I'm about to finish my Associate's Degree in Industrial Engineering. My plan is to transfer to the University of Houston. I'm currently enrolled for this upcoming Fall semester and also working as a waiter in order to cover my expenses. I like to drive, help my family, and train in mixed martial arts. I would say MMA is my favorite hobby/sport. I would love to pursue a career in the oil industry once I finish my Bachelor's Degree. I always knew that Engineering was going to be my go-to major since I always liked math and graphics. My dad and grandad are engineers, so they also always talked to me about engineering as I was growing up. I was born in Lima, Peru. When I was 13 years old, I moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, and finished High School. I took a few dual credit courses in my senior year and then made a transition to Lone Star College. Right after my first semester at Lone Star, I decided to join the U.S. Army. I always had that calling for serving this country, it started coming up on my mind when I was about 16. I always thought about how lucky I was to have such an opportunity, and that I was able to learn and grow a lot with the values that this country has, which are loyalty, respect, and freedom. As of now, I'm about to finish my Associate's Degree, and the plan is to transfer to the University of Houston. I have 3 classes left that I plan on completing this Fall semester. It's been a tough ride, but I'm only halfway through, I still need to do 2 more years for my Bachelor's. Sometimes I feel like a train that doesn't stop. This is the first summer that I'm not taking college classes and that is because I have a little 3-week internship and right after that I have my 2-week annual training with the Army. Other than that, I have been studying and working non-stop for the past 3 years, but I feel good about it. I always feel proud of myself right after a semester is over. I think this scholarship would help anyone, a scholarship will always help. This scholarship would facilitate my need for tuition, and instead of paying out of my pocket, I could save that money for any type of emergency. I would like to thank John Baptista for giving me the opportunity to apply for this scholarship. Thanks.

The best financial advice I have received came from my mother, which is to know the difference between a necessity and something I want. One day, I asked her for financial advice, and she kept telling me how important saving is. She told me that people should enjoy their lives with the money they make, but they also need to tea responsibility for the things they actually need, to make sacrifices. I have always been a person that likes to save, but the few things I like about are expensive, such as my monthly payment for my mixed martial arts gym, my gym gear, and some more accessories here and there. Basically, I don't have many wants, but the few are quite expensive, so I can't be around spending on little wants because I will end up without money for the wants that not only I really like but are good for me. Using this advice has helped me a lot to be able to pay for things I want. For example, I would want to buy some fancy food or go to a nice place, knowing that I do not need to spend much money, and I can also eat at my work or home, I would save that money, and from here and there, I end up saving a good amount that will help me with college and my needs. I try to prioritize my college tuition, but sometimes it gets really hard since I don't make much money as a waiter, so before any purchase or financial decision, I ask myself, is it a necessity or a want?

To be honest, I am graduating next week, I am a senior, but I plan on joining the military so I won't need this scholarship. Maybe I will end up needing one or two in the future. My only request is to give you a shout out for publishing the scholarship and to ask you to not only give it to someone that has high grades, all A's, or a perfect student that will put a lot of things on their resume, but to give it to someone that actually needs the money, a student with low-income. I know what it's like not being able to have something because of the financial situation of the house. I don't know why I'm doing this, I don't even know if someone will read this, but if that is the case, please give this scholarship to someone that has a very low income, or maybe even better, you can divide this scholarship with 2 or 3 winners so more people are encouraged to learn and get better, thanks.

My favorite scientist is the one and only Neil deGrasse. This man is irreplaceable. I like him because he is all-time learning, and the way he explains the theories with the formulas and the science facts makes it very relaxing to hear. Plus, he is one of my main sources of motivation when it comes to learning. I have seen all of his motivational speech videos.

This pandemic has positively affected my life. This pandemic made me see how far I could go with my life in many aspects. In the first months of the pandemic, where I was staying at home every day, I spent more time with my family and myself. So I was able to focus on more things other than school. I have always been good in school, and at that time around April, I was finishing my Junior year of High School so I decided to work on myself. I was overweight by a lot, and by watching videos on the internet and working out daily, I was able to 45 pounds. After I lost all that weight, I looked back and remembered how overweight I was and that it was an example of hard work and dedication, that there was o trick on accomplishing big things, there is no secret, it's all about working hard and to give up, and that thought sticks to me until this day with everything I do in life, if it wasn't for this pandemic, I probably would have learned this same lesson but later in my life, so I'm thankful for that. In everything I do, whether is doing simple homework, a big major grade project, or a quick workout, I will be at my 110% to do things the right way. Another thing that this pandemic has thought me is to look at the positive side of things, that things can be way worse if you start to think about it. Before the pandemic I was very closed-minded, I didn't listen that much to advise that my teacher, parents were giving me, I thought that what I said was right, and I use to complain way more. But when covid hit, I started to watch the impacts on the society, the impacts in other countries, where people were dying alone in the hospitals without having the possibility of saying bye to their family members. That's when I started to look at my "problems" like if they were nothing, like a normal day, because I started to compare my problems to people's problems that were suffering way worse than mine. If I complained about having to wash the dishes for the third time in the day, I would think that some people don't even have money to buy dishes or even food. So this pandemic has taught me to do my best every time, try to be perfect, and be thankful for everything I have. To finalize, I want to thank Bold.org and Carlynn Greene for giving me this opportunity.

I was very lucky to have Ms. De Leon as my counselor when I first came to the U.S. in 8th grade. When I first came here, I didn't speak English a well as I can now, so it was hard for me to adapt to coming from a Hispanic country like Peru. She taught me a lot of things. From how to unlock a locker to where the classrooms are at. Yes! we don't have a locker in Peru, everything was new for me, I spend all of my first 13 years in Peru, and coming to the U.S. was a challenge for me. The school system is way different as well, so I was very worried at the time, I thought I was going to do badly at school and that everything was not going to go my way, but Ms. De Leon was the Junior High counselor and she spoke Spanish! When I first met her, my face turned from hopelessness to happiness, that's how depressed I was at the time. She was and is one of the kindest people I have ever met in my life. She gave me a complete tour throughout the whole campus, she presented me with some of the teachers, she gave me a lot of different advice, we shared thoughts, and more. And some people may think that she was doing that because that's her job, but I could feel her attitude and I am sure that was not the case, she would always give me good vibes, every time I had a question about anything I would go to her office and ask her, I didn't even have to schedule an appointment. Ms. De Leon showed me how different but fun school was here, that I didn't need to worry about as much as I did. I think it is safe to say that without her, my Junior High experience would have been more difficult, but the only thing I could think about when I graduate from Junor High is how lucky I was to have her in my school life. Ms. De Leon gave me the motivation to finish all of my education here, she gave me a piece of advice that I will never forget, quoting her, "Finish your studies, high school, college, everything, and then you will be able to do whatever you want." When I heard her say that to me, I could feel a sense of motivation to do it, that tie I didn't know what my major was going to be, but I realized how valuable education and knowledge is, she definitely had a high impact on my life, and the least thing I can do is be thankful for the opportunity to have met such an amazing human being. To finalize this essay, I want to thank Bold.org and Susy Ruiz for allowing me to achieve my goal of paying for my education by myself, I really appreciate it.

I was born in Peru, and I immigrated with my family to the United States in 2017, when I was 13. Since then, I have faced many challenges throughout the school. When I first came here, I wasn't able to speak English as well as I do now, so I had a hard time understanding everyone. I remember whenever a random person would come to talk to me and I didn't understand what she/he was saying, I would just say "ok ok", or if they were laughing I would think that they were telling me a joke so I would just laugh with them. But inside myself, I felt bad because I really wanted to communicate with others but just couldn't. To summarize this paragraph, I talked way more one week in Peru, than my first school year in the U.S. But that didn't stop me. I started doing everything in my hands to learn English. I would listen to radio and music in English only, watch videos of people speaking English, and finally, I managed to learn the language, I still have some issues because of my accent, but like my parents say, as long as people understand you are good enough. My dream is to be a chemical engineer and work for the United States for the number of opportunities that this country has given me and my family. I want to give back some of my knowledge to this country once I graduate. When I was able to speak and understand English clearly, I felt like I could do anything if I work hard and put the time in, and I still feel the same. If I apply the same energy and effort that I applied for my English classes, I will be able to accomplish whatever I want. To finalize, I want to thank the band Imagine Dragons and Bold.org for this opportunity. I remember that when I was listening to English songs, I loved "Demons", "Monster", and "Believer". I still listen to those songs here and there when I'm working out. Winning this scholarship would not only help me but my parents as well. Since I have a 2-year-old brother and a sister on the way, I want to pay for all of my tuition by myself so they don't have to stress much, I want them to be calm and without preoccupations so when my siblings grow up, they can have an easier pathway. Anyway, thanks for this opportunity.

I believe that smartphones are important in today's society. Having the ability to talk or message someone who is miles away from you would have sound crazy back in the day. I was born in Peru and moved to the U.S. 4 years ago with my mother and stepfather, the rest of my family lives down there. Being able to communicate with my family, who is miles away from me has played a big role not only in my life as a student but also as a human being. When I first moved here, I was very sad and depressed because I lived my whole childhood there, I lived my first 13 years of my life, and all of a sudden, me and my mother go to live with my stepfather in the U.S. because of his job. Once I got a smartphone, I was able to call, message, and facetime my family. Once I learned how to use my smartphone, things got better. I got motivated in school, I was in a better place emotionally, and if I were in this situation 20 years ago, I don't know what would have happened, because smartphones didn't exist at that time. I also think that smartphones make things easier. For example, before we would have to go to a library by either walking or a method of transportation to get information about a certain subject. Now we can be sitting on our couch, and look everything up on Google. I see smartphones as good inventions, they allow you to save your energy and time. I love my smartphone, but I also don't like to be on it much time. I rather spent time with my family, workout, or helping around the house, instead of being on my smartphone. When I was in Peru, smartphones were not that popular, we use to go outside and play soccer in the parks, run around, climb trees. So I think I still have those memories inside me that allow me to not be with my phone much time. Overall, like it or not, smartphones are not going anywhere, and smartphones are good inventions. Like everything, smartphones do have cons, but most of them are pros. Like it or not, smartphones are very helpful for everyone, they make things easier and faster, and the more advantage you take from them, the better and easier your life will be.

My favorite movie would have to be The Pursuit of Happyness. The Pursuit of Happyness is a movie based on the life of the millionaire Christopher Gardner. This movie shows the struggles Chris Gardner faces while trying to create a better life for himself and his son. There are a lot of themes in this movie like survival, determination, and never giving up on your dreams. What I love the most about this movie is its message. The central message is that persistence and passion guarantee success, are honest and clear. The problem is that The Pursuit of Happyness doesn't delve thoroughly enough into Chris's struggles and his story. Smith and his son have an obvious natural chemistry that plays wonderfully well. I have watched that movie over a hundred times and I have no issues with watching it again. Whenever I'm struggling with school or in my family, I remember the hard times that Christopher Gardner had to go through and I get motivated. To finalize, I would like to thank Bold.org and Nikhil Desai for giving me this opportunity.

I was born in Peru, and I have been living there for 13 years of my life. In 2017, when I was almost 14, my mom told me we were going to the United States. It was going to be my mom with her fiance and me. At first, I didn't want to go because of family and friends I was going to leave. I will say that at one point I got depressed. The first month I was living in the U.S. was full of sadness. I was in my bed most of the day. I didn't want to do anything, I was missing my friends a lot, and at that time, my English was not as good as it is now. Not to mention that my biological dad stayed in Peru because he was not with my mother anymore, so that was making a huge impact in my life because even though we were not living together in Peru, we would see each other at least 5 times per month, which was good enough for me. I started school here in the second semester of Junior High, in January of 2017. It was hard to adapt for me. The school system was completely different, I got lost at least 10 times, and everything is different. At that time I wasn't good at English so I couldn't communicate well with others. With time, I was able to adapt. My English was getting better and I started to understand how everything was in the school. From the schedules to the way people do things here. After a long semester of not speaking to many people, I graduated from Junior High and moved onto High School. I was so happy because there were way more people in High School that spoke Spanish. Looking back, nobody but the counselor spoke Spanish, so having people that could speak it in High School helped me a lot for my mental healthiness. I was finally able to talk to different people, express myself. Now that I am a senior in High School, I feel more confident and ready for college. It is crazy, I think that in one month in Peru, I spoke more than in one year here. But since my English is better I feel better, more relaxed when meeting new people. This upcoming Fall, I will be attending Del Mar College to pursue an Associate's Degree in Chemical Engineering, I look forward to the amazing experiences of this journey. To finalize, I want to thank Bold.org and Mahlagha Jaberi for giving me this opportunity.

One day I was working pulling off the weeds of a house in my neighborhood. I always bring my water whenever I go to work but this time I was in a hurry and I ended up forgetting. Not only I forgot my water bottle, but I didn't drink any water before going, and it was a very sunny day. At first, I didn't realize it, I got to my neighbor's house and started working right away. About 2 hours passed and I was just getting 30% done, there were tons of weeds to pull off, and I was just doing my best as always. Since my neighbor wasn't at home, I was not able to ask for water since there was nobody at the house, so I just thought, the quicker I finish, the quicker I get to walk home to drink water, so I started pulling them off faster, with more intensity. After 4 hours, I still had work to do, and that's when I was getting thirsty. I was thinking about walking home and then coming back, but my parents always tell me that when I start doing something, I must finish it, so walking back home was not an option. 5 hours in and I was 80% done but I was very tired, it was very hot outside so I slowed down. I didn't even want to slow down, but my hips were hurt as well as my knees, so I slowed down. Because I was in the front yard, I could see the cars going by. I didn't see many since my neighborhood is very calm and quiet, but I was able to notice a black truck passing by at least 4 times. It was a black Ford. When I saw that truck for the fourth time, I was just wondering why is that truck passing by so many times, but I was so tired and dehydrated that I just didn't care, it wasn't that important. After a hard journey of 6 hours, I can see the last group of weeds, and before I go to pull them off, the black truck parks on the side. So I stopped and waited to see who it was and it was one of the neighbors that saw me working. It was a very kind woman that gave me 2 water bottles, and a pack of crackers and told me that she was very proud of me, that she went to pick his children from school and saw me there, then she decided to go back if I was still there and that's when she decided to give me some water and snacks. I was in shock inside, I was thinking, I don't even know this woman, and she doesn't even know my name and decided to spend some of her money to give me something for me. I didn't know what to say, I told her how grateful I was for her action and that it meant a lot to me, she decided to hire me to clean her front and backyard, she actually lives close to my house, so I was able to go and help her so many times. From lifting rocks for her backyard decorations to pulling off the weeds. I feel very lucky to have her as a friend that helped me, and I also feel so happy to be able to help her. To finalize, I want to thank Bold.org and Liz Espinoza for allowing me to apply.

First of all, thank you for this opportunity. Well, as we all know, COVID-19 has affected most people on Earth. In my opinion, it has affected me in a good way. I always try to see the positive side of the situation. Since I had to stay at home, I was able to be closer to my family. When I was going every day to High School, I used to only see my parents and brother 4 hours per day. I barely saw my stepfather because he had to work until 6 in the evening sometimes. That wasn't bad, but I obviously wanted to see them more. When COVID-19 hit, I was a bit scared and angry because I wanted to go out. But then, I realized how lucky I was to be able to be with my loved ones supporting each other. One day I was looking at the news on the TV, and I saw what people were going through in other countries and that is when I realized that I was not going through any hard time. Now that I spent every day at home, I get to appreciate more my two-year-old brother. It is one of the most beautiful things in life to watch a baby grow from the first week to the present. I know for a fact that COVID-19 has had very bad impacts in 2020, but we can't spend every single day of our lives complaining and looking at the negative side of the situation. If COVID-19 has taught me something, it is that when you are struggling at anything in your life, you have to remember that it can be way harder, that there are people that don't even have food on their table. Always be optimistic, be kind and honest, support each other, raise your loved ones, stay humble, and never forget to valerate and be thankful for what you have. My plan for 2021 is to keep doing what I'm doing, which is to be close with my family and go to school. Those are my 2 main priorities, my education, and my family. I look forward to going to Del Mar college once the fall comes, and I am very excited to experience a lot of good memories with my family in the future.

My name is Gabriel Maizel and I was born in Lima, Peru. I moved to Texas 4 years ago, when I was almost 14. Since then, I have been very disciplined with my education because of the big magnitude of opportunity that is being able to go to school in the U.S. One of my interesting attributes is that I was able to maintain a GPA between 3.8 and 4.0 all of my 4 years of High School while being in soccer as an extracurricular. I am also bilingual since Spanish is my first language. And I have volunteered for charity spaghetti dinners at my High School cafeteria. I am not conditioned with any type of mental health incapacity, but my biological father does. My dad suffers from Ludopathy. Ludopathy is a type of one of the many addictions that exist in the world. This type of addiction generally refers to being addicted to games and/or gambling. As Centro Samadhi says, "It is regarded as a disorder of impulsive control." When I was a little kid, my mom got divorced from my dad because of this and many other problems. Most of the time, he would come home with no money because he spent most of his salary gambling, and eventually, never won a single game. So he would come home and lie about the reasons for him not coming with any money. Most of the time he would say that someone robbed him, or that he didn't get paid. Once she engaged with my stepfather, my dad decided to not give her any money for my needs at all. He would still come to visit me, and I was still going to his house to spent time together, but things got difficult when he started asking me for money. I had savings from all my side jobs, birthdays, Christmas, etc, and sometimes he would come to visit me, and right before leaving, he would grab some cash and tell me that he was going to give it back to me at the end of the month. I was 10-years old at that time. I didn't know anything about his situation. I didn't know about his compulsive gambling problem. Eventually, I never got any money back from him. This subject is very delicate to me. I don't really talk about this. I think I have only touched this subject with my dad once, and that was 3 years ago. I'm 17, and it is still hard for me to touch this subject. My dad still has this problem, and I don't know what to do to help him. His relationship with my mother is very bad. My mom has wanted to talk to him so he can deposit some money for my college, but he has blocked her. I believe my mom is taking legal action right now. I just want to stay out of it, this situation makes me feel sad. I will always love my parents no matter what, I love my dad and my mom, I recognize that my dad is in a bad place, I still talk to him, we are like very good friends, but I just don't touch the financial subject with him. To finalize, I want to thank Bold.org and Mirajur Rahman for giving me this opportunity.

I believe that staying active and being involved in your community should be something that comes from our heart, something that we must do because we care. Not just to put some community service hours on our resume. I have been collaborating in my community by helping with some activities. One of my favorite activities was at my High School, in Flour Bluff. I remember our soccer coach telling us about a spaghetti dinner. He gave us tickets that we needed to sell for the school. And he also encouraged us to go on Saturday to help the cafeteria staff with everything they needed. From moving the cafeteria tables to giving away the spaghetti meals. We also cleaned the cafeteria by wiping the tables and chairs. Basically, we were there for anything that was needed to be done. I love the fact of giving back, it makes you feel great, it brings you a lot of joy. My mom always tells me that it feels good to receive, but it feels way better to give back. And I think that is our final line goal at the end, for everyone, we all must give back, we must help and support each other back, if they go up, we go up, it's all about being kind and doing the right things. Another thing I have been doing this past year is doing side jobs around my neighborhood. Since COVID-19 hit Nueces County, and I have a pregnant mom, and a 2-year-old brother, I try to not be around a lot of people. I have been going to a couple of houses near my area to help them with everything they needed. I have cleaned yards, move pavements, mowed lawns, move rocks, and more. I love my neighbors in my community, they are very nice to each other, so I went out and delivered papers to their mailboxes with my e-mail and phone number so they can contact me if they ever need anything. I love when I help them cleaning their yards. When I'm done, I always get satisfaction. I am very confident about me making a good impact on my community. Every time I finish helping my neighbors they end up with a big smile on their face thanking me for the support. I love to help and they obviously love to be helped. As long as I can help others, I will keep doing that. I will keep supporting people until I can't anymore. To finalize, I want to thank Bold.org and Misha Brahmbhatt for allowing me to share my experiences. I really appreciate this type of subject for a scholarship essay, it is very important to help and be involved in your community.

I was born in Peru and moved to the United States in 2017 when I was 14. I already knew a little bit of English, but nothing compared to how fluent I am right now. At first, it was hard to adapt. But with time, I got to adapt to the culture and the language. One of the things that helped me the most when I was learning English was music. Listening to music with English lyrics has helped me a lot to develop my listening and pronunciation. Music is an easy way to build English into your daily routine. It’s a low-effort way to pick up pronunciation and colloquial phrases or expressions and is as simple as putting in your headphones. Listening to music in English means to can be studying whenever you are on the move and while you are completing other tasks, such as cooking or cleaning. Listening to English Language music is an excellent way to absorb the culture of English-speaking peoples. It can be an insight into the way English-speaking people think and feel. If nothing else, knowing popular songs and artists gives you something to talk about with your English-speaking friends, and a good conversation is a great way to improve your English. My dream job is to work in the gas/petroleum business in the United States. I feel I need to give back to this country for the number of opportunities this country has given me and my family. I am pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering. Hopefully, I get to give some of my knowledge to this country in the future. To finalize, I also believe that music can bring people together. Music frees the soul. It allows you to express yourself in unimaginable ways. It can relax you, excite you, even bring out emotions you never knew existed. Music brings love into the air - it makes people feel more connected and it creates memories that will last for a lifetime. It doesn’t matter what you believe in or stands for, music is for everyone. Music opens up a whole new door full of new friends, beginnings, and perspectives. It helps shape people into the person they want to become. Singing along to a song can change your mood in just a few seconds. It puts a smile on your face as you feel every word you’re singing. I know this to be true because whenever I hear one of my favorite jams come on, this rush of adrenaline bursts through my body. No matter who you are or where you come from, music allows you to be yourself. It helps you to accept who you really are and it automatically brings people together. If there is one thing you can always count and depend on, it’s music.

I am not conditioned with any type of mental health incapacity, but my biological father does. My dad suffers from Ludopathy. Ludopathy is a type of one of the many addictions that exist in the world. This type of addiction generally refers to being addicted to games and/or gambling. As Centro Samadhi says "It is regarded as a disorder of impulsive control. When I was a little kid, my mom got divorced from my dad because of this and many other problems. Most of the time, he would come home with no money because he spent most of his salary gambling, and eventually, never won a single game. So he would come home and lie about the reasons for him not coming with any money. Most of the time he would say that someone robbed him, or that he didn't get paid. When my parents got divorced, my mom agreed with my dad about how he was going to help her financially. I was going to stay and live with my mom, and my dad was supposed to give her 20% of his salary to help her pay for my needs. They both agreed, and everything was going as planned until my mom got into a relationship. Once she engaged with my stepfather, my dad decided to not give her any money for my needs at all. He would still come to visit me, and I was still going to his house to spent time together, but things got difficult when he started asking me for money. I had savings from all my side jobs, birthdays, Christmas, etc, and sometimes he would come to visit me, and right before leaving, he would grab some cash and tell me that he was going to give it back to me at the end of the month. I was 10-years old at that time. I didn't know anything about his situation. I didn't know about his compulsive gambling problem. Eventually, I never got any money back from him. I was ok at that time, I didn't realize what he was doing with the money. One time, I was at my grandparent's house, and he called them saying that he got jumped and robbed in a car. My grandparents immediately started crying and praying as my dad was coming to their house, but at the same time, my grandma was saying "I don't believe it". When my dad came, he told us the "story" of what happened to him. He said that someone punched him in the face really hard, but he didn't have any punch marks on his face. When I got home, I told my mom what happened to him, and that was when she told me what was going on with him. She told me what the condition was, since when he has it, everything. She told me how they tried getting help with psychologists when they were together, but he just didn't go to any of the therapies. She also told me when he admitted to her that he went to gamble, and that was why he didn't come home with money sometimes. I told her that I gave him money and she told me how big of a mistake that was. This subject is very delicate to me. I don't talk about this. I think I have only touched this subject with my dad once, and that was 3 years ago. I'm 17, and it is still hard for me to touch this subject. My dad still has this problem, and I don't know how to help him. His relationship with my mother is very bad. My mom has wanted to talk to him so he can deposit some money for my college, but he has blocked her. I believe my mom is taking legal actions right now. I just want to stay out of it, this situation makes me feel sad. I will always love my parents no matter what, I love my dad and my mom, I recognize that my dad is in a bad place, I still talk to him, we are like very good friends, but I just don't touch the financial subject with him.

For me, this meme represents the situation of most of the schools today. It's funny how back in the day, students used to skip school by getting out of the actual school local. But now, since most of the schools are operating remotely, all they got to do to skip is turn their microphones and cameras off. Yeah, just as simple as that. I have volunteered in my High School by helping at the cafeteria at a spaghetti dinner. So on Saturday, I would go there help to move and cleaning the tables, passing the plates by, and anything that needed to be done. I have also helped around my neighborhood by going to my neighbor's homes to either clean their yards, move pavements or rocks, and do anything that needed to be done as well. To finalize, I would like to thank Taylor Dodd-Owens and Bold.org for allowing me to share one of my favorite memes.

For me, chess is more than a sport, it is art. I started playing from a very young age. I think I started playing when I was 6. My uncle is a chess professor, and every time I went to his house for the family meetings, I would play against him. I remember when he used to teach chess in the park of the neighborhood. I got a lot of memories of the little tournaments he used to do. When I grew up, I believe when I was 10, I joined a chess club in my school. It was a small group, we were like 8 people. But we were the best 8 people in a 400 people school. Every time we would play against any casual/normal person, we would destroy them with quick checkmates, and it was very fun. Plus, when you are a kid, you are very competitive and that made it even better. There are a lot of things that you learn from chess that you can apply in real life. Chess helps you think. Not only to think but to think quickly. Having a timer when there is a chess match will make you have to be quicker when you think about your play. Another thing chess teaches you like most sports is to respect your opponents. Everyone has the same goal, which is to win the match, and the chess community has taught me a lot about being disciplined and respecting my opponents. I obviously apply this to real-life by respecting everyone I talk to. One other example of what chess teaches you for real life is to stay focused and to practice. The only way to get better and be better than your opponent is by being focused and practicing. The only way to play better is by playing and playing and playing. Practice makes perfection, and that applies to everything in life. To be successful at something, you need to do a lot of things, but the most important things are to work hard, stay focused, and practice a lot. So chess has taught me a lot of values for life that I continue to apply every day. I have two main goals in my life. My career goal is to complete a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering to work for the petroleum/gas industry of the United States so I can give back my knowledge to this country for giving me so many opportunities for me and my family. And my second goal is to compete in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in the future while having my full-time job. I really like MMA and I look forward to competing in the future. But first things first, my education. And chess has obviously had a big impact on these goals that I am trying to achieve. Chess has influenced me in a lot of ways by the things that it has taught me. Respect, stay focused, be quick, and practice. To conclude this essay, I will say that when I saw this scholarship, I smiled thinking about all the memories that are chess-related, from playing with my uncle to going to tournaments. Thanks for the opportunity.

I believe music is the best way to represent yourself. With music, I feel free. Music gives me a lot of different emotions. As you can see in this playlist, I like listening to electronic music, Hispanic music, and rap. These music genes motivate me a lot whenever I'm stressed, feeling sad, and even working out. If I had to pick one of these 20 songs, it would be Faded - Alan Walker. Faded will always pump me up in any situation. But again, every single song on that playlist is absolutely fire. Thank you for the opportunity.

Life is not predictable. There are ups and downs along the way. Many of us want to trust God. When times are good, it can feel easier. But when times feel difficult, it is even more important to trust God. God is an unchanging character that can give us a firm foundation when things feel unsteady and uncertain. When I was in middle school, I had pretty much everything someone my age could want. I had friends, phenomenal grades, a wonderful family that loves me to this day, you name it. Somehow, though, I felt something missing. A void in me- nameless and faceless- that consumed me. I didn't know why. But it did. I was known for acting happy, even, and sometimes I could be, but slowly depression and frustration crept in. It was killing me, and I didn't know why or how. I never turned to drugs or anything dramatic like you always hear- I just was dying spiritually. People don't need to be free of violence and hatred and substance abuse first and foremost- they need Jesus. Then everything else starts to change. Well, I still needed Jesus. Although my family had always raised me to be a Christian, as is the case with many, I assumed I was alright and never really realized how all-consuming being a follower of Christ really was. Or perhaps I knew but didn't understand. Anyway, it got to the point where I would ask myself if this person or that would come to my funeral. I thought about taking my own life. I was in 7th grade. I even listened to Christian music. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite artists- Casting Crowns- was playing one night. I was listening, and I thought I had heard all their songs. I swore I had. The intro to Set Me Free came on, and my interest piqued. I'd never heard this before. As I listened to this song describe my thoughts and feelings perfectly, I began to feel this Power around me. I know it sounds mystical, and I know I sound like a loon. I just felt warm, protected. Not like my problems were going to go away, but that I would never again have to feel alone. The song ends with Jesus breaking a man free of his demons, and I wept and accepted Christ and all that He means to me. It took a while to let Him heal me, but now I have a whole new outlook on life. No longer do I see struggles- I see chances to strengthen my faith. Even if it is frightening. No longer do I fear death- I look forward to an eternity spent chilling with my brothers and sisters and freakin' Jesus Christ Himself. No longer do I see coincidences- I see how God really is guiding the world, tying every single little thread together where it needs to go at the precise moment it needs to be there. No longer do I see the Bible as a dusty old collection of fairytales, as some prefer to see it- I see how the One who breathed out the stars and defined time and the laws of quantum mechanics and relativity pushed here, prodded there, pulled here to unite millions on millions of people from all across history to show how we couldn't save us, how we are not and never will be good enough just so Jesus could step out of His comfy place in heaven with service by hundreds of thousands of angels to be born down here, mocked, whipped, scorned, beaten, and killed by all of His loved ones just so that I, one of the very people that sins against Him and spits in His face to this day, could join Him and be free of my sins. That is how Jesus has changed my life.

My stepfather is my biggest role model, I admire and respect him a lot, and one time, he told me: "Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them makes life meaningful." And until today, that quote has stuck with me. And he told me this at the perfect time. I was depressed because I didn't make the soccer team. I wasn't good enough. When I got home, my stepdad looked at me and asked me if everything was good. When I told him that I was disappointed because I didn't make the team, he said that quote that I will never forget. That quote motivated me a lot that I decided to make a change. I changed my mentality. I started working out every day. And with time, I got better. When the time came, and the other school year started, I was already ready. When the tryouts came, I gave it all. And at the end of the tryout week, I went to the locker room, and I saw my name on the list. I was so happy. Right away, I started thinking about my stepdad's quote. And since that moment, I have applied that quote to everything I do in life. Everything I want to accomplish. Right now, my main goal is to get as much money as possible for college. I am applying for a lot of scholarships and grants. I know that the chances of winning are low because of the number of students that apply to them, but I'm doing my best. So now, every time I lose, every time I don't make it, or I don't get the result I want, I repeat that quote in my head. To finalize, I want to thank the Finesse Your Education foundation for allowing me to apply to this scholarship. I look forward to keeping applying.

I believe that staying active and being involved in your community should be something that comes from our heart, something that we must do because we care. Not just to put some community service hours on our resume. I have been collaborating in my community by helping with some activities. One of my favorite activities was at my High School, in Flour Bluff. I remember our soccer coach telling us about a spaghetti dinner. He gave us tickets that we needed to sell for the school. And he also encouraged us to go on Saturday to help the cafeteria staff with everything they needed. From moving the cafeteria tables to giving away the spaghetti meals. We also cleaned the cafeteria by wiping the tables and chairs. Basically, we were there for anything that was needed to be done. I love the fact of giving back, it makes you feel great, it brings you a lot of joy. My mom always tells me that it feels good to receive, but it feels way better to give back. And I think that is our final line goal at the end, for everyone, we all must give back, we must help and support each other back, if they go up, we go up, it's all about being kind and doing the right things. Another thing I have been doing this past year is doing side jobs around my neighborhood. Since COVID-19 hit Nueces County, and I have a pregnant mom, and a 2-year-old brother, I try to not be around a lot of people. I have been going to a couple of houses near my area to help them with everything they needed. I have cleaned yards, move pavements, mowed lawns, move rocks, and more. I love my neighbors in my community, they are very nice to each other, so I went out and delivered papers to their mailboxes with my e-mail and phone number so they can contact me if they ever need anything. I love when I help them cleaning their yards. When I'm done, I always get satisfaction. To finalize, I want to thank Bold.org and Charles R Ullman for allowing me to share my experiences. I really appreciate this type of subject for a scholarship essay, it is very important to help and be involved in your community.

When I was 14, my parents congratulated me on becoming a freshman at High School. I started thinking about how important education was going to be, but since I was very young, I had other thoughts and wasn't thinking that much at the beginning of High School, which I think it's normal. After a couple of weeks, our principal organized a meeting for all of the freshmen. It was inside the cafeteria, the whole cafeteria was full of freshmen students. Once the meeting started, our principal, Mr. Crenshaw, started explaining to us how important High School was, how important college was, how important education was. I remember he showed us a graph with information about how 90% of jobs require a High School diploma, how small and big of an impact High School was, how those 4 years of High School were such a little time on our lifetime, but also how important those years were going to be. After listening to him, I realized how important education was, I started listening to people like Dave Ramsay, or Joe Rogan talking as well about how important education was, how important is to be cultured, learn things, know how to figure problems out. So listening to my High School principal allowed me to realize how important education was.

For me, legacy is something transmitted by someone that deserves merit for the things that the person has done and/or achieve. I do want to leave a legacy, especially for my loved ones. I believe that leaving a legacy is as important as when you are raising your child. You are giving your child values that he/she will apply in the future. Leaving a legacy is going to be a good way of teaching others how things should be done and/or accomplished. Obviously, there are different kinds of valuable legacies. From money and properties to thoughts and life lessons. One example of the many types of legacies is the Pecuniary Legacy. This legacy involves the leaving of a specific amount of money. Another type of legacy is the Gift legacy. This type of legacy will involve any type of gift in any way shape perform. It could be spiritual, material, anything. The thing is, that legacies will benefit people one way or another, and will also make people that don't know you, know how much of a person you were. I want to leave a good legacy for my children. I want to show them how things are supposed to be done. I want to show them how many things they can get just by being nice, honest, kind, working hard, and doing the right things. I want to show my children that life is not fair and that to be successful, you need to stay focused, and be obsessed with what you do. I just want to give them good examples so they can apply them in their future, and also, teach their children so the family legacy can go on and on. To be honest, I don't plan on leaving any type of money/pecuniary legacy to my children. I want to teach them that you should build your own empire, because, by the time they are grown adults, I will be retired after years of hard work, enjoying life. Leaving a legacy is very important for your family. You are not obligated to leave a legacy, but at least, I do want to leave one, and I will do my best to be a good example for my family.

COVID-19 will probably have permanent effects on the way we work. But the way we live, socialize, and move about the world will be different, too. For the coronavirus pandemic, I keep repeating baseball player and philosopher Yogi Berra’s wise advice that “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” COVID-19 is a test like no other. Never have the lives of so many people around the world been affected at this scale or speed. There are three clear legacies from the COVID-19 pandemic. They all derive from the unnatural and unpleasant circumstances imposed by the pandemic and the public health responses. First, we all want security. The pandemic has filled us with uncertainty and insecurity. The natural response is to want security. This means security in having an income, child care, family leave, and other things necessary to care for your family during a pandemic. Every country will have to critically test its social safety net and shore it up. COVID-19 has reshaped urban mobility. Instead of traveling to things, we’ve brought them to us, working from our living rooms, eating takeout at our tables. We’ve set new patterns that were unthinkable before. But most of us want to go out again. As that becomes possible, we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how it’s done, to encourage new, more sustainable habits. Second, we all want sociable. Humans are social animals. The isolation imposed by COVID-19 is debilitating. We want to have opportunities to be with other people, share meals, share a drink in the pub, and share activities. We see this when restrictions are eased on how people run for parties and group settings. Opportunities and venues for sociable will become huge post-Covid. Third, travel will explode after the pandemic. People like (safe) novelty and changes of scenery. I have locked us down with the monotony of the same rooms, same walking routine, inability to see new things. When it is safe to travel, people will go, go, go. COVID-19 at the very beginning is a public health issue and then was further developed as a political concern. It challenged the nature of urban design and pushed us to reconsider the use of architecture and city space. “Sharing” used to be one of the most important agenda in urban design and planning. In our past architectural practices, we used to make a lot of effort on providing more open space to stimulate social interactions, which was considered as a positive and revolutionary action. However, the pandemic led to more discussions on isolation and social distancing, rather than sharing and co-living. Our efforts on providing better public space are questioned, and they might be considered not that important anymore. However, in the long run, public space will still be the foundation for sharing our cities. We can’t imagine the city as a perfectly functioning hospital, because the city should surpass functionality and reflect our ideal for living. Interpersonal communication is still essential, but in the post-pandemic era might be challenged. In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic may have positive and negative effects on different aspects of lifestyle behaviors. We have never been hit by something like this before. This situation is hard for everyone, but we must fight not only back but together to beat this virus.

I am not conditioned with any type of mental health incapacity, but my biological father does. My dad suffers from Ludopathy. Ludopathy is a type of one of the many addictions that exist in the world. This type of addiction generally refers to being addicted to games and/or gambling. As Centro Samadhi says "It is regarded as a disorder of impulsive control. When I was a little kid, my mom got divorced from my dad because of this and many other problems. Most of the time, he would come home with no money because he spent most of his salary gambling, and eventually, never won a single game. So he would come home and lie about the reasons for him not coming with any money. Most of the time he would say that someone robbed him, or that he didn't get paid. When my parents got divorced, my mom agreed with my dad about how he was going to help her financially. I was going to stay and live with my mom, and my dad was supposed to give her 20% of his salary to help her pay for my needs. They both agreed, and everything was going as planned until my mom got into a relationship. Once she engaged with my stepfather, my dad decided to not give her any money for my needs at all. He would still come to visit me, and I was still going to his house to spent time together, but things got difficult when he started asking me for money. I had savings from all my side jobs, birthdays, Christmas, etc, and sometimes he would come to visit me, and right before leaving, he would grab some cash and tell me that he was going to give it back to me at the end of the month. I was 10-years old at that time. I didn't know anything about his situation. I didn't know about his compulsive gambling problem. Eventually, I never got any money back from him. I was ok at that time, I didn't realize what he was doing with the money. One time, I was at my grandparent's house, and he called them saying that he got jumped and robbed in a car. My grandparents immediately started crying and praying as my dad was coming to their house, but at the same time, my grandma was saying "I don't believe it". When my dad came, he told us the "story" of what happened to him. He said that someone punched him in the face really hard, but he didn't have any punch marks on his face. When I got home, I told my mom what happened to him, and that was when she told me what was going on with him. She told me what the condition was, since when he has it, everything. She told me how they tried getting help with psychologists when they were together, but he just didn't go to any of the therapies. She also told me when he admitted to her that he went to gamble, and that was why he didn't come home with money sometimes. I told her that I gave him money and she told me how big of a mistake that was. At that time, I was still young, I was 12. Since that time, I tried to not giving my dad money ever again, but I still gave him money a couple more times, I love him, he is my dad, and at that time I was not old enough to learn how to say no. This subject is very delicate to me. I don't really talk about this. I think I have only touched this subject with my dad once, and that was 3 years ago. I'm 17, and it is still hard for me to touch this subject. My dad still has this problem, and I don't know what to do to help him. His relationship with my mother is very bad. My mom has wanted to talk to him so he can deposit some money for my college, but he has blocked her. I believe my mom is taking legal actions right now. I just want to stay out of it, this situation makes me feel sad. I will always love my parents no matter what, I love my dad and my mom, I recognize that my dad is in a bad place, I still talk to him, we are like very good friends, but I just don't touch the financial subject with him.

I have seen a lot of motivation videos in 2020. It is a sad fact that the LGBTQ community is still receiving a lot of hate from very ignorant people. This wasn't even close to how difficult this was back in the '90s or the '80s. I also follow a lot of celebrities that motivate me every day. When I see posts on social media that say how beautiful we all are as human beings. I do want to make big changes in the LGBTQ community. The biggest change I would love to accomplish is to create laws that will make ignorant people respect the community. For example, if there are people that are doing mean comments, or excluding people of the LGBTQ community, they will have to either pay a ticket or go to jail for a certain amount of time. I know this may sound a little bit extreme, but we are all equal as human beings, we all have the same right. The fact of knowing that there are people out there thinking that they are superior to other just because of their sexuality, race, or religion, makes me sick. This needs to stop, and we need to start taking action now.

To be honest, none of my parents are incarcerated, but my biological dad, who I still text every day, is divorced from my biological mom. I have been living with my mom and my stepfather for almost 5 years. My biological parents divorced when I was 5. Since then, their relationship was not the best. In Peru, where I was born, there is a law that states that if the parents are divorced, the parent that does not live with the son still needs to give an amount of money to the other parent to help with the child. So my dad did not do any of that. He was supposed to deposit a certain amount of money to my mom to help her with my school and necessities. But he didn't do any of that. He and my mom have been discussing this issue back and forth. But the reality is that he spends a certain amount of his money gambling. It is an addiction for him, but he won't accept it. He has a condition called Ludopath. Because of this, he can't send my mom money to pay for my necessities. My mom even hired a lawyer so he could send a letter to my dad. At first, my dad accepted. He was giving my mom some money to help her with my necessities. But once he found out my mom was in a relationship, he decided that he did not have to give her money. Now things have gone far. My mom is in talks with the lawyer, and they will do everything they can to make my dad pay. The last thing that can happen is him going to jail. I know this is not about the money, this is about what is right. I still talk with him every day, we are very good friends, it is very hard to touch that subject with him. I think we only talked once about this money issue, and I am very worried about this situation. I don't want to see him in jail. I don't even like to think about this. But I don't think I can do anything about it, that is the most stressful thing.

I am pursuing a major in Chemical Engineering. I will attend Del Mar College to do my transfer program for the first 2 years, and afterward, I will attend Texas A&M Kingsville. When I was a Junior, I was starting to look for majors to study in college. Since my stepdad is a chemical engineer, I decided to ask him a couple of questions and see what he does daily to see if maybe I was interested, and I totally was. I am a math guy, I like analyzing data, making projections, graphics, etc. And that was exactly what he did. That was when I started to do my research on chemical engineering. At first, I went to websites and forums and started asking questions to people that were either undergraduates or even retired. Each answer was giving me more confidence each time that chemical engineering was the major for me. Plus, it is a very well-rounded major. Obviously, my stepdad inspired me a lot to pick this major, he always tells me how good of a career chemical engineering is, and I have met many of his teammates and they all also told me how important of a role chemical engineers are in the world. After doing my research and comparing chemical engineering with other majors such as industrial engineering, I decided to pick chemical engineering. The most important factor that led me to take this decision was because I knew that by picking this major, I was going to have the knowledge to work on my dream job, which is working in the gas/petroleum industry, and by working there I was going to be able to give back some of my knowledge to this country for the number of opportunities that it has given me and my family. To finalize, I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity, my main goal is to retire as a senior engineer and help to keep making progress in the gas/petroleum industry of the United States. I look forward to keeping applying for more scholarships, thanks.

My mom is my everything. My mom has taught me a lot of things. When I think about who is my everything, I think about the person that loves me the most, and I love the most. I have been in many ups and downs in my life. Whenever I was struggling with anything my mom has always been there. When I was succeeding at something my mom would also be there. She is my everything, I love her so much. I would take a bullet for her. I am really happy to be able to be by her side, supporting and loving her. I help her with the house every day. I wash the dishes with her, I clean the rooms with her, and more shareable moments. We always tell stories to each other. She always gives me her best advice for life. She has taught me to be humble and remember where I come from. My mother is my everything.

The first meme is about the pandemic, how everyone is wearing masks now. So I put a picture of Sheldon Cooper, a character in The Big Bang Theory, to represent it. The second one is about today’s virtual classes. Back in 2019, some students would leave school to skip. Now, most of the students that want to skip school just turn their microphones and cameras off. And the last one is about how everyone thought 2020 was going to be a good year, but look at what it was.

In this image, you can see me jumping off of an 8 feet tall range to the sea in the San Andreas Island in Colombia. It was such an amazing experience that I will never forget. I was so happy to be able to spend time with my family in Colombia. I look forward to more experiences like this in the future.

Security and safety are always first! I have always wanted to make a big impact on the world by creating something. I have been thinking about this creation for a long time. I would create packages that change the color of the product if the product is expired. I would create a type of plastic that can change its color depending on pH levels. It can be used to produce packaging for perishable foods. Consuming expired food is something that happens every day. However, the number of people that are being affected by this is very low. But still, just because it does not affect a lot of people does not mean that it's not a problem that should be taken care of. Let's say that a baby consumes expired milk, which is obviously the responsibility of the parents, but my creation can prevent those devastating scenarios where people are being affected by consuming these expired products. I think my creation is vital for the world because it can save lives and prevent bad scenarios. Nobody wants to get sick by consuming something that is expired, but sometimes, we are just very busy doing something, and we don't notice. So I would love to create these packages and make them very affordable so everyone can have them. Because security and safety are always first.

Global warming is the problem that interests me the most. I have seen so many documentaries about how the Earth will be in 50 years from now because of global warming. A lot of animal species will disappear. The ice percentage will decrease a lot. There will be inhabitable places. I know that I won't be able to make big changes by myself. But at least I'm trying my best to help. I have volunteered many times to pick up trash on the beaches of my community. I also try to waste as little water and light as possible at home. So I take short showers, and I also pretend to not turn on the lights when I don't need them. Another thing I like doing is putting the recycled trash where it needs to be. Like I said before, if we are all in this together, we can make big changes, but I can't make big differences by myself. I am very excited about what technology is going to be like in a couple of years. Maybe we can get some types of machines to clean certain contaminated areas or to collect the trash that is down deep in the ocean.

First of all, thank you for this opportunity. Well, as we all know, COVID-19 has affected most people on Earth. In my opinion, it has affected me in a good way. I always try to see the positive side of the situation. Since I had to stay at home, I was able to be closer to my family. When I was going every day to High School, I used to only see my parents and brother 4 hours per day. I barely saw my stepfather because he had to work until 6 in the evening sometimes. That wasn't bad, but I obviously wanted to see them more. When COVID-19 hit, I was a bit scared and angry because I wanted to go out. But then, I realized how lucky I was to be able to be with my loved ones supporting each other. One day I was looking at the news on the TV, and I saw what people were going through in other countries and that is when I realized that I was not going through any hard time. Now that I spent every day at home, I get to appreciate more my two-year-old brother. It is one of the most beautiful things in life to watch a little baby grow from the first week to the present. I know for a fact that COVID-19 has had very bad impacts in 2020, but we can't spend every single day of our lives complaining and looking at the negative side of the situation. If COVID-19 has taught me something, it is that when you are struggling at anything in your life, you have to remember that it can be way harder, that there are people that don't even have food on their table. Always be optimistic, be kind and honest, support each other, raise your loved ones up, stay humble, and never forget to valerate and be thankful for what you have.

First of all, thanks for this opportunity. Well, I would like to study a major in chemical engineering. A Bachelor's Degree to be more specific. There are many reasons for this. One of them is that after all my research, I founded out that it was a very hard major. But my parents and people older than me always tell me, the harder, the better. Also, my stepfather is a chemical engineer, and since he works from home now, I see what he does every day, and I founded out that I really liked it. I'm a math guy, so I'm good with numbers. I also like graphs, pie charts, tables, collecting, and analyzing data. That is pretty much what chemical engineers do. There are obviously way more things, but those are just the main things they do. I also like physics and chemistry. I was very good at those courses in my sophomore and junior year. I decided to study this at the beginning of my senior year, and that is my plan still today. I am really excited to go to college in the 2021 spring. I am also very excited to be applying for as many scholarships as possible. I look forward to keeping applying to be able to pay for all my tuition by myself and also to be debt-free when I graduate. Thanks!

First of all thanks for this opportunity. My role model is my stepfather. I love him so much. I have learned so many things in the past 5 years that make me grow as a person and also motivate me a lot every day. To talk about his life a little bit, he was born in Peru as well as me, he finished High School and then completed a major in chemical engineering with a fully-funded scholarship in a national university in Peru. After graduating from university, he got jobs that had to do with his career, but with the past of time, a very well-rounded job offer got to him, but one of the requirements was to speak English, and he could not speak it. Since he figured it that to learn a language the proper way you have to be surrounded by people speaking that language, he grabbed all his savings and went to Australia to learn well. But since his savings were not enough, he had to work as a janitor and as a floor cleaner in buildings to pay for his rent and his school. Because that was not enough, he had only 1 meal per day. A can of tuna and ramen noodles. He told me that he use to cry every night in the subway when he was going back home and that he also cried whenever he was cleaning the restrooms because he studied chemical engineering, a good career, and because he did not learn English before, he was working on jobs that were not for him. He was very depressed during those 2 years, but he actually made it, he learned English and got a job in a town in Peru. Once he got the job, a better offer came to the table for all his hard work and dedication and the offer was in Louisiana, United States. Then, he came here, he reencountered with my mom, and in that lapse of time, another offer came to the table and he came with us to Corpus Christi, Texas. Now, he eats a lot of delicious food, has a big family of 3 sons, a wife, and 2 dogs, and a warm house. What I am trying to say is, that he actually motivates me a lot, his story of having to be starving every cold day, working and studying, working hard and never giving up, makes me valerate the number of opportunities I have at my age. For example, the fact that I can speak both Spanish and English. I see my stepfather as my dad in my heart, a true hard worker, and a person that will never surrender, and will never let you down. When I finish college and get a good job, I plan on giving him and my mom at least one third (1/3) of my paycheck for all the love and things that they have done for me. They have done a lot of things without expecting anything back, and I feel very lucky and grateful for that.

First of all, thanks for this opportunity. I believe a big moment that changed my perspective on life was when I moved from my native country, Peru, to the country I live in now, United States. I moved to Corpus Christi, Texas when I was 14. I grew up my whole life in Peru. Peru was the only country I knew at the time I moved here. And from a lot of experiences, I am very happy and proud to say that I have learned a lot of things. Moving to a different reality makes me able to compare both sides. I have been living in the United States for almost 4 years, and I actually went back to Peru last year to visit my family and friends. Obviously, a lot of things have changed, but the energy with my loved ones is always the same. I think that the most important thing that I have learned about this experience, is to valerate everything I have, being able to stay humble and recognize were I come from and the amount of opportunities that I have at such a young age. My parents would have never tought about coming to live to study in the U.S. when they were my age. The economy in Peru is in a bad place right now, I know for a fact that it is better for me to stay and to at least finish my education in the United States. I am very proud to be very close with my mom and my step father, I love them so much, and I am very grateful for what they do everyday. The fact of living in two completely different countries and cultures also allowed me to go out of my comfort zone. At the beginning, I did not want to come to the U.S. because I did not want to leave my friends and my family. I obviously still missed them, but there are more positive things to be thankful for than complaining for not being with your friends. When my parents were my age, in Peru, there were so manny dangerous things because of the terrorism era that Peru went through. Car bombs, robbery, etc. Sometimes when they went out to buy something to eat, it was very scary because of how dangerous the streets were at that time. And still right now, in the mix of the pandemic, there is people that are still robbing, still abusing of old people, and still doing bad things. You, the reader, will probably think were is the police. The police in Peru is very corrupt and they don't like to mess sometimes with some dangerous gangs. It sounds crazy but that is just the reality over there. Now, knowing all this, being able to know all this information, and know living in the U.S. with all these opportunities, make me realize how lucky I am to be in this position. I have a warm house, I have a plate of food everyday, and I am with my family, I am very lucky and proud to recognize this. There is a very short amount of scholarships in Peru, this is like paradise for me. So, I am very proud and happy to always stay humble, know my roots, where I come from, and to have the values that my parents taught me, respect everyone, always be kind, and work very hard to succeed. I carry this values to everywhere I go and I look forward to keep learning, and growing as a person. Thanks for your time.

Before the covid hit, I was going to work at a restaurant for my first job. But now, since I'm not trying to be in contact with a lot of people because my mom is pregnant and I also have a 2-year-old brother at home, I am doing some side jobs in the neighborhood. I mow the lawns, clean houses, move rocks, pull off the weeds of the yard, and more things in the houses that are in my neighborhood. I was raising money to buy my first car to go to college once I graduate from High School. Right now I am a senior at Flour Bluff High School and I'm planning to attend Del Mar College to take the general classes for chemical engineering. I already got a little bit ahead by taking dual credit courses, such as college algebra and statistics. If I'm lucky enough to win this grant, I would use it to pay for my tuition. As we all know, college is expensive, and my parents won't be able to afford everything, and I also don't like the idea of getting student loans, because I will probably end up in debt. So I would use this grant to pay for my college. By getting this grant, I would be able to learn a lot of new skills. Since I have never won any scholarship yet, if this is my first grant/scholarship win, I would reiterate the value of consistency by knowing to never give up. Thank you for this opportunity, I really appreciate it.

First of all thanks for this opportunity. My role model is my step father. I love him so much. I have learned so much things in the past 5 years that make me grow as a person and also motivate me a lot everyday. To talk about his life a little bit, he was born in Peru as well as me, he finished High School and then completed a major on chemical engineering with a fully-funded scholarship in a national university in Peru. After graduating from university, he got jobs that had to do with his career, but with the past of time, a very well-rounded job offer got to him, but one of the requirements was to speak English, and he could not speak it. Since he figured it that in order to learn a language the proper way you have to be surrounded with people speaking that language, he grabbed all his savings and went to Australia to learn well. But since his savings were not enough, he had to work as a janitor and as a floor cleaner in buildings to pay for his rent and his school. Because that was not enough, he had only 1 meal per day. A can of tuna and ramen noodles. He told me that he use to cry every night in the subway when he was going back home, and that he also cried whenever he was cleaning the restrooms because he studied chemical engineering, a good career, and because he did not learn English before, he was working on jobs that were not for him. He was very depressed during those 2 years, but he actually made it, he learned English and got the job in a town in Peru. Once he go the job, a better offer came to the table for all his hard work and dedication and the offer was in Louisiana, United States. Then, he came here, he reencountered with my mom, and in that lapse of time, another offer came to the table and he came with us to Corpus Christi, Texas. Now, he eats a lot of delicious food, has a big family of 3 sons, a wife, and 2 dogs, and a warm house. What I am trying to say is , that he actually motivates me a lot, his story of having to be starving every cold day, working and studying, working hard and never giving up, makes me valerate the amount of opportunities I have at my age. For example, the fact that I can speak both Spanish and English. I see my step father as my dad in my heart, a true hard worker, and a person that will never surrender, and will never let you down. When I finish college and get a good job, I plan on giving him and my mom at least one third (1/3) of my paycheck for all the love and things that they have done for me. The have done a a lot of things without expecting anything back, and I feel very lucky and grateful for that.

My name is Gabriel, I am 17 years old and will turn 18 in March 28 , I was born in the capital of Peru, Lima, but came to the U.S 3 years ago and as of right know, I am a High School Senior at Flour Bluff High School that has been accepted to go to Del Mar college for the first 2 years for the general classes of the major and the I plan to finish the other 2 years in Texas A&M Kingsville for my major of Chemical Engineering. I decided to pick this major because my step dad is a chemical engineer that works in Cheniere, and I always see what he is doing and I founded that I was really interested in that career. Then I started to talk to him, and he told me about the requirements that I needed to have in order to be an engineer and of course then a chemical engineer. I am always a guy of numbers, I like math and science, I don't really like the English classes like Poetry or reading books, so that was a good start. Then, I founded out that I really liked the art of management, graphs, table bars, analyzing the data, and my step dad told me that it was exactly what he was doing, that in the future, we could even work for the same company. At that moments I realized that since I am a math guy, I would pick that major not only because of everything I just said, but because it is also a challenging major, a major that is hard, and every person I talk to tells me the same thing, the harder the major, the better the experiences. I would really like to give back to this country by working in the petroleum/gas industry for Texas or any other state in the U.S. I feel like I need to give back some of my knowledge to this country for the opportunities that it has given to myself and my family. So I would love to work and keep progressing the gas/petroleum of this country. I say this because I came to live here in Corpus Christi in 2017because of my step dad's work, and the educational opportunities this country has given me are hilarious, there are so many opportunities here. And this country has also given work for my family and I can proudly say that we are living the American Dream. But like my mm always say. It feels good to receive, but it feels way better to give back. So that is what I am going to do once I graduate from Texas A&M Kingsville, I plan on working for petroleum/gas companies like Cheniere, Atmos, or Lamar for example in order to give back a bit of my knowledge to help to keep developing the gas/petroleum of the United States. Thanks for this opportunity, I really appreciate it, hope you have a great day and happy holidays.

I want to change two of the most important issues in the world, poverty and global warming. I know I will never be able to change them just by myself. I also know I will not make a huge impact by myself. These are things that must be done by working as a team. But I am doing my best to try to help, even with a little thing. I come from a very poor country called Peru, and I was very lucky to have a family that would always put food on the table, but when my parents always tell me stories from their childhood about how tough it was for them when they had nothing to eat for dinner. That is good to remember because it helps you to stay humble and realize how lucky you are. I moved to the United States 3 years ago, but when I was in Peru I would always give something to the people on the streets, some cash I had, or some food. I remember a couple of times I used to donate some clothes. I would never throw anything to the trash, any clothe or toy or anything that I did not need or used anymore, I would donate it. In middle school, since I had no siblings, I remember adopting a child once a year for 1 month from a province in Peru called "Santo Thomas de Pata" in the city of Huancavelica. It was an activity of my school to bring 5 kids that made good grades from that province to spend a month in the capital, Lima. So to resume all this, I am trying to change poverty by giving, I like to give back, my mom always tells me that it feels good to receive, but that it is way better to give, ad that stays with me always. When I talk about me trying to change global warming, I also know I can't make a big difference by myself, but I always try to do my best when I can. First of all, whenever I see trash on the streets, either recyclable or just trash, I try to look up for a trash can so I can put it in there. I also remember going with some friends to the beaches in Peru when I was younger and we would spend all the evening telling stories to each other while picking up the trash that was there because some Peruvian beaches have a lot of trash. I also try to not use much the electricity of my house. I only turn on the lights when I need to. Another examples is my use of the water. When I take a shower, when I wash the dishes, when I have to water the plants, I do it quick so I waste as less water as possible. I am really worried about the health of the Earth. I have seen a lot of documentaries and articles about how the Earth might be in 2050 and I am really worried, so I am trying to make some changes. To finalize, like I said before, I know that if I'm the only one doing this, it won't make a difference, but at least I'm trying my best. I want to change this world, make it brighter, help people. I think I am very lucky because I am close with y family and I don't need anything extra. So I want to stay humble, give back to my community things that will help them to change their lives and if they can do something for another person, I would be very happy to see something like that. Thanks for this opportunity to share my thoughts.

I love traveling. I think it's not only good for relaxing but also it is very good to develop yourself as a person, and there are many reasons why. Once I traveled to Colombia. I went to the capital, Bogota, and it was very similar to my country, Peru, but there was still some differences in the culture. For example, in Peru we are use to negotiate the money with the taxi driver before getting into the car, in Colombia, you just get in the car, and the taxi drivers have a system that determines the amount of money you have to pay based on the distance. The food is also different. In Colombia, they use certain appetizers in different foods to combine them that we would never use in Peru. But those are just little details because of the similarities that our countries have. But when I first came to the United States, it was a whole other level. The cultures are way different, and I could see how advanced this country was and how developed it was. I have been living in Texas since 2017, so I saw both sides, Peru and the United States. Once I started to compare them I was able to valerate more my presence in this country, I am able to recognize how lucky I am to be in this country. Because the situation in Peru is very hard right now, economy, lockdown, etc. I feel like traveling has developed me more in the aspect of being more humble by recognizing what is in front of me and how thankful I have to be for the opportunities that life is giving me. Now, when we talk about developing myself as an artist, of course traveling has and will help me. Traveling gives you a lot of different perspectives because you get out of your comfort zone, which is very good to develop yourself as an artist. It also gives you that sense of discovering new things that will allow you to comprehend more situations. Basically, traveling is a very good way to develop yourself, and if you are an artist, it's even better, because you will be able to grow your knowledge more. I love to travel, I don't travel as much as I would like to because it's expensive and because of these times we are going through, but I look forward to travel a lot in the future. Thanks for the opportunity.

For me, chess is more than a sport, it is art. I started playing from a very young age. I think I started playing when I was 6. My uncle is a chess professor and every time I went to his house for the family meetings, I would play against him. I remember when he used to teach chess in the park of the neighborhood. I got a lot of memories of the little tournaments he used to do. When I grew up, I believe when I was 10, I joined a chess club in my school. It was a small group, we were like 8 people. But we were the best 8 people in a 400 people school. Every time we would play against any casual/normal person, we would destroy them with quick check mates and it was very fun. Plus, when you are a kid you are very competitive and that made it even better. There are a lot of things that you learn from chess that you can apply in real life. Chess helps you think. Not only to think, but to think quick. Having a timer when there is a chess match will make you have to be quicker when you think about your play. Another thing chess teaches you like most of the sports is to respect your opponents. Everyone has the same goal, which is to win the match, and the chess community has taught me a lot about being discipline and respecting my opponents. I obviously apply this to real life by respecting everyone I talk to. One other example of what chess teaches you for real life is to stay focused and to practice. The only way to get better and be better than your opponent is by being focused and to practice. The only way to play better, is by playing and playing and playing. Practice makes perfection, and that applies to everything in life. In order to be successful at something, you need to do a lot of things, but the most important things is to work hard, stay focused, and practice a lot. So chess has taught me a lot of values for life that I continue to apply everyday. I have two main goals in my life. My career goal is to complete a Bachelor's Degree on Chemical Engineering to work for the petroleum/gas industry of the United States so I can give back my knowledge to this country for giving me so many opportunities for me and my family. And my second goal is to compete in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in the future while having my full time job. I really like MMA and I look forward to compete in the future. But first things first, my education. And chess has obviously had a big impact on these goals that I am trying to achieve. Chess has influenced me in a lot of ways by the things that it has taught me. Respect, stay focused, be quick, and practice. To conclude this essay, I will say that when I saw this scholarship, I smiled thinking about all my past memories that are chess related, from playing with my uncle to going to and winning tournaments. Thanks for the opportunity.

Having education in my certain area, which is Engineering, will help me think, feel, and behave in a way that will contribute my success, and improve not only my personal satisfaction but also my community. In addition, education develops human personality, thoughts, dealing with others and prepares people for life experiences. My education will have a very big impact, on such a short period of time. My BS on Chemical Engineering, which is 4 years, will have a big impact on the next 50 years of my life, maybe even 60 or 70, who knows. Education is a key factor in life for me. I believe this because of the personal experiences my family members went through. I have family members with and without education, some of them did not go to college, some of them only finished High School, and some others have a Master's Degree. And I have seen and compared all of their situations, financially, emotionally, etc. And just by knowing the fact that one of my family members with a Bachelor's Degree gets paid more than another family member with 10 more years of experience in the same area, but without a Bachelor's Degree, blows my mind. When I think about my education, I think about my future. There are a lot of thinks to consider. You will have to consider the salary as well, you will also have to see how much knowledge will you get from the career you pick. It is complicated, but that is why I take my education very serious. So for me, the role of education in my life is one of the most important roles right now.