My name is Heidi Cervantes, and I am currently a full-time Research Scientist for the Department of Molecular Pathobiology at New York University (NYU). Before starting my current employment, I obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in Forensic Science at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN in 2021. During my time there, I worked as a Research Technician for the Purdue University Center for Cancer Research (PCCR) for all four years where I worked on developing and performing multidisciplinary therapeutic cancer studies in mice. Working here allowed me to gain significant hands-on experience and insight into the complex topics of the coursework I was pursuing. Before the start of my junior year, I also started working for the Purdue Davidson School of Chemical Engineering as a Science Communication Assistant where I disseminated school related scientific news through photography, writing, video, and other multimedia assets. Upon graduating, I started my employment at NYU working in an academic research laboratory. Here, I research Slit3, a protein necessary for regulating the function of brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis and its subsequent effects of ameliorating obesity-induced diabetes. I'm very proud of the work that I am doing as it has the ability to positively impact the 11.3% of US population that suffers from diabetes. Although I love my job and its potential to make a real impact in the scientific community, I don't want to stop here. I plan on pursuing a master’s degree in Recombinant DNA Technology through the NYU Graduate School of Arts and Sciences concurrently with my employment. Working for NYU allows me to obtain my master’s degree debt free as I continue working full time. Although pursuing this degree in two years while working full time is ambitious, I’m confident in my ability to do so as it brings me closer to my dream job working for the US Government through biological research where I will be able to make a difference in how our government works by influencing policy related to environmental and biological issues. Being debt free while pursuing higher education I will allow me to make this dream my reality. Working two jobs while being a full-time first-generation student was very challenging and required a lot of self-discipline, but doing so allowed me to pay off one of high interest private loans. However, even after paying off one of my loans, I’m still left with $40,000 of debt, both privately and federally held, which I continue to chip away at to combat compound interest. After rent, student loan repayment is my largest expense which prevents me from saving more money than I would like. Growing up in the lower class as an only child with a single mom, money was never a guarantee and was a constant stressor in my mom’s life. As an adult, I hope to actively pursue a better financial future for myself. It’s increasingly vital in today’s economy to have an emergency savings in case of unplanned expenses, by paying down my student loan debt, I would be able to save more rigorously to ensure I’m protected in the event I need it. I would also be able to reallocate that money to put more towards the rest of my student loans so that I can live a debt free future faster. Being debt free opens numerous doors and relieves a substantial amount of stress allowing myself the opportunity to start the next phase of my life and start planning for what is truly important.