Hello, my name is Hilary and I am all I want to be. Now this may sound wrong, but let me explain, I have had many phases in my life, the wannabe emo phase where I protested every little thing and fought the sun, the girly pastel pink phase where I would put blush way too light on my face, and the tomboy phase where I was adamant that I didn't have any femininity in myself and hated myself. I am masculine and feminine, everything I want to be, and nothing to many at all. To me, this balance is beautiful as it is human to want everything and be everything you want, and in the end, this doesn't remove my title of being a woman. Now, why I want to continue attending college is because I've grown up with a family that has struggled without both high school and college. My family fought against severe poverty my entire lifetime, they come from the country of Honduras where my dad corralled and cared for horses on a farm at the age of six and my mother worked on coffee fincas plucking coffee berries at eleven. Once here, birthing me, and growing to around twelve, I've worked on trade jobs such as construction and landscaping as well as housekeeping with my mother. I would be exhausted in the end, but I would be satisfied that I contributed to paying for bills and rent. In these jobs, I would work alongside men and women who worked hard to feed their families and who would tell stories of how they wished they could've gone to college and look back tenderly to the times of being behind a desk. I've lived struggle and I have seen it, all the while being grateful for being alive as well. Now, we are in a better position now, but my parents are growing older and losing jobs as their industries are getting oversaturated with workers with a decreasing amount of jobs, so I will have to step in soon. As now I have grown, I want to help people medically by becoming either a pediatrician, gynecologist, or pharmacist. My future career may not be certain, but my life goal is, and I will certainly succeed and push my family further. I want to sustain my parents and avoid further deterioration of their bodies as they destroy their health slowly at work, I will provide them with a home and they will no longer have to fear me and my sisters going hungry or missing anything in our lives.

Growing up, my family and I would jump from house to house; Living in a single room with 2 air mattresses, with up to 3 families within the home at once. There were times when we had to eat dinosaur chicken nuggets and ketchup for dinner for weeks on end and eat food on paper towels. Although I am no longer in such hardships and face different struggles today, I have seen struggle since born. With these struggles, I have adapted and didn't let them take over and ruin me. I would sneak extra lunch that my friends would give me into my backpack and would take it home to feed myself and my little sister to at least help. I would work alongside my parents during the summer to get them ahead on bills and give them more time space for more work. In the morning, I would awaken and go clean 2 to 3-story houses with my mom. During the afternoons, I would go to freshly constructed buildings (with the biggest boots on a child ever) to remove debris like extra wood cuttings, old shingles, and plastic wall linings with my dad which he left in the morning. I did it all as poverty tends to mature you faster and became aware of our situation so young, and in the end, it helped me be humble and grateful for where we have made it. Not only that, my parents are grateful as well for where they are as it is much better than what they grew up with in Honduras. They wish me well and desire me to continue higher education as it will open doors that they would be locked out of. Although we may no longer be in the struggle meal days or the days of living in such crowded homes, financial support would be greatly appreciated. The state in which I live has a severe decline in jobs and an even greater decline for those without higher education. As both of my parents are immigrants without high school diplomas, they depend on physically taxing jobs that many in the US don't desire. As these jobs are declining, it affects funding for my education. Although costs increase and jobs decrease, they continue to fund my education and I am extremely thankful and continuously making it up to them via assistance in work. Once receiving this scholarship, they can be relieved for a while while I continue working hard at school and with them. I will one day flourish and be able to provide back what they gave to me and more, showing them that their hard work has paid off through me.

As a kid born in the early 2000s, I grew up watching the original Spiderman trilogy with Tobey Macguire. I would watch it on repeat and still to this day binge the trilogy. The reason why he is my favorite is because of how he "throws hands". Compared to the other Peter Parker from the live-action movies, Macguire's Peter fought physically with his fists more, while Tom Holland's and Andrew Garfield's Peter were more tame. Macguire feels more realistic, he gets enraged after his uncle's death and seeks revenge, he then uses his power for good, gets enveloped with high ego issues like a regular person, and fixes his ego/jealousy issue. He is flawed and that is why I like this Peter, he was a human guy who just got his life changed with spider powers, how does he suddenly become a hero and be perfect? He won't, there is development that makes one a hero. Compared to the other Spidermen, Holland's Peter never shows the pivotal moment in which his uncle died or mentions Uncle Ben at all, which makes the character not seem to have a big push as to why he fights crime and Garfield's Peter tried to get revenge but failed and we didn't get closure, unlike Macguire's Peter which took an eye for an eye (although accidentally). Personally, Macguire is my favorite Spiderman as he seems like the path that I would choose if given such powers and under his circumstances.

I bought Minecraft on mobile back when it was called "Minecraft: Pocket Edition" and it was due to seeing YouTubers playing the game. I had multiple bonding experiences with friends, family, and strangers as well. I experienced pain from falling into the lava in the nether and losing all my diamond armor to happiness when it came to building homes with friends and making it to the end. Now that we have grown older, we may no longer play together yet I sure do! That is where my favorite aspect of the game comes in: the building aspect. Building gave my young mind free range to construct things that I see every day around me such as simple houses to things that are foreign to me such as castles and statues that would reach the maximum sky limit. As an older player, I am a more experienced builder now. I build medieval-themed worlds, Japanese architecture, and rollercoasters so complex that they would most likely be illegal in most countries. Minecraft was a cheap and easy way to express creativity and as someone who didn't have access to pricy consoles, I was happy that Mojang made it accessible to mobile for only $8. And sure mobile isn't as flashy as Java or all the other Bedrock editions, but with those $8, I got to let my creative juices flow and have a source of immense happiness and memories and for that, I am forever grateful.

Being an introvert since I was young, I tended to remain in my flower bud phase. The shell was a haven, yet safety doesn't always mean happiness. I would remain indoors when offered to go out with friends because of insecurity of them seeing my outside self. I would manage a fake persona due to the urge to keep my friends near. My persona was continually appeasing everyone and meeting their needs which in turn, would cause me to not value how I feel when carrying out whatever they wanted. In 8th grade, I went to school as usual. My friends would ask for favors again, "did you do your homework? Ok let me see it," "let me copy off of you when you're done," "aren't we friends?" All I had to say was sure, and I would have remained in the cycle of appeasement I remained in for most of my childhood. But that day, I said no to see how they would respond. They stared blankly at me as if they had never seen me before. As if I were nothing, my group of friends disposed of me as if I were no one, they said they don't need someone like me as their friend. I began to cry in the school bathroom and reflected on our friendship. I was naive, I cursed myself out in my head for being so foolish. And I walked out of the bathroom and pretended as if I didn't cry. I walked out and I was so caring. But as time progressed, I accepted it. I accepted the temporary loneliness, I'd rather be solitary than be surrounded by disingenuous people. Yes, I cried a bit at home into a pillow, but once a freshman in high school, I began to search for friends and quickly found them by being myself. I discovered who I truly was, I was funny, nice, & guiding. I am not a service. No need for faux personas, tears for deceitful friends, & self-hate. I can now do favors if I want to, I can go out with friends who know who I am, and who won't discard me for denying them what shouldn't be mandatory as a friend. I won't allow anyone to disrespect me by taking advantage of my compassion anymore, and I will forever stand by that. That's all it was, I learned to love myself.

Being a senior in high school is one of the first hurdles in life a person takes. Figuring out where to go for college, trying to find the best for what you are pursuing, then accepting the idea that you may be in debt if you don't play your moves right. Middle school was chaotic; there was not much to teach one to love themselves when bullying ran rampant. During my first year, I had to grow accustomed to such a lack of bullying and grow to be an individual who loves herself. Nobody was after me anymore since everyone had their own lives to get together, yet the anxiety and insecurity remained. During sophomore year and beyond, I grew out of my shell. I explored new ways to express myself, have it be through clothes, art, or literature. Self-expression allowed me to rid of the malice given to me as a child. Being a skinny kid, I had to learn to love myself for who I am. At first, I was bony during my first year, but I chose to work out for my physical health. I would go to school exhausted after remaining up for hours at night; my body would ache when I would do simple tasks such as going up and down stairs. I dreaded P.E. since I was not as active as in middle school. So, for the further years, I began to work out, and my arms and legs began to look healthy, I attained light abs, and my pain would eventually fade away. I began to love my body, which led to even more mental improvement, so it was a win-win. I inherited a fast metabolism from both my parents, but not eating well didn't help my body's condition. I would eat only cereal and the only good thing in the day that I would eat was dinner, being the only meal with protein. Though I said that the exercise helped my aching body, eating well has helped just as much. I began to eat well, intaking enough protein, vitamins, and fiber that I needed. I calculated what I ate and maintained weight rather than lose it. I ate well throughout all three meals and learned more about what food contained what amounts of this and that. And for that learning, I will never regret the number of hours on google researching. Healthy meals made exercising easier, to the point where one can enjoy the workout. Overall, all three are intertwined and benefitted me greatly to make me the healthy person I am.

Although some disregard higher education, I see it as a key that opens many doors. Higher education dives deeper into topics that are less generalized in high school. High School Biology speaks on multiple types of biology, but does not specify. In high school geography, you learn of geography, but just the whole picture. In High School Chemistry, it is only skin deep and doesn't go beyond DIY experiments and learning of the periodic table. But college majors can get you jobs such as becoming a lawyer, scientists, teachers, historians, doctors, and many more. The majors that one obtains in college branch out into subcategories, and there are also subcategories within them, and so on. For example, there is a scientist, but then there is a biologist, then a marine biologist, and then there are specialties within that. Higher education is a tree that a student can go down, and its different branches allow the student to find what they love in their subject, STEM, Education, Sports, Law, you name it, and there are variants. And not only that, you deep dive in those majors, you learn the specifics and the skills. In high school, as previously mentioned, it is the opposite, you gain no skills since it serves as a prep for college. Higher education is critical since it provides higher pay; According to the Social Security Administration, in 2015, bachelor's degrees earned $630,000 to $900,000 more salary-wise than high school graduates. Although 12 years old, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics backed up the idea with more recent statistics that higher learning means higher pay. And although some statistics say that the unemployment rate rose during 2020, one must keep in mind that this took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. On the subject of employment, when an employer sees that their soon-to-be employee has a high education, it makes them more likely of being employed. This is because it shows the hard work that the student has undertaken to get where they are. It is like a fast pass at Disney, except you depend on it. Higher education alleviates the rising costs of things such as gas and food and reduces the worry of not being able to afford the bills. Better pay makes it easier to start a business, buy a home, travel, buy the car you like, and begin a family. In general, higher pay that high education students have makes life economically easier.

I am pursuing a Biochemistry major, and I chose it because I am interested in becoming a pharmacist. When I attain this degree, it won't make me a pharmacist immediately, but it will put me on the right path to that goal. Once I graduate from pharmacy school, I can live financially stable. Because of my parent's lack of education and immense poverty back in their homeland, they work jobs that aren't constant and low-wage. We are currently financially stable enough to live after many trials and tribulations, but we could have been better if it weren't for the circumstances my parents were under when they were young. Despite this, there is no blame on them since they had to work hard to live, eat, and remain warm on cold nights. Acquiring my degree will gain me a steady job and high pay, and then I'll be able to help my parents pay for their retirement as a gift and a medal for them, "look at what you have done and see how your work has paid off." Besides the economic side of it, I have been in love with science since I was a young girl. I used to be fascinated with the periodic table of elements and ended up frustrated that I couldn't take a more advanced class such as chemistry in middle school. Science sparked hobbies that I enjoyed and alleviated my childhood struggles, such as rock-collecting, finding and observing bugs, and making in-home (safely, of course) chemical reactions that would get my parents wondering where I learned such things. I have a curiosity, to this day, for chemical reactions and extractions; for me, it is just modern magic. And helping people and healing them from their sicknesses is something that I desire to do. I want to start a pure and honest skincare brand with creams, washes, scrubs, and tonics. I want people to feel confident in their skin since I know many are insecure about their appearance, just as I am. Despite my insecurity, skincare has brought me a tremendous amount of confidence. I used many products that would destroy my progress, only for good products that I would find, going in and fixing it all. Even though there are these positive and sincere brands, the amount of them seems to be low in number. That is where this major would help; I can use Biochemistry to help me get the skills I need to enter pharmacy school, then it would be another addition of knowledge that I can use to begin my brand. And these are all my reasons for pursuing my favored Biochemistry major and why I chose it. Thank you for your time and consideration.

To me, a college education is necessary for me to benefit the world. Therefore, I will pursue it. Such education will help me become a pharmacist and have the skills to create a skincare brand that will be pure. I want to be the best of the best and make creams, tonics, and face washes that are truthful with its customer, and I want to make skincare for all types of skin. I can also create medicine that cure and heal people of their ailments if I open a pharmacy. I can make compound medicine, where I tailor medications for those who need accommodations. My grandma was sick the previous month, but because of the college education from those who gave her medication, she recovered from her fevers and pains. The idea that I can make people's lives easier and make them enjoy more time with their families makes me happy, and I believe that it will make all eight years of college worth all the struggles I will experience. Although I have no idea what to do to get there, I can attain that knowledge with a college education. I can get a career that involves science, pays well and benefits people with a college education. With a college education, I can be the first pharmacist in my family ever. Since my family is from Honduras, they haven't had the opportunity to get an adequate education due to poverty. None of my parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, or great-grandparents have had an education past high school; most of them have gotten a middle school education. The lack of their education got them to have more physically challenging jobs, and it is not that these jobs are bad, but one with a college education can get a job that pays just as much with less physical labor. I come from a family of house cleaners, construction workers, and landscapers, and I want to show that because of their effort and struggle when coming and adapting to the United States, their children can have a good education; it is thanks to them. I want to be an example and a role model. When I get my bachelor's, I can feel I have succeeded in life and that I am not a waste of my parent's efforts. Pharmacy plays a critical role in the healthcare system, and I want to be a part of that. There is no other way to be a part of Pharmaceuticals if not for a college education. This is all why I pursue a college education; I will be able to help people, get paid well, be a role model to my younger family members and make my parents proud.

As a minority woman, I have grown up with great happiness yet great prejudice alongside it. I have adapted to having tough skin now that I am older and nearing adulthood. I have grown up with misogynist men's gaze and how I should be. Their misogynistic ideology would influence the way I would grow up, making myself to be purposefully more masculine and making myself bolder. And as a woman, it isn't negative to be such a way, but it is only hurtful that it was not my choice. It was a defense mechanism, a way to rebel and stray away from what they wanted. I grew up hearing stereotypes about my race. "Oh, you are loud just like they say," "You are too skinny for a Hispanic girl," "You speak English, I'm surprised," "All of you are feisty and problematic," and this would lead me to become quiet and hiding within my friend groups, never coming out to make new friends in fear of hurtful things. As I reached teenage-hood, I began to appreciate myself and disregard the opinions of others, especially those who have no business in what a woman should be. I began to dress and morph into who I am now. Yes, I am still somewhat masculine, but I have a choice now; I can be feminine some days, I can be loud if I want, and I can speak my mind. During these turbulent times, I found multiple passions. I would draw when anxious and begin to fill notebooks and sketchbooks that I would stash in a chest that I would leave beside my bed. They began to stack, and to this day, I remain filling them with sketches and art to express my emotions. I attained a love for art and became fascinated with the idea that art can be anything. But this is not the only passion that I found. I gained a passion for science, especially geology and chemistry. I would collect rocks, identify them, and put them all in a purple barbie case that would end up heavier than 12-year-old me. I still love rocks, but it has shifted from random stones on the road or trip to radiant crystals. I also have a passion for chemistry. I got it from my 6th-grade science class, my teacher there was called Mr.Bliss, he taught the periodic table of elements once, and I remained fascinated. I would go home, draw the table and do DIY experiments in the kitchen that would result in messes that needed cleaning up. Even now, I watch a chemist called NileRed who posts chemical reactions and extractions and create weird things such as glow-in-the-dark gummy bears or cotton candy made of extracted glucose from toilet paper. Although I grew up not having the money to do many experiments for my scientific passions, I love science more. This is why I am pursuing a career in Pharmaceuticals, I love helping those in need of help, and that love can be a part of a field where there aren't many Hispanic women. I can be an addition to that statistic, and I seek assistance from this scholarship since I am aware that I will be struggling a lot, especially since I am going to Pharmacy school after getting my bachelor's. And my parents aren't well off, not able to afford to give me assistance with my tuition, which is the major hurdle in this long stretch toward my goal. Overall, I am grateful for having the opportunity to write and attempt to get help, and thank you for your time.

Golden, Glistening, Guarded, I am a treasure that mustn't be discarded. A tree with fruit, for I am fruitful, I grow, I ripen, I benefit, I brighten. The gate holds back this tree, for many are not worthy. Many with no ears, so perhaps they have not heard me. Step through and be foolish for this tree has snakes. and it will get rid of you, no matter how much it takes. The tree has grown, for I am the Eden that was lost, never known. Clank, Clank, Clank goes to those who are denied, for the gate rejects those who have lied. Let my love stretch much like its branches for it rumbles, moooooves, shakes like avalanches. Rectified on lands that shimmer, one will never make the light of this paradise dimmer. For this tree stands with its fruit, For the gate stands Golden, Glistening, Guarded I am the treasure that mustn't be discarded.

The world is rich with diverse cultures, lives, and places, and there is a change in particular that I hope to occur. I wish there would be a change in how society works; it drives on people hating on one another and hates change. But here are my thoughts, put your hate aside since it wastes time, and instead learn. Attain knowledge of how the world is a beautiful place of change; the world changes like the seasons; before, during, and after you exist. When you hate, it wastes time off of your life, and you leave nothing but negativity. We live on a small planet called Earth, one planet out of many within 2 trillion galaxies. There are black holes and supernovas, and beauty and destruction are occurring that you can't imagine. And such a tremendous vast void called the universe is also changing. We are the only life seen so far; such miniature, complex beings living off hate and fear of change. We are not immortal, and we especially don't have long lives. So we need to learn as a collective. I grew up in a Christian home with a family with no LGBTQ+ members, absolutely none. Placed in this home, I grew up in a home where any difference ended up disowned. Why should I get disowned for who I am, and why should others be avoided for how they were born? One day, I revealed my sexuality to my parents, fearing being disowned. My fear sadly became true, and it was a difficult time in my life. I felt lonely at home, and I felt outcasted from social events. But I kept going, and didn't let hate take over, for my life is short, and I would be another hateful person in society. So I continued, but luckily my parents came around and apologized since they saw that the negativity they put towards me wasn't worth it. They began learning more about the LGBTQ+ community and that not everyone's life has to be like theirs. There goes my point, learn about others and the way they are. Don't live with resentment in your heart because change happens regardless of what you do. This universe is too immense, all we have are each other, so acceptance needs to be more outward. Positivity brings out the beauty of life, while negativity brings nothing but pain to our lives.

I am pursuing a biology or a biomedical major because I am interested in becoming a pharmacist, and biology has the majority of classes necessary for pharmacy school. Once graduating pharmacy school, I can live financially stable. I grew up in not excellent conditions, where dinner was similar to snacks. I ate grilled cheeses and chicken nuggets for dinner, and my parents could not afford clothes, sometimes wearing clothes I would have been wearing three years prior. Even past all these struggles, I have grown up happily, which I will address further in this writing. Currently, my parents and I are luckily living better, but because of their lack of education, not even passing high school due to poverty back in their homeland, they work jobs that aren't constant and low-wage. Acquiring my degree will gain me a steady job and high pay, and then I'll be able to help my parents pay for their retirement as a thank you for all they have done for me to get where I am. Besides pay, I love sciences and have been passionate about exploring how the world works since I was young. For example, I used to be fascinated with the periodic table of elements and ended up frustrated that I couldn't take a fun class such as chemistry in middle school. I had always watched biologists gather data on aquatic animal populations when I was younger on YouTube, watching their procedures and how animals get tagged. Science sparked hobbies that I enjoyed and alleviated my childhood struggles, such as rock-collecting, finding and observing bugs, and making in-home (safe, of course) chemical reactions that would get my parents wondering where I learned such things. Returning to pharmaceuticals, I believe diversity is essential since it makes it easier for all to get jobs and not have a wall of prejudice blocking it. In addition, I think that diversity is positive since it allows people to continue learning and adapting after school, learning about one another and their similarities and differences, and accepting those for who they are rather than their skin, sexuality, and origin. Also, one shouldn't feel uncomfortable at work because they are different; it is unfair to those who worked hard to get where they are. Finally, diversity is a way to learn and make new acquaintances you couldn't have made if not for diversity, and I stand by that.

My dream is to become a pharmacist and have a doctorate. I cannot live my life knowing that I have the potential to pursue a pharmaceutical career and just not chase it. I want to use my career to be economically stable, which I haven't grown up with.

This story will not be lengthy, but for me, this moment has affected the way I see people to this day. The moment all began due to a piece of mango. It was a typical mango, only for $5.89 each. Better yet, it was bought at Walmart, at Berhman Drive, the supermarket I have shopped at for most of my adolescence, where I would buy any other mango. And the person who surprised me with the kind gesture was my very own father. So what makes this exchange so key? Well, let me give context on the relationship between me and my father. Ever since I was born, our relationship would deteriorate as I grew more independent. I began to stray from their faith, becoming a non-believer at a young age, discovered that I was attracted to both men and women, and realized how misogynist my father is and how his ideology affected our family. He became more distant, quiet, and less involved in my life, focusing on the younger siblings. This all led to increased tension at home, making me remorseful every time I would make it back home from school. But one day after coming back from school, my remorse turned into confusion. I go up the stairs to the usual sound of my younger siblings doing their daily activities while my mom is in the shower, exhausted after work. I get called over by my father and he is quiet like usual, but there is a difference. Ten esto, he says as he offers me what is in his hand. It was a slim piece of mango, sweet-smelling and yellowish-orange in color. I received it and didn't realize that I had tears running down my face. I hugged him. After years of not giving each other a hug, the kind gesture reached the inner child of my heart, the child that years ago wanted validation from her parents, the one who worked so hard to keep A's to keep them satisfied. So, after a long minute of hugging, we talk about out our disagreements and the grudge we carried for years. We talked a talk that we needed to carry out years ago. He explains that as a Latino man, he didn't have a good father or a good environment, which resulted in him being influenced by misogynist points of view. His father was adulterous and a drunk, leading to him getting adjusted to his father's character. So, now that he is a father, he saw himself fail as a father for his first child, that child being me. Seeing his mistakes, he aimed to make the childhood of my other 2 sisters better, not realizing that this did me more harm. So he apologizes, apologizes for his mistakes and the way he was raised. And I tell him it isn't his fault for the way he was raised, but I appreciate the way he held himself accountable for his actions. So, how this affected the way I think today is to not judge people immediately, to understand that there are people that lack the privileges that I have. Realize that background and raising are key to the way an individual ends up as. My dad is not cruel, all he needed to do is reflect on his actions and his way of thinking, trace back to when he started to think that way and then he found the source, his childhood. It may have taken time to get there, but all he needed to do to begin our healing was with just a piece of mango.