After more than 24 hours of non-stop traveling, my family finally left our home in China for our humid new one in the Sunshine State, inside the United States of America. Arriving in the mid summer months was the most ideal solution to the dreadful cross-globe migration we had all faced due to the weeks of recovery and exploration we were able to acquire. Though homesick for our long-gone home, there was a raging level of adventure and an undeniable blooming sense of opportunity. Only around a month later, I would find myself inside a local Target, roaming around the luminous aisles reserved for back-to-school supplies. Exhilarated to meet new people and build new relations in this foreign land, I was counting the days until my first American school experience. The United States of America was perceived as “the melting pot” to me, conjoined together by a vast range of diverse people groups meeting in a beautiful country with deep roots, but being influenced daily by an immense assortment of cultures throughout the years to the present. However, I was greeted with actions beyond what I imagined a person would do to another, simply due to differences. Instead of being greeted with a smile, I was greeted with slurs, insults, slandering, ridiculing, mocking, and disdain. Not as punishment due to my character, but simply because I was born in a different country, and the shape of my eyes. I entered the school year as a soft-spoken, yet extroverted child, and left in the end with a reserved, confounded, and shielded nature. This began in elementary school, though the bigotry never left; the underlying insults only increased as I grew, but it morphed into subtle ways of expressing those notions. Due to the heavy impact of Covid-19, throughout middle-school I was ostracized. I later discovered the only way I could build relations with others was through self deprecation and laughing at the crude jokes and comments. This was the catalyst for my mental struggles with identity, depression, and inability to focus on school, and I have fought for years. Though these years have caused countless days of anguish, I look back as a strong first-generation immigrant with pride towards my culture and heritage. I would never wish a single day of what I bore through for years to even my worst enemy, but for me, these were the most crucial part of becoming who I am today. I reformed my identity into an entity beyond just my race, but of what built who I was as a human. All my morals, virtues, and positive attributes were formed because of the hardships I had to face. There are no doubt times where I look back and mourn the severity of a vast number of the circumstances, but I look back with a sense of gratitude. Influenced by my experience, I aspire to be an educator to help prevent a story similar to mine. My experience in school has formed me into the person I needed when I was young, as I desire to reach out and shed a positive light and influence to the new generations. With the future leaders, farmers, engineers, teachers, and so many other roles sitting in a classroom, as an educator, I will be able to bring hope and encouragement to the next pivotal roles of the world.