When my mom died, I lost both of my parents in a single day. Although I had both parents in my life, my mom was the most consistent presence, carrying the responsibility for my father while he was away for work. I was seventeen years old when I lost her, just about to graduate from high school. Suddenly, I found myself having to manage everything on my own, everything I took for granted. I had to drive myself to school, find places to stay, process my mom's passing, and come to terms with my father's swift decision to move on. Despite all this, I remained focused on working diligently to fulfill my mom's wish of seeing me go to college. I supported myself more than anyone else did after losing the one true supporter in my life. Despite facing myriad challenges, I kept my mom in my thoughts and remained driven by the ambition and passion I had fostered since my freshman year of high school. When I received the congratulations letter, I was thrilled and wanted to tell the world that I had achieved my goal: I had been accepted into the school that would enable me to become an official architect. I entered the university in high spirits and knew that I could succeed academically. I maintained a high GPA and studied conscientiously to pass all my classes in one attempt. Presently, in my spring semester, I must transfer to a community college to save enough money to obtain a bachelor's degree—the person who initially saved money for my education? My mom. Even in death, she continues to care for me and guide me toward success. When those funds run out, which will be soon, I will be entirely responsible for financing my college education because I am the only person who truly has my best interests at heart. Looking back I see that I had emotional support but their support was not as genuine because of various reasons, but the person who continued to support me emotionally in my tia, my mom's sister. Even after the chaos calmed down, she's the only one that can completely relate to me because she also lost her mom. She has been there on those late night calls and the one I call for advice because she too is the only other person in my family that has experienced college. She knows what kind of struggles I am going through and she provides genuine concern with no judgment and that is the true support I have needed in this long journey through my mom's passing and my education goals and that's how I will continue to stay in school even through hardship

When I was first coming into my high school experience, I was part of a magnet program that introduced technology in grade six. During my middle school years, we were allowed to further our chances in this fast-growing technology world, I remember being able to create web pages and portfolios of my artwork. Freshman year is when you put everything that you have learned and go forward into a career that you would like to follow; because I was not interested in continuing in cyber studies which is the logical and analytical part of the program, I went with what I felt more creative. Creativity has always been a huge part of my life because I enjoyed putting my work out to help others, when I was younger, I would spend my time drawing homes that my grandparents, who were realtors could sell. Coincidentally the career that I chose had the main job criteria that included creating buildings that can help people in various ways. I began to fall in love with designing, it was not until I was assigned a project that focused on tiny homes and sustainable living that I began to research firms and projects that had to do with making the world a better place. Specifically, when I started working on designing, I learned about the importance of growing greener which serves as a form of energy conservation, for example, I learned that substituting plants that grow on walls can be used instead of the AC which takes more energy and leaves a carbon footprint. After a series of events that took me off the clear path of continuing this program and teaching me how to adapt to new changes, I still had a love for the field, and I wanted to learn how to be part of it even when I must work harder and I believe that the need to work harder inspires me to further my understanding in architecture as well as branching my knowledge for construction. Today I have been given the wonderful opportunity of having a chance to continue my passion for designing, sooner than later I found the importance of going green in urban areas which pushes me further to succeed in the field. I have written research essays regarding the sustainability within cities' local and national sense, further advocating for the need to incorporate nature into our everyday life. My personal goal in life is to work in an architecture firm that specializes in sustainable living as well as be able to shape students' love for designing and having the freedom to build the cities that they live in or rather build for others.

Since I could remember I took an interest in reading; because I was bullied, or I just needed an escape I would read anything and everything I could find. As I got older it became a habit for me to read whenever I was upset, this became apparent when my mom passed, and I could not focus on my everyday life. Novel after novel I would surround myself with books that I would read just to check off a reading list; all until I began to read "Tuesdays with Morrie", a nonfiction title that follows the story of a former college student rekindling his friendship with his professor. I began to read this book not willingly but because of the obligation my English teacher gave us. The story itself is about a professor that is going through an aggressive terminal disease, ALS, and is discovered by his former student that failed to keep his promise of staying in touch. The plot follows the professor's aphorisms and ideologies on life, love, and lastly death. I felt close to the text because of the situation I was put in when I lost my mom. The aphorisms and the importance of staying human in an unfriendly world gave me hope and a positive outlook on the life ahead of me. The reason I believe that many people should read the novel is because of the many life lessons that can be taken away every time you read the book, whatever you are going through the wise words of Morrie speak to you and do not leave you in the dark by guiding you.

When I was first coming into my high school experience, I was part of a magnet program that introduced technology in grade six. During my middle school years, we were given the opportunity to further our chances in this fast-growing technology world, freshman year is when you put everything that you have learned and go forward into a career that you would like to follow; because I was not interesting in continuing in cyber studies which is the logical and analytical part of the program I went with what I felt more creative. Creativity has always been a huge part of my life because I enjoyed putting my work out to help others, coincidentally the main job criteria include creating buildings that can help people in various ways. I began to fall in love with designing, it was not until I was assigned a project that focused on tiny homes and sustainable living that I began to research firms and projects that had to do with making the world a better place. Specifically, when I started working on designing I learned about the importance of growing greener which serves as energy conservation; because I was in search of a firm that provided the resources to complete the challenge of climate change I worked aggressively toward my endeavor when I came across multiple firms that work toward sustainable design I decided right then and there that is what I was going to do with my life after college. After a series of events that took me off the clear and easy path of continuing this program and teaching me how to adapt to new changes, I still had a love for the field, and I wanted to learn how to be part of it even when I must work harder. Today I have been given the wonderful opportunity of having a chance to continue my passion for designing, sooner than later I found the importance of going green in urban areas. I have written research essays regarding the sustainability within cities' local and national sense, further advocating for the need to incorporate nature into our everyday life. My personal goal in life is to work in an architecture firm that specializes in sustainable living. Thinking of my life in the longer term I wish to make an impact within the root of the change, students. I wish to work with students and inspire the next generation of change by sharing my love for sustainable living and improving it in the time to come.

Throughout my life, I had moments that would not go accordingly and ruined my perspective. I would find myself disassociating and not wanting to continue my normal routine; because I had been encouraged by mom to read, I would comfort in the pages of a book. I have a fond memory of going to the small library that smelled of old pages and sitting in our sections reading what we found interesting. I remember getting to sit with my mom in the bed and synchronize our page turning just so we can talk about our books with each other, our quality time was us having the windows open and growing our minds. This would be normal until we moved, and we started spending time apart, growing apart, as many children do, we tend to find our own space or new friends and shame our time with our parents. I tried to avoid the cycle when my time with my mom was coming to an end, reading my latest novel to her while she lay in bed; only listening and not responding I could tell she was enjoying this time because it would take us back to the small library on the side of the road. When I lost my mom, I was lost and not even my family could pull me out. This past Christmas was the first Christmas without her, and my family could tell I was distraught, knowingly my uncle and his wife had bought me a journal that would track my reading for the year; it was then that I realized that my happiness could be found once again in trying to connect to my passion of books. I started my progress near the end of the year coming into the new one, I was determined to make a change to my perspective with each book I picked up rushing to the next. Each time that I finish a novel I run to my journal and write it down and move to the next; because my goal is to reach a specific 24, I have tried to read books that are outside my comfort zone. When I realized that I was in a small bubble in my reading choices I evaluated my life and noticed I was doing the same with my life choices and decided to make the drastic change. Reading for me has helped me in ways that I could not explain, had it not been for reading I would not have been able to get out of bed in the mornings or seek adventure just as the characters had in the previous novels I would read. Knowing that I have an achievable goal that I can track the progress of I incorporated that mentality into the various challenges I face in my day-to-day life.