I come from a family of immigrants and am a proud first-generation college student. I was born in Peru and immigrated to the U.S. at a young age. I lived in Newark for 10 years before moving to Belleville, where I still reside. Throughout my life, I have always been shy and insecure, which has negatively impacted my social life, particularly when communicating with my peers and trying to establish new connections. My mom has always told me, "Bebé que no llorar, no mama.", which means that those who do not speak up will not get their needs met. After graduating high school and about to start my last year in college, she was right. At the end of my junior year, I was eligible to be part of my high school's national honor society, thinking that I had worked hard enough to earn the honorary achievement, but eventually I was rejected. Mainly due to not being so active in high school and not participating in a lot of extracurricular activities. It was the first time I was ever rejected, and it stung. It was my first experience dealing with rejection, and after talking to my guidance counselor about it, I realized that my silence and reluctance to participate had held me back from my true potential. I promised myself to correct my mistakes and never let another opportunity pass me by because of social anxiety, fear, or hesitation. During my first year in college, I joined my university's student government association as a student legislator. It was fun meeting with other students and communicating with them about issues that students are facing during their time in college. Afterwards, I slowly began to connect with other people, which led me to meet a professor who offered me a position in his research lab. I enjoyed talking and communicating with others, and I enjoyed developing strong friendships with my classmates. It led me to places I never imagined I would reach. Through a scholarship program, I was able to travel to places like Chicago and Dallas to learn more about the diversity of science and present my research findings. I was scared and overthinking everything, but with the help of my new friends and mentors, they have helped me to easily overcome that fear, and I was able to present it in front of people with flying colors. I learned more than just education; I learned about compassion, the importance of diversity in science, and leadership to people in low socioeconomic neighborhoods. After almost finishing my undergraduate college journey, I will be applying to medical school, studying for the MCAT, and becoming a professional physician who will advocate for health equity. I will be a mentor and role model to the Latino community and an excellent leader who will provide the best patient care to the Latino and Latina community. My journey is not over yet, but I will continue to inspire and impact people with this saying to inspire, "Bebé que no llorar no mama," so they can be confident and seize their opportunity to strive and achieve big with their ambitions. Always ask for help with what you need. Seize the opportunity. And never let your fear, self-doubt, or hesitations stop you from reaching those goals.

I am inspired and moved by Kalia’s story because I have also lost a loved one to gun violence the realization of what you just lost. Kalia’s story sounds similar to mine: that of a hardworking individual with big dreams, who is also an excellent athlete. In track, I can relate because I ran in high school, and while I wasn't the best, I still enjoyed the sport, made great friends, and learned the importance of teamwork, courtesy, and discipline. I also admire her passion to succeed, and her drive for excellence proves she is passionate and wants to grow. I have dreams of becoming an excellent physician, with plans to attend medical school and utilize my knowledge to help others from underserved communities. Growing up in a low-income background, I have seen people face obstacles in their lives that prevent them from receiving the best healthcare when it comes to financial stability, language, and a lack of role models. Like Kalia, I want to be a role model or mentor to those who lack one and share the same goals as me, ones who show kindness, ambition, and a drive to excel in life. I started sharing my story and experiences via an event called the HISPA Youth conference. It was a unique experience where I was able to share my goals, life experiences, and my job as a first-generation student researcher in college. It was the first time I ever volunteered at a conference as a speaker, and while being nervous, I was affirmed and focused on providing the best advice for the young audience. I answered questions regarding how they can prepare themselves for college, and used my life experiences as examples of what they should do and what they should not do. I prepare myself to become the best leader I can be, because I desire to help others and give them opportunities for a better future. I was also able to participate in community service, such as participating as volunteering at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Orange, NJ. From there, I met new people and made new connections with empowering leaders who tell their stories of history, religion, and compassion. Teaching ESL to Haitian immigrants has led me to understand other people’s perspectives and how their stories are powerful messages for future generations to learn from and become great leaders. Like Kalia, I hope that I can be just as great as her and that this scholarship can help me pave that path with ambition, empathy, and excellence.

I was born in Peru and then immigrated to the U.S and am a proud first-generation student. I spent my childhood in Newark, NJ, and then moved, currently living in Belleville. I am an only child and have a small family living in the U.S that consists of me, my parents, my cousin, and my aunt. The rest of my family still lives in Peru. During my time growing up in Newark, my family grew up in a low-income background with little to no knowledge of the American culture and English language. I had to sometimes teach myself about how the country operates to help my family understand what is happening when it comes ot reading emails, documents, or any other forms of reading that need to be translated in Spanish. I value my education more than anything, and over time, I grew more fond of science and mathematics. Science being my top interest, I decided to learn more about it, which led me to want to learn about the human body and how I can help people by understanding the processes to evaluate and solve their problems. Eventually, I would get my first job in fast food. I enjoyed talking to people and helping them take their orders. There was one time I was able to help a customer when they got up to the register. They saw my face, and I could see them smiling, with a sigh of relief knowing there was someone who spoke Spanish. It was then that I got to meet a customer whom I could not help, and I felt useless. It was a woman with her child who came up to the register and spoke to me in a foreign language. I initially thought they were speaking in Spanish, but the woman gave me a confused look as I continued speaking Spanish, and then asked me if I spoke Portuguese. I replied no. She then gave me a piece of paper with the order written down, I then took her order down and then served it to her, feeling bad about how I could have done the situation better. It was at that moment that I realized the importance of diversity and leadership in the workforce, knowing the potential of how many people I can help inspires me to do more and work hard to achieve that goal. Which is why during my time in college, I helped out on campus through community service events such as volunteering to clean the streets in Paterson, helping display cutouts featuring victims of human trafficking to spread awareness, and walking across MetLife Stadium to spread awareness of breast cancer. The most important volunteer service I have done recently was volunteering at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Orange, where I helped tutor Haitian immigrants in English and helped clean the community garden. During my time as a tutor, I got to learn each person their story on how they arrived in this country, and why they want to learn English. These are real people who came here to change their lives for the better, and with today’s political climate, they are going to need all the help they can get. As I continue to study science and research at my University, I will use the money to save up to go to medical school and become a physician. I will be a physician who will bridge barriers and will be a voice to those who need one, and to be a mentor to communities that will teach new generations to be successful role models.

I come from a first generation of Latino immigrants who risked everything to start a better life for their family. Their struggles have made me realize firsthand how access to compassionate care, fair representation, and trustworthy guidance can change lives. Growing up, I saw my family and the people in my community struggle with issues that could have been easily resolved if they had access to better healthcare, guidance, or some other form of support that would listen to them. These experiences have inspired me to pursue a career in medicine where I can support people during some of the worst moments of their lives and help them find a path forward. While I attended my first year at my university, I was able to meet new people and understand other real-life world experiences from others’ perspectives. I was able to develop new skills and create new relationships with mentors and friends that have helped me in my journey to medical school. Starting my college career as a student government legislator has helped me gain experience in leadership, become more open to the community, and engage in conversations about the amazing student community at Montclair. I am also a public speaker, after being able to participated in a research lab in chemistry and then presented my findings at research conferences. During my research conferences, I was able to speak with pride and show professors and fellow students how I was able to conduct the research and show them what I was made of. I am an educated individual who always focuses on ethics, empathy, diversity, and learning. Being an AHA HSI Scholar has helped me achieve that through workshops, conferences, and talking to other people about the issues growing in underserved communities. I would plan to not only become a physician but also raise awareness about the importance of these issues to the world and possible solutions to resolve them. I have learned that change cannot be done alone, but it comes from people, important people from the community who also want to help others change with them. There is no doubt that my mentors have helped me to get to where I am right now. And that is why I want to become a physician to be a voice to others who do not have one and talk about experiences on how to become successful in life through science, medicine, and education.

Growing up in New Jersey, it was challenging to live in a low socioeconomic neighborhood in Newark, a community filled with hardworking people who struggled to pay their bills and provide food for their families. I am a child of Peruvian immigrants who have helped shape every aspect of my personality, my beliefs, my relationships, and my aspirations for the future. My family and I have lived in New Jersey for about 20 years now, and by far the one resource that we are worried about losing the most is healthcare. I have learned while growing up that many people do not have access to health care because of health insurance and language differences affect communication between the patient and doctor. Because of this, I want to dedicate my life to studying medicine and providing the best healthcare for people who come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. I have learned about other cultures by being more involved in the community. I volunteered at LANBI in Orange, NJ, to help the Haitian immigrant community and learned more about the town of Orange while exploring. It helped me understand how some economic factors affected the city, such as past segregation, economic decline, and language barriers. I have helped out LANBI at the Unitarian Universalist Church by teaching Haitian immigrants English through ESL courses. While teaching, I have had the opportunity to build personal connections with each of them, learning about their unique stories of how they arrived and why they persevered through their struggles to achieve a better life in America. New Jersey has taught me how to lead by listening, to serve with empathy, and to dream with purpose and perseverance. My relationship with my mentors, professors, friends, and the people I have met throughout my undergraduate career has taught me life experiences from different perspectives, and I was able to see the passion for their goals. To me, medicine is not only a career, but it is a bridge to the gap between people to understand their problems and solutions by providing a safe passage to understand difficult challenges that one may face when addressing a problem. Living in New Jersey has helped me become an educated, smart individual, and I will always be grateful to every person I have met in my life who has helped me pave the way to it. I will use what I learn to change the American healthcare system and provide a better patient experience for everyone to meet their needs.

@jeffismyson

Freedom of speech is a constitutional right that is given to everyone and that means no one is allowed to take it from you no matter if your opinion is right or wrong. Freedom of speech is taught everywhere from family, community, schools, and the media. American college students are still learning how to become proper adults and need to understand that for the past couple of years that they experienced in their K-12 school years they were still not given a voice, many adults including their parents, teachers, and representatives would not even listen to them because they believe they are superior and do not have to listen to what the students say. As these young people continue to grow up they will soon realize that the world they are living in is not as innocent as they thought, and the rules, laws, and regulations that exist are not helping anyone in their community to live prosperous lives. These set of rules are obligated to affect the lives of American college students and it could affect their education such as banning certain courses that many college students could learn and benefit from to prepare them for their career and post-college education. I am a STEM major, which while my field of study has nothing to do with freedom of speech or humanities, it is an important academic discipline because so many people from underrepresented populations have never been able to receive a bachelor's degree. I was able to meet many different types of people from my major, some were from different towns, counties, states, and countries. Seeing these people always makes me happy seeing that so many people around the world enjoy studying the academic discipline I am in. It motivated me to become a Student Government Association (SGA) legislator and there I was a proud member of an organization committed to be a voice to the students and to bring change to the campus. The SGA has taught me the basics of leadership and throughout the meetings I and the rest of the SGA discussed many problems that students have been facing problems with and we were able to create bills to resolve those issues. Recently the SGA passed a bill that would fund a new ambulance for the Emergency Medical Services at the University and thus is an example of how important being a voice is important. Having a voice gives you the power to bring change to yourself and the people around us, freedom of speech is the solution to solve major issues around us and bring peace, order, and justice.

As I continue my education in medical school I will always remember the everlasting friendships with my classmates, friends, and professors that have helped me socially and academically to help become a medical doctor, my family will always be the daily reminder of what I always wanted to become, and that is to become a medical doctor and give high-quality medical care to immigrants and to those who are from other economic disadvantage backgrounds.

At first, when I was little I thought reading books was boring and that it served little to no purpose, but as I grew older and went to college I started to like reading books and I believe that it could help many people. Ever since I started learning about chemistry I started to read the chemistry textbook and for the first time in a while, I enjoyed reading. The textbook talked about many applications, laws, and properties of matter and explained them based on their atoms and molecules and how they interact with one another. Although the textbook is very long to finish I enjoyed reading the second half of the textbook which talked about Solutions, Kinetics, Chemical Equilibrium, Acids and Bases, Aqueous Ionic Equilibrium, Free Energy and Thermodynamics, and Electrochemistry. While it may be a science textbook I wish for people to simply read at least one chapter of the textbook because I thought I would not like chemistry, and I was worried that the chemistry course would be the course I would be struggling the most, but it was the complete opposite. Reading a book about science helps us understand the world more and explains the ways through facts and eliminates silly concepts, hearings, and theories. While reading about chemistry may be hard I believe that reading any chemistry textbook can influence people to enjoy chemistry and could be used to help many global problems that are being faced today such as problems in health, energy usage, and materials.

Disney has been a part of my childhood since the day I saw my first Disney character Winnie the Pooh and all of the other characters that I saw in my early childhood. While many people might think that Disney is only for kids, I believe that anyone can enjoy Disney's content as long as they continue to watch and enjoy it. After a while, as I grew up I grew out of Winnie the Pooh and one day while I was visiting at my friend's house my friend put on Disney Channel and there I saw the first Disney Channel series that my friend introduced me to "Jessie". It was the first Disney Channel series that I saw and I immediately loved it, it made me want to tune in to Disney Channel and try to watch as many episodes as I can. Although I forgot the episode I first saw from Jessie, I did manage to remember the names of the characters: Jessie, Emma, Luke, Ravi, Zuri, and Bertram. These characters always made me laugh and I would continue to be attached to this show and watch it. Then the series got canceled and I was very saddened by the fact that the show ended it felt like a part of my childhood was gone and because I was a young kid it felt like the end of the world to me thinking about how I will never see these characters interact with each other ever again. I believe what I liked about this Disney series is that it brought in happy memories for me to enjoy, the characters felt relatable and even though they are fictional characters in media I still liked their character, personality, and humor. While the series was canceled I eventually moved on and explored many other Disney shows that would soon be considered one of my favorites such as Phineas and Ferb, K.C. Undercover, and Gravity Falls. While Disney is known to bring in happy memories and is famously known for making happy movies and series for kids but it can also teach us how to deal with real-life issues as well and that is what makes Disney so important to me and my life. While the end of Jessie made me sad it felt like it was the closing of one chapter of my life and that I must continue to live my life even if it means that I will no longer see more Jessie content.

My name is Jefferson Elias Vela, me and my family were born in Peru and together we moved to the United States in the hope of better quality of life, opportunities, education, and safety. Throughout my life, I valued the importance of medicine and medical care after witnessing many barriers my family faced when wanting to receive the best quality medical career from physicians. It is my dream to become a medical doctor so I can provide the proper quality of medical care to the people that cared for me as well as the people in the community that also have families that need support. When I first visited my pediatrician I noticed that many medical doctors are not diverse based on their background, race, and ethnicity which meant there was little to no representation of Hispanics and Latinos in the medical field. This issue caused discomfort for my family since they are nervous when being around a person that is not a familiar face and it motivated me to continue to study in school so I can one day help and support my family and others who are in the same situation like my family. I recently finished my first undergraduate year at my University and the research experiences that were given to me are an opportunity to understand more about research and applications in medical science. It was difficult for me to choose a medical field since it is a major decision in my life and I worry that it could last a long-lasting impact on me. However, the field that I found most interesting is family medicine because I want to be able to provide medical care to as many people as possible from all ages, and backgrounds. While the road to becoming a medical doctor is long, rigorous, difficult, and time-consuming in my spare time, what matters to me the most is to take care of the people around me and that they receive the best medical treatment and diagnosis so they can receive the help they need. When I become a medical doctor I would become a new face in the medical field and be a strong source of inspiration for new generations of not only Latinos but every person who can become a medical doctor so that they do not have to be intimidated by the barriers or obstacles that they will face, but instead, face it, work hard, and continue to work hard for what they continue to work in a career that they want to enjoy working in.

I come from a family of hardworking Latino immigrants that gave me everything in life, food, a home, and love. One of the many issues that many underrepresented populations are facing today is the little to no help they are receiving from the services that are supposed to be helping them, especially when it comes to healthcare services. I plan to become a medical doctor and not only would I be the first in my family to receive an American college education but to also receive a medical degree to be a highly knowledgeable individual in medicine whose goal is to bring medical care and support to the people and communities that need medical assistance. Recently I finished my college freshman year at my University and the experiences were fun, educational, and helpful for my medical career. In my first Biology class, the course was part of an authentic research program called the SEA-PHAGES Program, the goal of this program is to motivate undergraduates to perform undergraduate research. The goal of this research project was to isolate, extract, purify, amplify, and characterize a virus that infects bacteria called a bacteriophage. I was so excited to know the applications of the aseptic technique, collecting environmental samples, preparing serial dilutions, picking a plaque, and many other bacteriophage procedures. Then later on I was recruited by my chemistry professor, he was looking for highly academic students in his course to do chemistry research related to organic chemistry and organometallic chemistry. It was an opportunity that I happily accepted since the application of organic chemistry is used to understand the reactions used to create new medicines. Eventually, the training that I learned in the chemistry research lab was useful in helping me to create my research project in the synthesis of chiral copper compounds. Chirality is a chemical property that many molecules contain, their mirror images do not line up with each other thus meaning they are completely different molecules. The research that I was performing is important in medicine since the goal of my research project was to develop a metal copper complex, that me and my instructor believe could contain chiral properties. While I continue to study and gain knowledge throughout my time spent at my University I would continue to develop a long-lasting understanding of what I learned so I can use it later when I start my medical career. All these experiences are helpful to me and I continue to hope that one day I could mentor or guide a student to prepare them on how to become a medical doctor.

My name is Jefferson Elias Vela, I am the first generation member of my family to attend an American University. I come from a family of immigrants and the main reason why I am attending college is that I want to receive a higher education to help myself succeed in life, my parents always told me that receiving an education is a privilege, at least that is what most people from the U.S and our home country say. Many people from my home country desperately want an education for their children because they refuse for their children to live the same lifestyle as they were, that is why I value my education, because it is important to learn knowledge that can benefit you, it can be used to help family, friends, and the community. My goal right now is to become a medical doctor so I can help other Latinos who are discriminated against or shut down from other medical facilities because of their status or their understanding of the English language. I learned the ways to become a leader by joining the Student Government Association (SGA) and doing community service at my university. I became an SGA legislator because I wanted to experience what it is like to be a leader at my university to provide a voice that will bring change and social justice to the people that matter most, the students. I attended many community service events and gatherings there was one, that stuck with me and that was the time I attended the Breast Cancer Awareness Walk at Metlife Stadium I volunteered to support people suffering from breast cancer, it was a joyous event seeing so many people wearing pink and donating to charities that would help the sick. I recently finished a summer undergraduate research program that was offered at my University, there I was under supervision by my mentor to perform chemical research in organic and organometallic chemistry related to the synthesis of creating a phenanthroline ligand that can be used to bind to a transition metal to create a metal copper complex that would exhibit chiral properties. While I enjoyed the experiences at my University, I need financial support because attending medical school is a long and rigorous path, and while I am still struggling to pay for my undergraduate education, this scholarship would help me to pay off my undergraduate tuition as well as help me to save money to pay for medical school. While I do have the grades and academics, I struggle financially because of how overly expensive a post-secondary school costs.

I am a first-generation minority underrepresented college student who plans to continue my undergraduate degree to pursue a career as a medical doctor. Throughout my first college year, I volunteered at community service events to help the people around me, participated in the Student Government as a legislator to bring social justice to my University and performed authentic scientific research in the biology and chemistry field. I like to read textbooks related to science, especially chemistry since I loved the subject ever since I started learning it in my chemistry lecture. I was part of the SEA-PHAGES Program in which the goal of this program is to motivate undergraduate science students to perform undergraduate research and teach the students to isolate and discover new bacteriophages. Currently, I am during summer undergraduate chemistry research related to organometallic chemistry, my research project is about the synthesis of chiral copper compounds. I have always wanted to become a medical doctor because I have always wanted to help people, my mother has always told me that in life "You should always help people because it is the way of life and that is how God would want us to be like". After being in a research lab I grew attached to being in a lab as well as being with other students like me who enjoy being in science research. While I plan to become a medical doctor I understand that completing this career would be long and rigorous, I know that in the end I would be a proud member of my community and will be known as a hardworking medical professional and a leader who motivates other Latinos and any other person who wants to be in the medical field that they can achieve their dreams and overcome the obstacles that life has brought them. I hope that with my medical career, I would help my surrounding community and that help other Latino families not be afraid and ask for help from another medical professional because there were many instances where my family would be discriminated against or looked down upon because of their ethnic identity and so I want to become a medical doctor to help the people that once cared for me and that other people should do the same thing by starting to help one another to help build a strong community that can one day change the world for the better.

My Barbie Dream House would be a three story tall house located in a small quiet town similar to where I live originally. It would have a big inground pool with a slide and a big diving board to make it look more fun, the backyard would also have a world class bar, grill and a hot tub. Inside the house there would be an expensive brand TV to watch movies and series in high quality, a big kitchen with the best kitchen equipment, a living room that is also a dance floor so the house can always be a dance party, the lviing room would have the most comfiest couches with cup holders and a reclining feature to relax better. The house would have four bedrooms in case for guests to sleep in as well as one master bedroom with its own personal bathroom and hot tub. The bathroom would have a separate bathtub and shower. There would be multiple rooms such as a gym, indoor pool, gaming area, an indoor water fountain by the entrance, with a garden surrounding the water fountain. There would also be a big garage filled with many luxurious motor vehicles to ride in.

Before I did volunteering I was a person who was always stressed out and worried about what my future was going to be based on my academics and extracurriculars. I was worried on what my college experience was going to be because of how difficult the coursework is, it caused me a lot of stress especially since I was aiming to apply to medical school and how some only accept the best applicants. While I was being stressed out about my future I cam across a voluntter event that my university was hosting to support the victims of the September 11 attacks it was known to be a day of service to bring back to the community. While I was doing my first volunteering experience I was surprised after seeing so many people to show up to give a helping hand for the volunteer event, the feelign was almost nervewrecking. Then afterwards while the event commenced everyone headed off to their desginated place where they volunteered and I headed towards mine in which my duty was to help clean the streets near a Patterson elementary school, while I was there I did my work by picking up garbage in the streets there were many shards of glass, rubble, plastic, and other litter that I had to collect, while doing it together with my fellow volunteer companions. The work was hard, but everyone managed to achieve them, and while doing the work I met and talked with many other people I did not knew, I was happy while talking with them because it made the work more fun that it was before, and at the end of the day we all took one group photo to remember the occassion of working together that day. While although I never saw those people again I did managed to enjoy volunteering but not for the benefit but the wat of how it feels good and satisfying after doing a good deed. After my volunteering experience I was able to feel a sense of belonging to the community it felt that what I was doing mattered, and although my academic accomplishments mattered, volunteering felt different it was something that I could recall and still enjoy the memories of doing the volunteer work that day. I feel that is what a medical doctor should ultimately become to have a sense of belonging to the community and share it with others, while the path to medical school is a hard and rigorous one, the price to pay is also extremely high in which I hope that this scholarship can support me financially paying off my undergraduate tuition so I can save money for medical school and continue to be a committed,helper and active volunteer member in my community.

My most important tip for going back to school is always to be yourself. Whenever you are going back to another year at school or if it's your first time going into a new school or big stage in your life, you must be yourself to help make strong friendships and pursue passions that help you become a strong individual and applicant to other schools and organizations. In real life employers or the person that will interview you for the job want to see the real you so it is important to be yourself, stay true to yourself, and most importantly love yourself. -@jeffismyson Instagram

Having healthy eating habits is important for your well-being. You need to consume different category food groups which are fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods, and dairy. Eating food is a living necessity for us humans it is the resource that helps us keep living and eating healthy foods will only help benefit our lives. Eating healthy habits can be difficult as it requires discipline, to choose which foods are best for you. I now eat healthy eating habits because of my past unhealthy eating habits that damaged my healthy well-being. While I was in high school during my freshman year I began to feel more self-conscious about my looks and I thought I was overweight. I thought to myself that the only solution to solve this overweight situation is to eat less as a way to lose weight. Although this method worked, however, my body now looked skinny, I looked weak, and people can see my bones. During a regular day in high school, I started to feel an incredible amount of pain in my stomach and the pain never went away and only seemed to go away whenever I eat little food. My parents noticed my strange eating behavior and my stomach pains and decided to take me to a gastroenterologist to see what is wrong with me. At the doctor's, they did some checkups and when I waited in the room with my dad the gastroenterologist entered and greeted me and my dad. He came with the results in his hand and said that I am underweight weighing 100 pounds and I was shocked to hear the results of me being underweight because this entire time I thought I was overweight, which I now look back that my mental health was in horrible shape before. My doctor told me it was because not only was I not eating less food but I was eating less fiber, and eating less fiber is the reason why the stomach pain occurs. The doctor said that I needed to drink a special fiber powder drink to make sure my stomach pain does not occur and that I needed to eat more food and add more fiber to my diet. After knowing what it is like to have this horrible experience of having my stomach hurting from unhealthy eating habits I began to eat more food, exercise, and eat foods with high fiber. After changing my diet I start thinking that I am normal and that I am neither underweight nor overweight and that if I continue eating healthy foods then I will be fine, and soon it worked I am now completely healthy and hope that people have healthy eating habits to better themselves.

Ever since I started school at a young age I struggled a lot in my classes and I thought I was not good at any of the core academic classes. History was interesting but it was too boring, English is exactly like History except it requires you to write a lot of essays, analyze passages, and check grammar, I did not find interest in learning in that class. Science is one of the best classes I took but it was still difficult for me to understand the material I still enjoyed it. Then there was Math, at first I thought math is insanely difficult and even one time during the third grade I thought multiplication was the hardest thing to do in math and many years later I come to realize that I was wrong. Because many years later math simply became more difficult and whenever I struggle I simply remember the time a special person helped me understand math, my mom. My mother taught me math and with her help math became an easy subject for me at a young age I loved math. My mother said "Math is easy, all you need is to practice and understand the hard concepts and material of the subject and math will be a breeze" and she was right because every time I sit in math class I enjoy seeing these math problems to solve since all I have to do is solve them. Math helped boost my problem-solving skills as well as help me enjoy other topics in math throughout the years of my school life from elementary school up to college. Although math is still difficult and I might encounter even harder math problems during my college years I want to take a moment and thank mathematics for being a part of my life and helping me earn an education and hope for the best that math will help me reach my dream career of becoming a doctor.

During my high school career, I wanted to attend an out-of-state school to know what it is like to live on my own and learn to make my own decisions for myself. However, after receiving my acceptance letters to several in-state and out-of-state schools of my choice and comparing the tuition prices, I realized that attending an out-of-state school would be expensive and that I worry would go into debt. While I was under pressure to select the college of my choice I decided to attend Montclair State University since I found it one of the best universities that I had visited and has a beautiful campus filled with natural beauty and diversity of student alumni. Although the cost of attending is expensive, I would plan to take student loans to pay for my college education meaning I will have debt after finishing my four years in college. During these next four years, I will plan differently than in a high school where I used not to be involved in anything and did not participate in any other extracurricular activities, I want to change that so I can become a better person than I was in high school by joining after school clubs, participating in community service events, and help around campus as well. After participating in extracurricular activities I want to take a big step in my life and apply for jobs to start saving money to pay off my debt. I also plan to apply for more scholarships to earn extra money to pay off my debt and save some money to pay off other expenses. My student loan debt has taught me to spend my money wisely as I will choose which items are important to me and which ones are items that I want that will serve no purpose in helping me finish my debt. Even though my parents still support me and promised to help pay off my loan debt I still feel like I have to pay for my debt since I feel bad for my overworked parents who are willing to pay it off and that I should help out by looking to apply for jobs or internships and applying to many scholarships and earn as much money that is given to me because my mother told me that every cent counts, and I will use every money in my pocket to complete my student loan debt.

My entire life my family always told me that education is important more than anything, which is why both my parents make sure I try to get high grades in all of my classes. My parents lived a life of poverty when they were living in Peru, and although they were born there and loved their country very much they felt that it did not feel like home since their families have lived in poverty for so long since that education was meaningless and served no purpose or benefits to the people of Peru. Although my family managed to do well financially they still struggled which is why my family committed that all generations of the Vela family have a better education so that the children would not have to suffer the way the family has suffered in the past. It is also the main reason why my parents moved to the U.S because this country has great opportunities and benefits for many people that dream big, to explore many possibilities to help the people of not only the great country but the world. However, to achieve big dreams that can change people's lives and the world, you would need a high education which is why I plan to pursue a degree in Biology. I plan to become a doctor to help people with the power of medicine, and although the journey is long and will take countless hours of studying, I plan to use all my useful skills to achieve that goal, but the most useful skill that I will use and learn at my university is leadership since I will mostly use it to bring people together as a community and inspire more people to become leaders. During my time at the summer bridge program at my university, I saw so many new faces, whether they were from different states or from new countries it is fascinating to meet people from all over the world and learn more about themselves and their cultures. Diversity is important because the more we know each other the better we get to know more people and how we can all be united as one peaceful society in harmony. During the workplace at a medical location where there will be plenty of doctors working together to help combat new diseases as well as help the sick feel better every day and make the world healthy and free from any diseases.

My name is Jefferson Elias Vela I live in a big family in Peru. My father is a hard-working man who often spends most of his time working at his job and is exhausted whenever he gets home sometimes he is too tired even to acknowledge my existence. My mother is a strong independent woman who always inspires me to become a strong individual that I can accomplish anything if I continue to believe that I can do it. My parents lived their entire life in Peru and had many families, but times were hard back then since the country was governed by corrupt politicians who do not help the people of Peru but instead create laws for the rich and corrupt. My father realized he had enough and decided to move to the U.S and live a better life for himself and start a new happy life with his family. At first, my mother did not like the idea because she would have to say goodbye to her family and friends in Peru but she realized it was for the best for her baby son, to have a bright future for her son he would need both his father and his mother to be a part of his life. After that the rest was history, I was raised most of my life in the U.S and did not know much about my home country or my family. My parents usually are busy working at their jobs and times were tough since they barely make enough money to buy the expenses we need to survive, and occasionally I never receive so many gifts for my birthday or even have the recent viral item that recently came out that time. I always try to stay positive during those times with the inspiration from my mother and father to keep going to school and that I will never be alone because I will always have my family by my side. During those times my parents did not know what to do whenever they got sick because the cost of going to the doctor is expensive and because both my parents cannot receive medical insurance due to their immigration status so they rarely go to the doctor otherwise they will be in more debt than before since they have mortgages to pay off. I dreamed to become a doctor ever since I was a child, I want to help people in my community through the power of medicine. It would be a long difficult journey of achieving that career but I am willing to take that journey and use it to help people rid of their diseases and make sure they receive the proper help they need. I wish to become a strong leader to help solve world problems such as people who are being denied medical insurance to receive it no matter what their status is, and to find a cure to a life-threatening disease, I know in my heart I can do the best I can and will not let anyone down.

My name is Jefferson Elias Vela, I am an only child of a hardworking, serious father, and a smart independent mother. I was born in Peru and I am a proud member of the Hispanic community, I live in Belleville which is a small quiet town in New Jersey that consists of many people from different communities where I met many different people with different lives. I would not be in this great town of this great country if it were not for my father who has worked many jobs and served in the Peru military choosing to live here to have his family have a better bright future. My mother for staying strong throughout all these years raising a child who tried all her best raising a child in a country where she did not understand any English. After everything, my parents did the country that they work hard for and pay taxes for does not support cover their medical bills or offer them any form of insurance help mainly due to their immigration status. Both my parents get sick all the time and do not go to the doctor because they would not be able to afford the bills and other important expenses that help us go through in our everyday life. I plan to become a doctor that would impact the world as we know it to make every person receive medical care in the least expensive way possible. Medical care is a human necessity and everyone deserves to have it because no one should have to worry about paying for medicine, it would be a better way for people to heal better. Throughout my medical career, I will use my medical knowledge to help people, by becoming a part of their lives providing them medicine, and help to them in any shape or form. I have dreamed of becoming a doctor ever since I was a child and to this day I still dream of becoming one I will accomplish that dream by graduating from college and then going to medical school. During my undergraduate career, I will plan to become a leader in my community, a trustful person to my friends and colleagues that promises to only bring good to their lives as well as help even more people in the future and inspire a new generation to become better people and possibly think about becoming a future medical doctor to make the world a better place for all.

My goal as of right now is to graduate college. My dream is to attend medical school and become a doctor. What I desire to accomplish is to become a strong leader, to inspire and lead people to become strong independent individuals that accomplish anything.

My name is Jefferson Elias Vela. I am a first-generation student attending a University in the U.S. I am excited to be attending college very soon and I honestly think I will be attending the best college in the state Montclair State University. During my journey to get to college was incredibly difficult for me and my family as we had to risk everything to help me attend college. My journey started ever since I was born, I was born in Peru a country in South America known for its famous landmarks and irresistible food. The country was also governed by corrupt politicians, people who had power, only to use it for themselves and to exploit the people of Peru. My father already lived in the U.S and convinced my patriotic mother to leave Peru and move to a new country and start a new life with her family and that was when another chapter of my journey began. During my birth my father named me Jefferson Elias Vela, Jefferson is the same name as the third U.S president who is a strong leader who led Americans to a bright future, an inspiration to people to become leaders, and a famous person that created the constitution for freedom for all. Elias is the first time my family used a middle name it is my grandfather's name who tragically passed away at the age of 50 and to this day his cause of death was unknown but it is believed that he died from too much alcohol consumption. My father told me stories about him of how hard-working he was, how he was able to raise a family and still manage to be a good, responsible father, even though he was skinny and often looked down upon he managed to be a leader of his own selling business in the streets of Peru. Finally, my last name Vela resembles the word Bella which means candle in Spanish, it not only represents the family name but also represents how a candle is bright, and its fire represents the light in the darkness of life. My name is represented in every identification document and it means a lot to me that this is who I am and that I come from a family who never gives up and inspires the new generation to never lose hope and that true power comes from actions.

During my high school career when I started my freshman year my high school says that it was required for all high school students to have 60 hours of community service. At first, I was annoyed since community service felt like I was forced to do community service otherwise I would not get my high school diploma because of something I do not want to do or possibly even enjoy. During the summer after my high school freshman year, I decided to do community service by volunteering to help out at a summer camp in my local town it was a small building that taught people martial arts, taekwondo, and self-defense techniques. During my time there I met other volunteers who were kind people willing to spend their time helping out the community through volunteering. My task there is to help take care of the children who are part of the martial arts summer camp program where the kids get to socialize, play games, and learn lifelong skills. During my community service, I made friends with the other two volunteers and taught the children discipline and what was right and wrong. After finishing my community service I felt somehow accomplished. At a later time, I volunteered to be a part of the Peruvian parade last July where the parade represented Peru's diversity and representation of independence. That event was the best community service I ever committed since I saw so many different communities that I never met before joining together for the momentous occasion. During that day I marched with other Peruvians two miles from Paterson to the town hall of Kearny, it was a hot day but I was determined to finish the parade even though it was a hot day and I was burning hot and sweating I felt like I had a purpose when I was in the parade. The group that I was supporting was called Peruvian Roots, an organization whose goal is to help and support Peruvians throughout the U.S and help bring Peruvians across the country together as one. I would plan to further support this group as much s I can by participating in other events that they have planned out, to build a strong community and help more people along the way. I also plan to participate in other organizations during my time in college to help out other people as it is my goal to help many people.

As a person raised in a Hispanic household my family always makes delicious food including some superfoods. As much as my mother tells me every time whenever she serves a dish of any superfood she cooks, superfoods can help your body fight off diseases and keep you healthier, it is nutritious and even low on calories. I love these superfoods because it offers so many benefits to your health and not only is it good for you but it is incredibly delicious. My favorite superfoods consist of the Peruvian superfoods Quinoa and chicha Morado, Quinoa is a special dish consisting of carbohydrates, protein, and fat it is extremely high in fiber and very nutritious, while chicha Morado is a special non-fermented drink that is one of the best non-alcoholic drinks that Peru has to offer. I eat quinoa daily since it is usually common for my mother to cook this food since she only knows how to cook Peruvian food and she hates cooking but she does it for me and I beg her to cook her delicious food because it is the only food I would ever eat. Quinoa helped me through my life as it is a part of my healthy lifestyle that I am committed to doing every day for the rest of my life. Chicha Morado, on the other hand, is a superfood drink but it can also damage your health if you drink too much of it so my mother sometimes makes it to make sure I am not drinking too much usually she makes them during the summer. Chicha Morado contains a special ingredient called maíz Morado which is purple corn in Spanish, it honestly surprised me that purple corn exists in this world and while it took me hard to believe my mother showed me purple corn in her hands and I was astonished. Superfoods helped me learn something new almost every day such as learning new foods that I now know thanks to superfoods. Superfoods have helped me throughout my whole life and I would not know what would have happened if I had not eaten these delicious foods. These delicious foods should be tasted by everyone in the whole world so everyone can try out superfoods, specifically, people who have not tried superfoods since they are missing out on trying delicious food that improve their health as well as trying out food from different cultures.

High School was rough it was when school felt different, I felt that my classes were harder, and the friends I made through middle school forgot about my existence. During my high school freshman year I suffered through a lot of changes to my body, I felt I was overweight even though I was not, and sometimes I feel that people judge me for every little thing that I do. My grades were slipping and I thought I was not going to do so well in high school. The next year it got worse the pandemic happened and that was when life hit me hard like a brick. My sophomore year and junior year were over so quickly because all of the classes were online and what I remember was a blur since going into an online class did not feel the same as going into an in-person class. During the lockdown, I saw how the pandemic affected other people mentally and physically, I was so afraid of my parents getting the virus that I began to clean everything in the house from tables, chairs, devices, and even other objects that my parents do not use. The most shocking event that I have seen is that many doctors and nurses have resigned or quit their jobs fearing that they might get infected or might pass it along to their families. I have always dreamed of becoming a doctor ever since I was a child and it breaks my heart that there are doctors who are afraid of this virus that they are willing to give up their career and work another job elsewhere, and saddens me more thinking about that there are people who need medical attention and that they cannot receive care because of a doctor shortage. Right now there is a decrease in doctors all across the world simply because the career is too long and expensive to afford, and now people need more doctors than ever because if another global pandemic happened right now more people would die. I want to be those brave doctors that risk their lives to help people and to one day discover the cure that can help all of humanity so it can continue to prosper, and change many lives. I wish to use my career as an advantage to help inspire the next generation to consider becoming future doctors or any other medical professional.

Having a healthy lifestyle is a dream that everyone wants to have it is important to start thinking about what you are doing to yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally. Many people in the world are not living a healthy lifestyle and some of them are living lifestyles that could possibly kill them such as alcoholics, drug addicts, and smoking. Having a healthy lifestyle can help maintain your life to become something better it can help you make friends, make better life decisions for you, and even help accomplish your dreams as well as help friends and family. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is not easy since it takes dedication, discipline, and responsibility to live a healthy lifestyle of any kind. I for once did not live a healthy lifestyle it was during my freshman year of high school when I thought I felt overweight and unhealthy. I started to lose weight by eating less and it worked but it caused another problem I was now too skinny and I was too much of a fool to see how it was affecting my life. I experienced stomach pains daily and when I have to poop sometimes it does not come out and it feels like I have to stay in the bathroom for hours to let the pain pass. My parents realized this issue and took me to a gastroenterologist, the doctor said that I am underweight weighing 100 pounds and that the cause of my stomach pains was because of poor diet and low fiber and I was shocked because I thought I was still overweight when in reality I was slowly harming myself through starvation. Afterward, I slowly started to eat more and my father was the one who constantly sat at the dinner table to see if I was eating or not because he did not trust that I can eat by myself without supervision. Two years later I was still skinny and it was then I decided to go to the gym and started to workout even though I doubted myself that it would never work, but after a couple of months I started to earn muscle and I was no longer skinny again I was finally no longer underweight nor overweight and living a healthy lifestyle. Healthy lifestyles are the key to making life enjoyable as they can help us realize what we are doing with our lives and I want everyone to do their best at trying to look out for themselves and help other people to have a healthy lifestyle in any way they can.

I suppose it started when I was very young, it was a time when it was the most difficult part of my life began. I was young and I did not know what to do most of the time my parents would not even try to help me since we were always in hard times since both of my parents are constantly hard at work and rarely had any time with me at all. Since I was the only child and lived in a low-income household I did not always get what I wanted and sometimes I rarely receive the gifts that I always want so many of my friends to say to me that I am lucky because they say " You are the center of your parents' attention" or "spoiled" in reality I am not any of those. During my life, my parents taught me to always be respectful to others and act like a well-behaved person, they said to me on every first day of school that "sooner or later people will appreciate you and perhaps one day you will be awarded for your good behavior". At that point, I tried to become selfless since I saw many people who do not deserve to be in the position they are in and needed to be saved. One day in high school I met a foreign exchange student named Joseph in my high school chemistry class, he was shy and did not know any English, one day his mom and my mom met and start to become friends. My mother invited both Joseph and his mom to our house and told me to help tutor the boy and I started to know him a little better he came from Ecuador and recently moved to the U.S and is nearly failing all of his classes because he does not know English which made it difficult for him to understand what his teachers were saying. I felt bad for him since it was not fair for him to do badly in school for a language he does not understand yet, I proceeded to help him with chemistry since it is the only class we had together and it was the class that he is having more difficulty with. I taught him everything that I knew about chemistry and soon after the session was up he and his mother thanked me and said goodbye. I helped another student during my time in the summer bridge program at Montclair State University recently he was doing badly at math and always never understands the math professor and asked me for help instead. Although I was having difficulty understanding the material I offered to help since I noticed that he asked questions all the time and I realized that math is his hardest subject to fully comprehend I have been in that situation before and it nearly cost my high academic achievement. I helped him and it felt incredible after helping him and it was the same feeling after helping Joseph as well and I realized that helping someone in need is something that I am good at and that it would not hurt to try, that is why these next four years in college I will plan to become a leader at Montclair where I will continue to help people in need and inspire the next leaders to continue the cycle.

I am Jefferson Vela, I am a Biology/Pre-Med major at Montclair State University where I will begin my college journey this September and go beyond my boundaries and become a strong leader. I was born in Peru and raised by a hard-working father and a strong independent mother and lived my entire life in the U.S after my parents realized that living in their home country in Peru was not safe to raise a child during that time. At that time Peru was supervised by corrupt politicians and created new laws that did not help the people of Peru and only helped no one other than themselves, the rich, and the corrupt. In the U.S I have very few relatives so it was very lonely since it was only me and my parents against the world most of the time and since both of them came from a financial disadvantage background and do not have a U.S education they had to spend most of their time at work. My school years were difficult since neither of my parents understood English and I had to do all of my schoolwork by myself, with little help I was able to excel in all of my classes. I had some regrets in school when I did not choose to be involved with extracurricular activities or in anything. After graduating I realized that I need to do better, I need to get rid of this habit of procrastination and laziness. I am going to change into a better person which is why I will become a leader at my school, a leader that helps the community and only does it with kindness. It will be the start of a long and difficult journey of achieving the dream that I always wanted to become, a doctor. Achieving this goal would require responsibility, dedication, and management skills, but I believe that I have what it takes to become a leader and lead people to have a bright better future. I enjoy seeing so many people as strong leaders as they continue to change people to this day all over the world and that is something that I am willing to do to give back to the community. I am passionate about leadership to help the new generation of people to continue to appreciate the leadership and create new strong leaders to continue leading the people of tomorrow.

Helping others is important since it can bring people together as a much stronger community, help build stronger relationships among other people, and even make a difference in even one person's life. I understand what it was like to not receive help from others since both of my parents were usually busy and spoke little English I had to do most of my schoolwork and other activities on my own occasionally even helping my parents to perform other tasks. I have dedicated my life to helping other people as much as I can to help people express positive emotions such as joy, hope, inspiration, and love. Helping others has become my true passion since it always brings me joy helping others and that I helped make their day better even if it is by a little bit. This is why I plan to become a doctor so I can use my medical knowledge to help even more people and become part of their lives that is always there to support them no matter what situation they are dealing with. As of right now, I graduated high school and I plan to continue my education at college for the next four years of my life, after I complete my undergraduate career I will continue my education at medical school where I can accomplish the goal of my medical career and become a doctor. Because of my passion, I was able to dream big because going into medical school will be a difficult journey, and becoming a doctor will be a much longer and more difficult journey, and trying to make a difference in the community and helping others helped me have hope that I can achieve that dream and that I can continue helping others during my career. This passion would not have been made if I was not exposed to how the real world works and that some people have the opportunity to help out but choose not to, which brings pain to my heart that it was that moment when I decide to change my personality and help people as much as I can to try to make a difference in their lives and inspire the next generation of people to help others so the cycle of helping others will never die. There are people out there who seek help and I will become a leader to them and lead them to a bright, better future and make their voices be heard and appreciated.

I had difficult living conditions from the start of my life I lived in a financial disadvantage background and I still do to this day, both of my family and I are from Peru and my father had to give up everything to make sure our family could survive and live a better future. My father lived his life normally in Peru until he could not take the politicians' laws that only made everyone's lives miserable because the new rules that the government made did not support the people of Peru and only really created these laws to benefit the corrupt and rich. My father decided to move to the U.S and start his life anew the journey was long, difficult, and even unbearable to travel but once he arrived at the border there he nearly lost his life crossing it and once he made it to the U.S he had to take many part-time jobs so he can barely have enough to pay the bills, he was alone and there was no one to help him, and even if there was a chance he was rejected because of his immigration status. Both my parents had to work in jobs that pay the minimum wage because they could not receive a high payable living wage because they were not educated in the U.S. My parents spend most of their time on their work duties they tried their best to dedicate some time left to spend quality time with me. During school, I was able to excel in all of my courses and earn academic rewards throughout my entire school career as well as excelling in other areas that involve what I enjoy doing which are swimming, track, and martial arts, it helped me become fit and learn amazing skills that I still manage to use in my everyday life. I have excelled in organizing and preparing myself to study harder subjects in my classes. I have participated in other extracurricular activities that I enjoyed being involved in and in the end, helped me to get to where I am now in life such as leadership, teamwork, communication, and most importantly responsibility. What I am going to do with these skills is to use this to help people and become a part of something big, I plan to become a doctor to help people in need, to help those who are unfortunate, to save those who seek help, and I shall begin this long difficult journey spending the next four years of my life studying as a Biology major to learn more science knowledge to help me reach the goal of being a medical school student. After going into medical school I will continue to be the new person that I will be during college when I try to succeed in accomplishing other goals while in college. I want to accomplish other goals in college such as being part of an organization that is involved in helping around the college campus and the community as well as planning to do research work and be part of internships during my college years. In the field I am learning I hope to overcome my fear of being timid since it can help me slow down from reaching my goals. I also look towards accomplishing something huge so people can look back and remember my accomplishments and inspire people to complete their goals, and continue pursuing their goals no matter what, that they are their person, and that with the help of other people can help achieve it. I want to be involved in more activities since during high school while I did participate in extracurricular activities I did not participate in a lot and it was mainly because of my laziness and will to not be involved with anything. However, these next four years will be different I will change into a better person I will help every individual that I meet in my journey, I will become a strong independent leader and lead people to a bright better future, and will help the community by helping out with however I can do to give back to others. While doing all of these tasks I will do whatever it takes to complete it all, it will take strength, hard work, and dedication but I believe that I have what it takes to do it because I know I can do it and I will continue to do so because I want to be better, I want to change, I want to become a leader and help those in need, I want to represent a cause that can help other people and that can change lives for the better of society and teach new generations of people to continue being educated, loved, and supported.

Many discoveries helped humanity overall there are so many discoveries to choose from I believe the best scientific discovery is the smallpox vaccine discovery. The discovery of the first vaccine being made was fascinating since the vaccination named Benjamin Jesty who was an ordinary farmer realized that after being exposed to cowpox he did not contract deadly smallpox and that was when he discovered the vaccine for the disease. His knowledge of developing the first vaccine was the start of the age of medical science that can be used to benefit society. With the discovery of the vaccine, smallpox became no more in the year 1980 when smallpox has been eradicated and there were no more naturally occurring smallpox ever since. This scientific discovery inspired me to become a doctor, as a doctor I would learn more about medical science and more discoveries and use it to heal people from all around the world.

It was during June 2022 when I earned a 600-dollar scholarship from the Belleville Elks foundation when I called the representative from the Belleville Elks Foundation to receive my scholarship and while I was communicating with her she asked about my ethnicity and nationality to which I respond," Hispanic Peruvian" she responded with a surprised mood saying that there is an organization called Peruvian Roots and that it is an organization that represents Peruvian culture and representation. I immediately gave the woman my contact information and she said that the leader of the Peruvian Roots would later contact me about it. The leader of Peruvian Roots then called me by the phone, introduced me as Olga Torres, and then personally invited me to a special event at the Excesior where the"Coronación de Miss Peruvian Roots United 2022" will take place. During the event it was the best time of my life there were many peruvian people attending the event and played many peruvian music, food, and cultured dances. It was exciting to see my country was being represented since throughout my life there was little to no representation of Peru or Peruvian culture. Later on she invited me to another event where I was granted an award from the Mayor of Belleville and how it symbolized all of my hard work from high school being appreciated and recognized from the important representatives of Belleville. The recent event I attended was the Peruvian Independence Day Parade which is where I marched down a parade for the first time where I marched for about two miles and it felt like a once in a life time opportunity because during the parade I saw many dancers, musicians, and other amazing performers that celebrated the independence of Peru. After this experience It made me feel emotional of how I felt I like I met more people that are like me. When I showed up at the parade it felt amazing marching with other Peruvians from many other areas in New Jersey, seeing those amazing dancers dancing with grace, with such beautiful choreography it was so inspirational. Having to do this felt such a honor to do because I know that there are people who recognize me as a member of a community. It impacted me strongly and motivated me to help more people out and that is what I am going to do, to continue helping people as much as possible so their voices can be heard.

As a child raised by a family of immigrants I did not live everyday life. My father came to this country illegally and almost lost his life crossing the border. When he succeeded he moved to the state of New Jersey to live a better life, he had to leave many friends and family in Peru. In Peru, the country was governed by corrupt politicians creating new laws that harm the people and only benefit the rich. While he was living in New Jersey he had no money, no friends, and barely knew any family members that could support him. He lived in a basement and had to work many part-time jobs to pay the bills, he even considered going to community college but he could not do so simply because he did not know any English and the tuition was too expensive for him alone to afford. He eventually met my mother, married, then soon had me I was born in Peru and lived there for a year until both my parents decided to permanently move to the U.S. My mother had difficulty looking for a job since her undergraduate education in Peru was useless in the U.S and she had to work as a seamstress at the minimum wage. My parents only had one car and it was difficult for me to get to school and back since sometimes my dad would have to wake me up early in the morning just so my father could take me to school and when school is over my mother would have to pick me up and walk to the nearest bus stop and take me back home, the basement. My father was absent most of the day so it was only me and my mother, meanwhile, my father works many jobs, and sometimes when he comes home he is too tired to pay any attention to me. As an only child, my classmates sometimes say to me that I am extremely lucky and say, " You are the center of your parents' eyes" or " You always get what you want". I heard their commentary and wonder if that is how life for an only child in the U.S is. Throughout my school years, I had difficulty financially and had overworking parents supporting me, but I continued to stay strong and decided to continue my education undergraduate and then pursue a medical degree and use my education to help the community, I want to dedicate my life to help all the people in the world through the power of medicine.

My pet dog Tobby changed my life because he has been a part of my life ever since I was thirteen years old. He was shy just like me and for the first time in my life I thought I would never relate to an animal but it happened and as of right now he is still my pet poodle and I love him. He made me smile, made me laugh, and made me enjoy life, without him I feel like my life would be dull, and I would continue to live in this world being the shy person I was. If a pet poodle has changed my life then there is no doubt in my life that a person can have a life-changing experience simply by adopting a pet as they will make a strong bond with that animal and lead them to have a calm, social life, since they will always have something that is waiting for them at home. Pets help us destress and without pets, there would be people who would have completely different lives that result in them living in a horrible moment in their life having nothing and being alone, but a pet, it can change that.

During my young school years, I had trouble making friends or even making acquaintances since I was timid and hide all of my emotions. It was even harder for me to make friends since I am an only child and I am always alone whenever my parents are not around. Up until the year 2017, my life changed forever my mother realized how lonely I was and thought I was old enough to own a dog. She brought me to her friend's house that was giving away her dog since she and her family could no longer support the dog anymore and decided to give it away to anyone responsible for taking care of a dog. That was when I met Tobby, I started to notice that he and I had something in common, we were both very shy to introduce ourselves, and he and I started to bond for a bit until eventually, his old owner decided that it was time to give her dog away. Three days after meeting Tobby he was officially my dog and he didn't want to come near me or anyone since it was his first time being at my house and whined and cried all day missing his old family. I cheered him up by petting him, taking him out for a walk, and giving him treats. He started to get comfortable with me and my parents he now sleeps with me in bed to this day. Every day when I come home from school he would be so happy to see me, I see him wagging his tail barking, whining, and immediately jumping up and down to try to give me kisses. He now sees me as his owner and I was glad to see his happy face every day when I come back from school. I feel like Tobby made my young teen years more lively, more joyful, and more playful. He makes me smile and feel more alive, he is everything to me and I love him. He made me more social since I knew I wasn't alone anymore I felt like I had someone besides my parents waiting for me at home. Meeting my pet poodle for the first time was probably the best part of my life and it is the most incredible experience that I will never forget.

A healthy lifestyle is something everyone wants an example of this is being active, eating healthy food, hygiene, and most importantly prioritizing mental health the same way as you prioritize physical health. Having a healthy lifestyle is important since if compared with someone with not have a healthy lifestyle not only are they hurting themselves but they are hurting other people including the people that they care about. A person who has an unhealthy lifestyle should change the part that makes their lifestyle unhealthy to benefit their well-being. My current lifestyle consists of waking up early at eight in the morning, going to the gym and exercising, eating breakfast, doing chores, reading a book, having lunch at 12:30, taking a one-hour break, then continue reading my book, watching a movie or favorite series, eat dinner at 8:00 p.m then read my book one last time and then go straight to bed at 9:00 p.m. Having this healthy lifestyle is important to me since exercising helps me destress from the pressure of all my troubles and I eat healthy food that my mother makes and it is cooked homemade from fresh vegetables from her garden, the book I learned is education as it is a chemistry textbook that I want to learn more about since it is related to my major in college, and I watch my favorite movies and series as a way to take a break from reading my book. My healthy lifestyle taught me time management enhanced my reading and science academic skills and boosted my physical and mental health without it I would not know what person I would have been.

My father was a marine in the Peruvian Armed Forces he was a marine but soon he realized that during his time in his home country he realized how corrupted the state of the country is in after seeing many politicians creating countless laws that only benefit the rich and exploited the poor. He decided to move to the U.S to start a new life away from the corrupted government. He traveled to the southern border of the U.S by foot and went through a difficult journey trying to make it to the other side. He saw many people like him trying to make it to the U.S but unfortunately, my father witnessed that some people didn't make and he was the few that made it. Although my father was happy that he made it to the U.S he was alone and it was before the country created laws to support immigrants paying off their bills or health insurance. He eventually found a place to settle in the state of New Jersey where he lived in a basement where he spent most of his time in his new life working multiple full-time jobs paying off the bills with no help from anyone nor the government. My mother's story was different she had 4 siblings and two parents who overwork to barely buy the resources they need to survive in their home in Peru. My mother lived a hard life being herself as she tried to become independent but her father wouldn't allow it since he had his own beliefs and made sure my mother live a stereotypical life. My parents soon fell in love and eventually decided to have a child and name it Jefferson Elias Vela. My life started easy compared to the life my parents lived they wanted their only son to have a better life and achieve a career to support him and his family. My father to this very day still does not have health insurance mainly due to his immigration status and salary and he continues to work hard for nearly twelve hours a day to support me and my mom. Both my parents still work hard with jobs that continue to pay them at the minimum wage since they do not have an American college education. I made a promise that after learning through my parents' history I will study as the first generation student in my family to attend a University in the United States and learn outside my comfort zone to accomplish my goal of becoming the first ever doctor in the Vela family to help and support the immigrants that have nothing to make sure they do not suffer the same way my parents did.

As a person from a family of immigrants, I was blessed with having two hard-working parents who have worked as many as three jobs to keep up by paying the bills. My parents wanted our family to live here to have a bright future even if it means my father cannot receive health insurance because of his immigrant status. Without the sacrifice of my parents, I would not know where I would be right now all they want for me is to grow up and have a better job than them, to have a better life for their only child, and make sure that their child would go to college. I made my decision to become a future doctor so I can help more people specifically people who cannot afford medical expenses and by starting off studying in the field of biology so I can learn more about the science of life and after learning the knowledge of biology I would then apply to medical school to secure my medical career future where I will finally become a doctor where my journey will begin through helping people with the power of medical science. I chose this major simply because I enjoy science and I want to learn more I know with the help of my professors I can reach my goal and change the future to what I desire most to make medical expenses low for those who are less fortunate so they can live on and not worry about any expensive medical bills. Many low-income and middle-income families experience this because they do not have enough money or simply because the health care provider are charging them too much but I will change that with the knowledge of Biology and medical science not only can I save people's lives but also change their lives and that helping others would be passed down from generation to generation.

What I would do to encourage other people is to tell them my story and try to talk to them to their level, that way they can better understand me. Whenever there is someone who does not want to do something simply because is completely unacceptable since I know that they have potential and a chance to be better for them. Sharing positive thoughts and giving them advice is what can help most people. However, I can do better by telling them my own experience so that way they need to understand that everything they have worked for, everything they have done is important, and that these opportunities rarely happen to some people and that they should seize it whenever it is given to them. Whenever I tell someone my story they know that through my experience there were some opportunities that I have missed and I do not want them to miss out so that way my story can motivate them to accomplish it.

I was told to think outside the box all the time and at first, I did not understand since I did not what it meant at the time. I always did my work following guidelines and rules and at that point, I realized that my work did not feel like my work it felt like any bland work that anyone could have created. When I was given a project this time I did something that I thought I would never do but I broke the rules, I want it to represent me and so I did it. Instead of following all the strict rules I made up my own and made sure that it was the project that I wanted to imagine. After completing it I was proud of myself and to this day whenever I am in school I always use my creativity to stand out from the rest of the crowd.

I am a high school senior who has a total of eight different classes and it is stressful since I receive too much homework barely having any free time for myself. I became desperate until I created study strategies in which I was able to complete my assignments quicker and still receive a high grade. One study strategy is using the Pomodoro technique it taught me to study one topic for twenty-five minutes take a five-minute break and then do it four times and later on take a twenty-five to thirty-minute break in which resulted in me having better grades. It was a much better study strategy than before since the previous study strategy was to come home and study what I learned in class but it only made me more confused and made me fail worse in class. Right now I have good grades and I am able to study properly thanks to my study strategies.

Nature is what created us deep inside. It is what brings everything in balance and keeps our planet healthy and sustainable to thrive and live. I enjoy nature because of how beautiful the environment is and how warm the sun shines its bright yellow lightness on your skin. I try to appreciate it by growing my plants and taking care of a garden that grows fresh vegetables for me to eat as well as eating organic food, tidying up my house, and recycling. I went camping one time and out there I saw the world outdoors with all its beautiful trees, clear skies, and soulful winds is what made you feel alive. The closer I get to nature the more joyful I become, whenever I am stressed out I go outside take a deep breath take a good look at my surroundings, admire it for a while and I am at peace.

Ever since I was a kid I was put under a lot of pressure. I was only seven years old when I had to teach my parents how to pronounce English and read any letters from the official U.S Government. Every day I was given responsibility whenever something is mentioned in English because I was the only one who could speak it and understand it. During my time in Martial Arts, I was a black belt where I had to help other color belts how to fight properly and they listened to me and took my advice and for once I felt really good about myself for helping other people. At my summer job, I was able to communicate with other people that were near my age by teaching them how to do everything in place and I was able to help out. Being a leader is difficult, stressful, and a huge responsibility because you have people relying on you because they need your guidance, they need your help, they need you to help them. I learned about being a leader ever since I was a child, and I will use this skill to help other communities and people who need my help.

I was a high school sophomore when the pandemic started at first I was excited since my school did not have spring break that school year and I said," Well, looks like we are getting a spring break after all". I thought the pandemic would last a couple of days but then it went from weeks to months to the rest of my sophomore and junior year. The pandemic affected my school life since I had to switch from in-person learning to virtual learning and it was extremely difficult because I have never learned school that way I always learn and practice my academics face to face with my teacher physically and not see them on a screen. I didn't even get to see my friends and I was really worried about them fearing that I would never see them again because of the pandemic and I also lost my motivation to focus in school since there were so many distractions at home. But the worse came inevitably me and my family tested positive for the Covid-19 Virus and it was the worst illness I have ever experienced in my life.

Friendship is a devoted relationship between two individuals and it is usually shared by two people who have similar interests and feelings. They both feel immense care and love for each other, friends are always there for you no matter what. Friendship is what makes everyone human and without it, no one would know one another and not act like they are right now. Friendship also helps you cope through tough times, whenever you feel bad or gloomy I know that I can always count on my friends for support. Friends are everything to use they make us laugh, they protect us, and they are the coolest people we have met in our entire lives. I feel that friendship means the whole world to me since it brings me eternal happiness, taught me to care about myself and others, loyalty, learning something new, and most importantly friendship teaches you how to come out of your comfort zone and help transform you to become who you are as a person.