I am a firm believer that the universe works in very mysterious ways. Given in my case, since high school I was determined to pursue engineering, particularly biomedical engineering. During the pandemic when there were major shutdowns and restrictions, I was ready to move on to a university to further my education. For various reasons, pandemic related and not, I decided to opt out of immediately joining the upcoming semester. I came to find that it was very beneficial, given that at that instance I was working part-time as a dispensing optician. I made a big move and decided to stray away from my main career path and obtain my license. Glad to say that be it the planets aligning or mere coincidence and my love of learning, I had opened a can of worms that is the world of optical that I never thought I would be as interested in as I am now. Even now in the relatively short span that I have as a licensed optician, I am finding out that I am a powerful optical professional and make a significant impact on patients. Since I have begun working at my optical establishment, I have developed many positive relationships with the patients that I assist. I have had individuals go as far as to seek me out with their optical needs referred from patients that I had taken care of. It means a lot to me to know that I make a significant enough impact on people to have them go out of their way and share with their families and community the exciting new information that they learned about their eyes, glasses, and contact lenses. Since I had begun my optical career, I also made it a personal goal to educate as many individuals in the Hispanic community as possible. In my personal experience, growing up in the Hispanic culture, there is a huge stigma of healthcare and going to places of self-care. To get especially someone middle-aged or older in a doctor's office is almost unheard of in the Hispanic/Latino "culture". This in turn also affects the next generation who unless educated otherwise, could resort to inheriting that same mentality. I feel like as a licensed optician in my community, I have also taken upon the responsibility of being an advocate of the optical world for said individuals. It’s a responsibility however that I take with pride. Knowing that my passion for educating people overall in the world of optics will help them understand the importance of taking care of their eyes and themselves. In the short term, I plan on actively pursuing this initiative and plan to do so for the years to come. While I am actively taking on this task, in the long run, I also plan to further my education and attend Arizona State University. My goal is to complete my initial degree with, however, a change of direction. At this point, I have obtained and continue to gain optical knowledge that was not present when I initially pursued my academic career path toward my engineering major. I initially wanted to specialize in prosthetics or imaging machines. After some revaluation and finding a new area of interest, I am considering specializing in something now optical-related. Most likely in fabricating retinal imaging machines as well as aiding in the development of retinal or visual prosthesis. Ultimately in hopes of providing clear vision, especially to those who aren’t fortunate enough to have it. “Being able to see clearly is an ability that not everyone has naturally and that many take for granted”.