Money was seen to me as if it were food. I ate it at any given moment, whether it was gift cards, cash, or even a small allowance. Before I even had it, it was already spent. I never considered saving or budgeting because I planned how to spend it all before I could gain it. From spending money on things I wanted and didn’t necessarily need to spending money on things I need and saving for emergencies or something expensive, learning financial literacy changed my perspective on personal finance, and it still affects me to this day. In February of 2024, I learned about personal finance not through a class but on my own. It was for the FBLA(Future Business Leaders of America) competition, and it was in a week. For three straight days, I was learning about personal finance. Whether it was an article or a video, I looked at all the information available. Yet, they hooked me because their explanation of personal finance and how vast it was interested me. When I was preparing for a competition, I experienced something that changed me. This one video was short yet compacted full of information. It explained budgeting in simple ways using different graphic styles. Then, it mentioned a small budgeting method: the 50/30/20 method. 50% percent into needs, 30% into wants, and 20% into savings. This method stuck with me because I envisioned how many ways I could utilize it. So I noted it down and continued looking for more articles and videos. Then, the day the competition began, and I took the test, I felt relieved. That same day, I would find out I won 3rd place overall among the students who participated in that section. I didn’t only feel ecstatic, but I also felt knowledgeable about what I learned about personal finance. For the rest of my years at high school, I began applying the skills I learned to the money I got. It could be small, like $10, and I still had budgeted it. I considered what I actually needed to buy, or something I wanted, I could buy later with more money. Meanwhile, my savings continued to grow until I wanted something. As I love to draw, I wanted to get a drawing tablet. The one issue was that it was expensive. So, with the money I accumulated and the allowance I was getting, I budgeted everything and even saved a bit more money than I usually would. Eventually, I had enough money to buy the drawing tablet. Once I got it, I was overjoyed because I bought something expensive with money I had saved for. As I go into college, personal finance will have a stronger bond to me. Now that I am getting into university and will need to pay college tuition, I have to plan what I need to get what isn’t necessary to me for the moment. Furthermore, as an Architecture student, I have to consider supplies. Yet, I will have no worries because of what I learned from financial literacy, and I can apply it to what I earn from a job. Financial literacy is a topic everyone needs to learn; it not only goes into depth on saving or budgeting, but also on how loans work and insurance. Learning financial literacy helped change me from spending it at every given moment to spending it when I need to and not spending it all. Financial literacy is something I will continuously support because of how important it is and how it can change someone’s life just like mine.

Everyone has heard that one question. Where do you see yourself in ten years? Yet, that answer varies depending on who responds to that question. For me, I have imagined a ten-year path during college and after college. In those years, I envision myself participating in and uplifting the community with the skills I will learn from my architecture degree. For the majority of my life, I have always been volunteering in the community, no matter where I lived. I helped my mother clean the city on a Saturday, or utilize resources I had and donated them. I would organize community service events such as food drives to help my own peers get community service hours and then use those events to assist those who need it. For the past four years, I have joined clubs and did out-of school activities such as theater to not only bring entertainment but also bring about change in the community I live in. Volunteering for the community I live in has always been a part of me, and it only continues to grow. This year, I visited the college I am attending, and while I was interested in my major and the topics I love, I was more interested in volunteering. During my years at college, I will join multiple clubs that will assist in giving back to the community and even participate in opportunities the school offers with the volunteer building. My goal is to volunteer in the new community I am in. During my years, as my college also has students who speak different languages, I hope to expand my knowledge of different cultures when I volunteer or hear their experiences. Although those are only five years of my life, five other years remain unknown. Yet, I still have one goal. To give back to the community. Whether I live in a big city or a small town, my love for volunteering will continuously grow. With the architecture degree I have attained, I will not only do small actions such as cleaning the city or hosting food drives, but I can also build the environment around me by constructing new, unique homes that are affordable yet comfortable. I will even create a center or a school to enrich the area I live in. Giving back and volunteering for the community is not only about participating to make yourself feel good. Volunteering is something that benefits many silently. It not only has to deal with helping but also bringing joy and entertainment. The small changes in a person, whether it is a feeling of relief, joy, or excitement, all result from another person’s good deed. Just experiencing the sight of those changes, even if it doesn’t benefit me, brings joy to me and continuously encourages me to continue volunteering. In those 10 years, it will go by fast, yet with different volunteering experiences, I will enjoy every moment of it.

As a young child, I was a creative spirit. I would work on countless drawings or be so immersed in music that I could sing it by memory while my mother played the guitar with me. With that creative mindset, I would also play video games endlessly, decorating characters or planning smart new strategies on how to overcome objects. But among those games, I loved building. To be able to build games was one of the only things that could unleash my creativity. I would sit for hours on games, even at one point from 8 pm to 3 am, because of how immersed I was in building. As I matured, my creativity only expanded and deepened. I would sit in class and draw and doodle in my notebooks many times; now I have a personal sketchbook to work on them. My love for games has only become stronger. I could talk about building a house or a cafe and explain why I would be stuck at one point. Though as I focused more on my hobbies, I was unaware of what my future would be. At first, I wished to go to art school, to create art and, more importantly, share my love of art everywhere. But with my love of building and creating structures, it can be directed to something even more suited. During those times, I was suggested architecture by a case manager who has been working with me for years. That is when I learned that designing structures and utilizing my creativity could work together, and I am able to do things I have consistently done as a child to become something I can professionally do as an adult. Once I was made aware of architecture, I had set my mind to architecture. I began to grow more fascinated with it, and I was beginning to grow interested in the environment around me. I would observe the hallways at my school and wonder what could make it better or what is so beautiful and brings vibrance to the area. The future is unknown after I graduate from high school. But with architecture, I plan to lead myself on a path where I do what I love. With the skills I acquired during my years at college, the plans that I created for myself will only bring positivity and gratefulness for the community that has supported me. I hope to offer the city new experiences with innovative ways of change. As my home is rural and does not have much, growing it in any way is one of my biggest goals. As my town is prone to flooding often, with an architecture license, I aim to build homes that withstand floods, as well as offer them a modern look to bring a new vibe to the city. Yet, that is not the only thing that will push it in the right direction of making my city better. A major issue my home has is the economy. With the economy slowly declining due to many moving away, building tourist attractions and places to increase activity in the situation, which can bring many people into the city to move and visit it often. In the next few years, as I push for my architecture degree, these goals I have are just a small advancement towards a larger goal I wish to achieve: to improve the world. Whether by constructing a small building or improving an area, with these steps towards reaching that goal, I truly believe I can make it happen.