have created a high amount of mental imbalance in my mind and facing the reality of how the choices I've made will always come back to haunt me, however I still refuse to stay idle and watch many others like myself become betrayed and isolated from achieving their long-term goals in life. The close relationships with my family and friends I have impacted my mental health in positive and negative outcomes, the most negative outcome is the relationship with my mother because lately she's been harshly critical and judgmental towards myself, my older brother, our friends, and our choices. The parent who I always felt closer to was my father because I don't think that I've ever felt close to my mother like my older brother. My mother has been suffering for possibly a couple of years of insomnia and she can stay asleep for about 4 hours and rarely dreams, however her physical health is still in good condition and the doctor advises her to avoid a few foods that could impact her health. If I'm being honest, I think this makes her behavior worse because whenever we do laundry together, she will point out how I need to focus more on laundry even though I'm doing it as fast and efficient as I could. The result from this was my opinion of my mother gradually continues to become mixed; while in my heart I love my mother, I don't believe that I could ever see her as a person who I can depend on for guidance because my older brother fills that role and I'm happy that he is the most reliable person in our household though he does a few obnoxious things and we argue occasionally. The state of my mental health has also given me a new perspective on life now because starting with my religious beliefs. Even though I'm not overtly religious as my mother and her family, I still believe in God and treating everyone equally and I desire to return to my local church because my family and I haven't attended since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Another aspect is my career aspirations changing from attending my very first semester of college since I originally wanted to be a pilot but I decided 1 year later to instead major in Engineering; around 2 more years I ask my older brother's oldest and closest friend Brady Cusack who worked as a CTO for Poe Security and he's someone I deeply admire. The internship involved an opportunity in working in Offensive Cybersecurity and learning from two courses on Security+ and Kali Linux was an eye-opener to Cybersecurity becoming more of a top career that anyone who loves computing should pursue. After going into social isolation for the first phase of COVID-19, I felt so lonely and depressed because my first semester and first half of my second semester since I started to connect and befriend numerous people compared to myself in high school. All things considered, my mental health has greatly been affected by positive and negative outcomes, however by continuing to embrace new interests, hobbies, and aspirations help guide me through tough times since I've felt so defeated and alone. From better understanding my relationships allow me to reconnect with old friends who I've lost contact with over the years to gaining new friends who I feel a sense of community with that I've never felt in my childhood. Mental Health is a topic that nobody of my generation should ignore and by understanding and working to benefit my well-being not only in the mental aspect, but also the physical and emotional aspects. The ability to perform self-care for yourself is power that only you can attain by continuing to embrace change and I'll have everything that I've dreamed of and look back on my past without any lingering feelings of regret.

The anime that I've really come to cherish is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba because this anime has really lifted my spirits during the COVID-19 pandemic and it really brings me to tears to see the series end with a film trilogy releasing next year. When the first season of Demon Slayer came out in 2019, I initially dismissed it because the animation was very unusual compared to the anime I normally watched before 2020. The first season was then available for streaming on Netflix along with the rest from January 2021 to currently; I watched the first episode and I was instantly hooked on the extraordinary and emotional depth that Demon Slayer was widely known for. The most captivating aspect of Demon Slayer are the battles between the slayers and Uppermoon demons, particularly the Rengoku vs Akaza and Uzui & Kamaboko squad vs Gyutaro & Daki. The Rengoku vs Akaza battle is still by far my most favorite final battle from Demon Slayer and I always watch it because Rengoku is possibly still the fan-favorite Hashira and I was very heartbroken by his death from Akaza; when the Mugen Train film credits started rolling, I teared up seeing all images of Rengoku in somewhat of a memorial. After the film, I cosplayed as Rengoku for Otakon 2021 in Washington D.C. and I was extremely surprised to see so many people say "RIP Rengoku-san" to myself and there were only a few Rengoku cosplayers on the first day. I also had the privilege of meeting the voice actors from half of the main cast and received autographs and took pictures with them. After the conclusion of Otakon 2021, I remember leaving with my older brother in the car and looked back at the convention with a warm smile; something that I didn't even do at AnimeUSA 2019 has given me a whole new perception of how conventions work to bring a community together, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. All things considered, Demon Slayer has helped me grow into a more balanced person, which is something I'm still struggling with due to the harsh reality of a post-pandemic era and I feel that everything else could potentially become disastrous or extraordinary. Watching Demon Slayer again would also detail the harsh experience of living in social isolation similar to falling through an abyss with no hope of escape; allowing me to reconnect with old peers and connect with new friends in ways that I've never imagined. Being able to experience the future of anime, leaving no doubt for how entertainment will never be the same thanks to Demon Slayer along with Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No 8., with many others.

The concert memories ranging from my first to my favorite that I have forever cherished; In 2022, my older brother and I went attended a concert in Columbia, Maryland featuring both Earth Gang and Gorillaz. This concert was the very first I ever went to in my whole life excluding school events; during this time, I became wary since the COVID-19 pandemic was coming out of its prime but still ongoing, I never knew what to expect at this concert. Experiencing a phenomenon of attending a Gorillaz concert with my older brother because he's adored the band since he was around 11 to 13 years old and still listens to their newer albums. Attending the concert has developed a form of comfort and community because from the very first moment of social isolation because of COVID-19; I felt so trapped by an invisible barrier between myself and the world. Upon attending my second anime convention in 2021 called Otakon, I've actually attended another anime convention in 2019 called AnimeUSA, a few months before COVID came into fruition and it was my very first convention. Otakon 2021 was the event that helped release any uncomfortable feelings of being isolated for over a year, in addition upon concluding this two conventions gave me a sense of adventure of wanting to experience newer things and opportunities. This concert was my very first and I'm grateful for the chance to become part of a community that appreciates alternative rock and rap despite from not being able to enjoy it before COVID-19. The most memorable and favorable of my concert memories range from last January attending a 4-day video game and music festival called Super Magfest. The convention hosted its 20th anniversary event and I was able to attend the concerts there for free and the band I loved the most there was the Cybertronic Spree. Going into the venue for Cybertronic Spree, I never knew what to expect because 2023 was the first time I've attended Magfest and I didn't know if the concert required paying for admission to enter the venue. Once the band came onstage, I was immediately hyped by how fluid and free the band members played their instruments while in costume as Cybertronic Spree is a Transformers-themed band. The band played numerous songs both existing and original that were based on video games and anime; I was surprised when the staff members threw objects towards the crowd and everyone kept passing around a bunch of beach balls along with other stranger objects. After an hour and a half, I was able to meet and take a selfie with the band who also complimented my cosplay; attending this concert at Magfest had developed into a real passion for up and coming bands trying to make their mark in music. All things considered, my first and favorite concert memories have manifested into a special place in my heart and I have my older brother to thank for all of that. These concerts have also reignited both my passion and appreciation of life because lately I've been through both excitement and disappointment regarding my college journey; however by reminiscing my concert memories while writing this essay has given me a sense of relief and support because looking back, I have so much to be grateful for and encourages me to continue my path through the grey dimension known as life.